I'm one of 16 siblings, ask me anything

[picklepost]

Like a 1980s Radford. I notice a lot of curiosity about life in a big family, maybe I can answer some of your questions.

Do you feel you received enough attention from your parents?

What were the best and worst things growing up with 15 siblings?

Fire no. I cannot recall a single occasion when of having a conversation with my father. I'm not sure he knew "which one" I was.
Conversations with my mother were limited to instructions or being told off.

Are you close in age?

I'm one of 6 and we have a very definite generational divide (which brexit made even more obvious). Is it similar for you?

Do you have any children yourself?

Why do you think your parents had so many?

Did you have to take responsibility for the younger ones as you got older?

Did this affect your social life?

Wonderful the best thing was that, because there were so many of us, we shielded each other from our mother's madness. There was usually someone to play with and we learned a lot from each other.
I wanted to feel special and that never happened. There was always a sibling brighter or more beautiful or popular or sportier - or who had simply done it first. I grew up knowing I could never compare.

Why did your parents have so many?

Theworldis yes and no, very small age gaps between one and the next, but the overall span is wide.

We were like a collection of subsets. I knew the ones closest to me in age.

pickle thanks for your answer.
Are you friends with all your siblings now?

Messy I have two children and I am guilty of pampering them. We are very close and I think about them all the time. I am aware that possibly they'd benefit from me being less intense; it's hard to balance the determination that they feel loved (in the way I did not) and the desire to not burden them with my stuff.

I absolutely get what you mean about comparison. We all were compared. I'm 6 of 6, so you can imagine..
We're 2 groups really.

Are there any twins?
My mum had lots of children to fill her life but I never felt she wasn't interested (too interested).
That must be hard.

What s the age gap from oldest to youngest and how old were your parents when the youngest was born?

Rehorsing my mother said they wanted 16 children. Difficult to know as she was a very complicated person who rarely gave a straight answer. Maybe she genuinely wanted many children, but I suspect her competitive streak was a driving force.

Regarding us being friends - we are not at all close. There was so much damage done to us during our upbringing that each is us has sought a level of seclusion and privacy.

Did your parents plan that many?

pickle

hiding as a younger sibling I did not have responsibility for others, but my memories of being a small child involve older siblings rather than parents. I have very few memories of my dad, and my mother was mostly shouting in the background. My older siblings took me to school, the doctor, the hairdresser etc

Where do you come in the birth order? What’s the mix of m/f?

What kind of relationship did you have with your parents as an adult?

My mother had her first baby at 19 following two miscarriages. She says they planned to have 16.

The household was run with military precision, and we were pretty independent from an early age eg. finding our own way to music lessons and sports practice.

What is your opinion of the Radford family? Have you seen their shows?

How many nieces and nephews have you got. Must be expensive at Christmas

Georgie it's an even split. I'm towards the tail end.

Relationship with parents - barely any until I had my own children. Gradually introduced them to their grandparents, but always at arms length.

Wrt my father, I just didn't know him enough to be in touch; with my mother I was shielding myself and my children from her fierce criticisms.

How did your parents afford so many children?

What’s the age range from youngest to oldest?

How did your grandparents feel about your parents having a large family? Were they supportive or judgemental?

Wow, 15 siblings must have been intense. I'm one of 8 and thought that was a lot!

What kind of house did you live in growing up? How many siblings did you share a room with?

I'm interested in the age gaps between your siblings as well. There's 22 years oldest to youngest with mine.