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Highest number children you know someone to have in real life?

428 replies

Newsenmum · 22/10/2026 20:10

People talk about these crazy massive families that exist on news but what is the largest family you know? Im from quite a middle class area down south. Most families I know have one or two kids, sometimes three. I have one friend pregnant with her fourth and know one school mum with five! Very unusual though.

OP posts:
heymammy · 22/10/2026 21:37

Two of my school friends have 9 children each (different schools though so they weren't copying each other 🤣)

chichi001 · 22/10/2026 21:37

One of my friends has 8, another has 9.

Most of my friends have 4. I have 4 myself

AnneShirleyBlythe · 22/10/2026 21:38

Newsenmum · 22/10/2026 20:10

People talk about these crazy massive families that exist on news but what is the largest family you know? Im from quite a middle class area down south. Most families I know have one or two kids, sometimes three. I have one friend pregnant with her fourth and know one school mum with five! Very unusual though.

My dad was one of 13 but that was post WW2 & more common then. There are a few families in our town with 5-6 kids. DD had a school pal who is one of 6 too. Another family I know had a girl first then 6 boys trying for another girl. Number 8 was a girl. Mum was very open about it, even in front of the young boys.

Shodan · 22/10/2026 21:38

My mum and dad had 6 children 😁

My sister has 4.

I opted for a far more manageable 2.

NoraLuka · 22/10/2026 21:39

In my extended family 4-5 is the norm even now, except for me as I only have 2. I also only have one brother and was jealous of my cousins growing up because they all had 5-6 siblings.

Corgi2023 · 22/10/2026 21:39

A relative of mine has 8. 3 from a first marriage and 5 from his second. His youngest is an auntie to several children older than her. They absolutely love kids.

JoSFry · 22/10/2026 21:39

I live in a very wealthy area and I have soooo many friends with 4 kids!!!!

many send them all to private school too!!

Siouxtse1 · 22/10/2026 21:40

My nan was 1 of 13, my mum was 1 of 10. I'm 1 of 5.
A girl in my son's class has 11 siblings- 7 full and 4 half-. I know 4 other families at the same school with 5 children each. It's a Catholic school. I only have 2 children and am not a practising Catholic.

HaveANiceFuckingDay · 22/10/2026 21:43

9 children. Blended family all living under the same roof

Alittlefrustrated · 22/10/2026 21:43

11 children - though they weren't all children at the same time, due to the age gaps. The kids were born from late 80's onwards. Well looked after children with working parents.

Teanandtoast · 22/10/2026 21:44

A child in the school I work in has 11 siblings, so 12 kids

YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME · 22/10/2026 21:45

12, my friend was number 7, first 6 all boys, second 6 all girls!!

allthemind · 22/10/2026 21:46

I know one family with 5. A couple with 4. A few 3s. Everyone else is 2 or 1.

EmbracingUncertainty · 22/10/2026 21:46

I don’t know anyone at my kids school with more than 3 kids, 1 and 2 are the norm.

Mytakeonit · 22/10/2026 21:47

An evangelical family I knew had 6 and then the eldest married and was still living at home 18 and had two and so on so 8 children from 20 to one in a 5 bedroom house. To be honest I knew the family well and I strongly believe he was controlling her by keeping him pregnant and home schooling etc and completely at home with him head of the family and then he had an affair.

FirmSnake · 22/10/2026 21:47

Multiple men in DHs extended family have 15+, his grandmother had 13.
In my every day life, 6.

Lifeomars · 22/10/2026 21:47

my mum was one of seven, my dad was one of eight. But that was far more usual in pre pill days. In my friendship group nobody had more than two, apart from my ex who had one with me (and I never had another one) and then went on to have three more. One colleague had four but her last two were from her second marriage, my neighbours have three which seems a big family these days. I am one of three, we were not a happy famly, lots of my friends when i was a child were from families of three, it was fairly standard in those days.

SorryNotSorry6 · 22/10/2026 21:49

My grandad was one of 13 but times have changed. I have young DC myself (three) and most people say I’m mad to have three. I only know a couple of other families with three, most are one or two. I know two families who have 4 kids and both of those had their youngests (including a set of twins) by accident!

WaitingForMojo · 22/10/2026 21:49

I vaguely know someone with 11.

Other than that, I know a couple of families who have 5. I have 4.

AnneShirleyBlythe · 22/10/2026 21:49

plasticplate · 22/10/2026 20:23

Nine children but this was in the 70s/80s. I knew a lot of catholic families with four or five children. When my own generation were having children or more recently, probably five.

I was brought up Catholic in the 70s & knew plenty of families with 6+. My aunt had 7 & a family at school had 10. My Dc went to the same Catholic school where there was 1or 2 families with 5+ . Most had 1-3.

villanova · 22/10/2026 21:50

I grew up Catholic, so went to school with a family of 12 (both parents were doctors), and another with 11 boys. My grandmother had 17 births, 11 of whom survived to adulthood.
As an adult, I know one family of 8 and another of 6 (both mums love babies, families are well cared for etc).

TheFormerMrsTruelove · 22/10/2026 21:53

DH’s cousin has 8, which is probably the largest. Growing up, there were loads of 4s and quite a few 6s, two 7s that I can think of. None blended, all full siblings.

Now, it’s mostly 2s and the occasional 3.

mindutopia · 22/10/2026 21:53

I know a few families with 5. One a fairly traditional farming family and she was pregnant with their eldest within a year of them starting dating, so 5 children in about 7 years or so. The other is very Christian. She had her 5th as a bit of a surprise baby at 45.

SP2024 · 22/10/2026 21:54

My partner is one of 5. My step dad one of 7. I know someone who has four but most people I know have one or two. My in laws have three each but my friends who have three are because of multiple births not conscious choice. I’m pregnant with my third but I won’t have anymore as I’m 42 now.

Fortuity · 22/10/2026 21:54

My father was one of nine, spread over his father's two marriages.. However, the oldest was killed in the First World War, one of the younger ones was killed in the Second World War, and one died quite young of cancer, so I never knew them all.

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