Anonymous wrote:^^
You sound really rich. I bought my 5 kids bicycles, not cars.

Ha! Not rich by dcum standards. My DH is a Fed. I SAH.

^^
You sound really rich. I bought my 5 kids bicycles, not cars.

We have five. Mine are 30, 27, 25, 23, and 18. I miss the craziness of a house full of young children. I really love our big crazy family. I am a little (or a lot) OCD about keeping the house clean and organized. I think that really helped. I drove my kids nuts sometimes and they still make fun of me about it. But if the house is always tidy, it makes staying organized a lot easier. It was loud and busy and ridiculously chaotic sometimes. But it was also so much fun. Our home was full of inappropriate, inside jokes. Over the top dramatics. And love. Always love.

This idea that my older kids helped raised the younger ones is laughable. I guess maybe it happens in some homes. Certainly not in ours. They did occasionally babysit. They often argued over who was going to babysit because I paid really well. We bought each of the kids an inexpensive used car the summer before their junior years in high school. We paid for gas and insurance. In exchange, I expected them to occasionally help out with errands. They were all really busy once they started driving so they really couldn't help out a whole lot. My oldest played football and basketball from kindergarten through his senior year in high school. My second rowed crew and was an Eagle Scout. My third was a drama and chorus kid. My fourth rowed crew year round (in Florida) and my youngest was in symphonic and marching band. Their afternoons were always really full.

The kids fought like typical siblings when they were little, especially my girls. The girls are best friends now and share an apartment. I never would have guessed that would happen. All five are close. They plan their visits home so that they can all be here together whenever possible. I've had all five home at the same time for the last two Christmases which has been amazing. My oldest is married with two beautiful babies. Last Christmas was so much fun!

Big families are not for everyone. I had my first baby when I was 22 years old. I was pregnant at my college graduation. Being young parents made it easier. I'm only 53. We are empty nesters normally - my youngest is home due to COVID. I think it would be really hard to raise five kids as an older parent. I stayed at home until my youngest started school then went back part-time. I don't see how we could have done it with two parents working full time. Running a home with five children is a full time job if you do it correctly. We never had any kind of help. My days were very busy.

Also, we are not Catholic. We are not Mormon. We are not Hispanic. DH and I are both more spiritual than religious. I'm more the witchy, sage burning, spell casting, metaphysical type. I would bet money that our environmental footprint is smaller than most on this board. We grow about 70% of our fruits and vegetables. We have always recycled and reused. We compost almost everything. We create very little trash each week because we are so careful. I hope I taught my children a deep love for Gaia and respect for all the creatures that we share her with.

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Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have five, one set of twins. They are all grade school age. Both parents have professional jobs, one switched to no travel when the kids were born. They have a nanny who probably works 45 or 50 hours a week. They seem great. The parents spend 100 percent of their time with the family, no girls night out/guys poker night kind of things.

Glad I don’t live next to them. So noisy!

Wtf would it be noisy? Are the kids up at all hours screaming outside? Does your house not have good insulation?

I have five kids. It is noisy. They are always playing and laughing and shouting to each other. It seems weird to me to live in a house with quiet children!

If you can’t handle noise or a ball in your backyard, don’t live next to us!

The pp shouldn’t live next to anyone with kids no matter the number if she thinks kids next door are that noisy. Playing and laughing are normal kids noises welcome in most neighborhood. Perhaps 55+ communities are more appropriate?

Wow. Someone touched a nerve. Can you keep it down please!

I’m just happy kids are playing outside and not on screens.
Can you imagine if these large families just put their kids on screens like the other parents? So many tsk tsks from the DCUM crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have five, one set of twins. They are all grade school age. Both parents have professional jobs, one switched to no travel when the kids were born. They have a nanny who probably works 45 or 50 hours a week. They seem great. The parents spend 100 percent of their time with the family, no girls night out/guys poker night kind of things.

Glad I don’t live next to them. So noisy!

Wtf would it be noisy? Are the kids up at all hours screaming outside? Does your house not have good insulation?

I have five kids. It is noisy. They are always playing and laughing and shouting to each other. It seems weird to me to live in a house with quiet children!

If you can’t handle noise or a ball in your backyard, don’t live next to us!

The pp shouldn’t live next to anyone with kids no matter the number if she thinks kids next door are that noisy. Playing and laughing are normal kids noises welcome in most neighborhood. Perhaps 55+ communities are more appropriate?

Wow. Someone touched a nerve. Can you keep it down please!

PP with five kids, if you have not posted about your actual experience could you? Most of these posts are unhelpful because they are by people who have no real knowledge and simply want to express opinions. The OPs question asked for information about what it is like to raise 5 children today. I am not the OP, but am interested in this too, particularly if both parents work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have five, one set of twins. They are all grade school age. Both parents have professional jobs, one switched to no travel when the kids were born. They have a nanny who probably works 45 or 50 hours a week. They seem great. The parents spend 100 percent of their time with the family, no girls night out/guys poker night kind of things.

Glad I don’t live next to them. So noisy!

Wtf would it be noisy? Are the kids up at all hours screaming outside? Does your house not have good insulation?

I have five kids. It is noisy. They are always playing and laughing and shouting to each other. It seems weird to me to live in a house with quiet children!

If you can’t handle noise or a ball in your backyard, don’t live next to us!

The pp shouldn’t live next to anyone with kids no matter the number if she thinks kids next door are that noisy. Playing and laughing are normal kids noises welcome in most neighborhood. Perhaps 55+ communities are more appropriate?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have five, one set of twins. They are all grade school age. Both parents have professional jobs, one switched to no travel when the kids were born. They have a nanny who probably works 45 or 50 hours a week. They seem great. The parents spend 100 percent of their time with the family, no girls night out/guys poker night kind of things.

Glad I don’t live next to them. So noisy!

Are you of the mindset children should be seen and not heard?
What a stupid comment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have five, one set of twins. They are all grade school age. Both parents have professional jobs, one switched to no travel when the kids were born. They have a nanny who probably works 45 or 50 hours a week. They seem great. The parents spend 100 percent of their time with the family, no girls night out/guys poker night kind of things.

Glad I don’t live next to them. So noisy!

Wtf would it be noisy? Are the kids up at all hours screaming outside? Does your house not have good insulation?

I have five kids. It is noisy. They are always playing and laughing and shouting to each other. It seems weird to me to live in a house with quiet children!

If you can’t handle noise or a ball in your backyard, don’t live next to us!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People with five kids now are Mormons or catholic idiots.

This. Or poor and mentally ill and don’t know how birth control works. Also, some poor think government will take care of their kids. Terrible cycle.

This is so obnoxious. I’m sorry it’s beyond your comprehension that people know how birth control works and actually like children.

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Anonymous wrote:Don't ALL kids have chores? I can't imagine not having chores no matter what size the family. This is part of teaching you how to run hour household later in life.

I remember Marie Osmond saying in an interview one time:"I don't have cleaning help in my house. I have 8 kids! That's a lot of cleaning help already." I was one of 5 and my mom always said the same thing

It is one thing to do chores when every child in the family does some
It is completely another to make a teenager play part time mini-mom.

Yeah my 10 yo’s chores are clean your room, laundry, help load dishwasher. Not “give your 1 year old sibling a bath and put them to bed.”

Well, that was one of my older sisters' chores when she was growing up. (My mom often worked nights and my older sister that was 9 when I was born usually did my bath and bedtime -- although maybe not starting when I was one, probably more like when I was 3 or 4.) We're both grown women now, and seem to be fine. We have good relationships with our parents, families of our own, etc. And I gave plenty of baths to her kids when they were little. I'm not sure why "give your little sibling a bath and put them to bed" is such an awful chore. Way better than scrub the toilets!

A friend of mine has 3 kids, all boys, all six years apart. She decided to go to law school when the youngest was one, and since she continued to work full time, some of the housework/childcare had to be redistributed. Her now-15 year old's regular chore is to put his little brother to bed. He has developed quite a way with his little brother, and everyone seems to be very bonded. This may be unorthodox but I see nothing wrong with that. They are brothers after all, not random people.