Does anyone have 5 kids these days? What’s it like raising them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I CAN call myself a proud environmentalist and i enjoy having a large family. I birthed one child and we adopted a sibling group of 3 (from Ethiopia). We live in a 2500 sq. ft. house and it seems huge since that is bigger than the house I grew up in as one of 5 kids. I mean, at least now we have 2 bathrooms.

You are an inspiration, truly. Thank you for opening up your home the way you did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

Well obviously people are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

Just because you can’t manage to keep your house neat and tidy doesn’t mean other people can’t manage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

Well you’re clearly a disorganized pig, so yeah, it’s going to be hard for you to fathom keeping your house in order.

[Anonymous]

I don't know a single person with over 4 kids (and those are very few, most have 1-3). I can't see why anyone would intentionally have 5 kids in this modern day. But think long and hard about what kind of lifestyle you want and how that would work with the logistics of having 5 children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

Some of us pick up after ourselves and teach our kids to do the same. I can see how if you wait until the end of the day to pick up everyone’s dishes, papers, etc it would get messy. You do you, but stop pretending it’s impossible for children and adults to clean up after themselves - it’s not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

Some of us pick up after ourselves and teach our kids to do the same. I can see how if you wait until the end of the day to pick up everyone’s dishes, papers, etc it would get messy. You do you, but stop pretending it’s impossible for children and adults to clean up after themselves - it’s not.

DP but my work papers are out because I'm working. Toys are out because kids are playing. Books are out because school has to happen. How is it even possible to be "tidy" while 8 different necessary things have to be happening simultaneously? You can't pick up *after yourself* until ... after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m kind of secretly enjoying complaints of families with 3+ kids during quarantine.

You are stuck with 5 kids at home for a couple of months and it’s unbearable? Well, you’re dealing with consequences of your choices.

Usually, when you offload them to school, church or some poor grandparents you kind of escape the consequences of your decision. But now you can’t. Ahahaha (diabolic laughter)

We have 3 kids and things are going great. The house is clean and tidy and the kids play well with each other. I can imagine it would be hard if the parents are disorganized or the family doesn’t get along.

Your house is not clean and tidy with 5 people at home all day lmao just stop

What?! Not PP but we have three kids and two big dogs and yes, my house is clean and tidy. It takes a lot of work (the kids help) but yes, it's clean and organized.

Hooray for you. My kids have art supplies and school devices and books and papers out, my husband and I have our work stuff out, shoes by the doors as the kids run in and out, dishes because we eat 3 meals a day here now. It gets picked up at the end of the day but to claim it’s neat and tidy while we are all running around doing stuff, pfffffft

Some of us pick up after ourselves and teach our kids to do the same. I can see how if you wait until the end of the day to pick up everyone’s dishes, papers, etc it would get messy. You do you, but stop pretending it’s impossible for children and adults to clean up after themselves - it’s not.

+1 Preschoolers can be taught not to toss their shoes on the floor when they come in. They take them off and put them on the bench or in the closet, mine have done that since about age 2. They can be taught to put their dishes in the dishwasher and pick up their toys after playtime.

[Anonymous]

If you want to have another kid, OP, don’t let the possibility of twins put you off. I have lots of friends that wanted to have a third -but didn’t- for that reason and now regret it. If you end up with twins it’ll be overwhelming and expensive but you’ll never wish you hadn’t.

[Anonymous]

Re: environmentalism:

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/children-climate-change-family-guilt

It's sad that exxon mobile is going to keep making billions of dollars while the world burns, but ordinary people feel like they have to limit their children to save the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know two families with 4 and one family with five. Dads always work, moms have no energy. The kids are left to fend for themselves. Older ones become nannies for the little ones. They never have money, family members are never well groomed. They rely on handouts- state subsidized day care, free school lunches and breakfasts, etc.

This is definitely not true for the 4-5 kid families I know. Dads work, moms don't, but they're not out of energy. To the contrary, they seem more engaged and energetic than other moms I know. (I only have 2 kids so I am not talking about myself). Many of my friends who have 4-5 kids had them relatively close together so no one is taking care of the others. They are also all rich, always well-groomed and well-dressed, and don't get any kind of handouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: environmentalism:

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/children-climate-change-family-guilt

It's sad that exxon mobile is going to keep making billions of dollars while the world burns, but ordinary people feel like they have to limit their children to save the environment.

Great read, thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: environmentalism:

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/children-climate-change-family-guilt

It's sad that exxon mobile is going to keep making billions of dollars while the world burns, but ordinary people feel like they have to limit their children to save the environment.

Great read, thanks for posting.

You're welcome! They have another good one: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/its-okay-to-have-children

"Diminished horizons, lowered expectations, and doing more with less — this is the twenty-first-century liberal program for the toiling masses. In other words, it’s a continuation of liberalism’s forty-year program of austerity, a result of its total abandonment of the trade union movement. A decent living, a home of your own, and a comfy retirement — a meager share in our society’s immense collective wealth — are all long-abandoned promises. Now, apparently, so is having kids."

"How can we ever win a program that socializes the costs of bringing children into the world if so many liberals still see the desire to have kids as something like a timeshare in Vegas — a costly, foolish, and tacky investment mostly for the rubes?"