Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just be advised that you're going to get a lot of answers here from people who are secretly envious of you. They wanted more kids but most likely waited too late and then couldn't have as many as they would have liked.

Um no it just drives me bonkers when people have 4+ kids and then complain that daycare, college, etc is too expensive and that they are “donut hole.” Huge eye roll re: parents who have that many kids applying for FA for college. And kids get annoyed by their siblings.

Thankfully financial aid officers/policies don’t discriminate against innocent children who didn’t have a say in how many siblings they would have. I’m guessing that kids from big families of modest means have always been and will always be prime beneficiaries of financial aid, and rightly so.

Ugh don’t have that many kids if you can’t afford to.

To me, 4 is still regular, 5 is borderline, and at 6 is where I would say unusual.

I guess to me that’s because I don’t know (or know of) any “regular” families with 6 or more. They’re all very religious or otherwise out of mainstream. I know plenty of four kid families that seem generally regular, and either really like kids (particularly, really like babies) and/or had an “oops.”

5+. But go for it. We need good people on the planet, to make up for all the others. One of the problems we have, in addition to single parenting, is children being too “special” to their parents and who then become over-privileged adults. If the last few weeks haven’t been proof of that, you’re not paying attention.

For me personally:
3 is "oh that's more kids than most people have"
4 is "WOW that's a lot more than most people have"
5 is "I wonder why they have so many kids because there must be a reason?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just be advised that you're going to get a lot of answers here from people who are secretly envious of you. They wanted more kids but most likely waited too late and then couldn't have as many as they would have liked.

Um no it just drives me bonkers when people have 4+ kids and then complain that daycare, college, etc is too expensive and that they are “donut hole.” Huge eye roll re: parents who have that many kids applying for FA for college. And kids get annoyed by their siblings.

Thankfully financial aid officers/policies don’t discriminate against innocent children who didn’t have a say in how many siblings they would have. I’m guessing that kids from big families of modest means have always been and will always be prime beneficiaries of financial aid, and rightly so.

It appears to be wealthy status symbol to have 4 kids in some circles. Ofcourse, all these people have tons of help and aren’t raising the 4 kids without housekeepers and nannies. I have been in some conversations where it is suggested that having the 4th guarantees SAH status and they never have to go back to their job [insert former Finance, IB, lobbyist, consultant or lawyer]

Anything above 3 is a lot

Anonymous wrote:5+

+1

By the fifth child, it's clear that you are either really religious or just crazy.

Anonymous wrote:Anything over 3 is a lot.

+1

I say this as someone currently pregnant with surprise baby #3.

10

When they need a large shuttle bus or passenger van to travel around, that's when it seems to cross into the weird zone. I have not seen a more regular seeming family pile out of shuttle van. So I guess 6 or more but 5 is pushing it for lots of people.

I also think they seem weirder when it's the older kids raising the young ones. Creates weird dynamics. If the parent is raising each of their own children the family probably appears more normal.

We are not rabbits. Stop ruining our environment so you can feel worthy and important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: to be clear, my question isn’t “what’s too many” (because for some families that’s 2...or even 1!) but what’s generally regarded as “whoa, the Larlosons sure have a lot of kids” and they become Those People With A Lot of Kids.

I think for me it’s 6.

I don’t get the distinction between what’s too many and whoa those people have a lot of kids.

+1 if I see a family and think they’re weird for having too many kids it’s probably because they look like they can’t handle/manage to control the behavior of the kids they have so for me these two things go together and are family dependent (some families look like the weirdos w too many kids if they have 3 wild kids and some people could have 5 kids who are well behaved and seem perfectly fine/not weird)

Anonymous wrote:OP: to be clear, my question isn’t “what’s too many” (because for some families that’s 2...or even 1!) but what’s generally regarded as “whoa, the Larlosons sure have a lot of kids” and they become Those People With A Lot of Kids.

I think for me it’s 6.

I don’t get the distinction between what’s too many and whoa those people have a lot of kids.

Anything above 3 is too many kids. Have mercy on the planet please.