I have eight children

[amazinggracing]

Ask away!

[minipie]

Have you had childcare help, not to cover work but just to help? Au pair, family help, etc?

[Lovemenorca]

How much childcare do you have?

You live in a large house so that is unlikely to be centrally located, so how do you ferry the children around to school, after school clubs etc?

[amazinggracing]

Have you had childcare help, not to cover work but just to help? Au pair, family help, etc?

Yes, we have au pairs on and off and lots of family help.

[amazinggracing]

You live in a large house so that is unlikely to be centrally located, so how do you ferry the children around to school, after school clubs etc?

It's about fifteen minutes away from (near) the centre. Primary school is closer, secondary school is a bus journey away.

[breakfastpizza]

How much were the inheritance/trust fund? Are they gone now?

[Grobagsforever]

How are you finding time to be on this thread?

How the hell do you get away with getting up at 8am?!? With so many school age kids and the little ones must be up?

[Namechangeymcnamechange11]

Your family sounds fascinating op. I'd love a big family but I'm already 32 and only expecting DC 2 so it won't happen.

How do you get them all to eat the same thing?
What do you cook? (We're veggie also)
Did you and DH both want a big family or did you need to talk him into it?
How on earth do you get presents organised for Christmas?
What's your general organisational system to make sure everything gets done/booked/prepared etc?

[RollerCoasterProteinSpill]

Did you have any home births? C-Sections? Are your older children opinionated about your reproductive choices and their own?
(My DD was 14 when my 3rd was born. "Really, Mother? ANOTHER one?" She's 31 now and still avowedly childfree. Her partner is a great-uncle already)

Do you host (and enjoy) sleepovers?

[BuffaloCauliflower]

How do you deal with the different food likes and dislikes of your children for cooking meals?
Do you meal plan? (Id love to see it if so!)
Do you get through a thousand loaves of bread and bottles of milk each week?

[Merename]

Ooh yes, tell us about your births! I love birth stories, imagine having eight of them. I agree with pp who said respect to you for your calm responses to the judgy replies. I think your family sounds lovely.

[ChloeDecker]

A shame you missed my questions, OP and answered ones that were after mine. Were they too difficult to answer?

[amazinggracing]

How much were the inheritance/trust fund? Are they gone now?

7 figures. No, barely touched. I don't plan on touching it for a very long time.


How are you finding time to be on this thread?

I have had a day to (almost) myself today. DH took the six youngest to see his mum.

How the hell do you get away with getting up at 8am?!? With so many school age kids and the little ones must be up?

DH wakes up an hour before me and gets everyone up. I wake up when our youngest wakes up. This is typically, but it varies.


How do you get them all to eat the same thing?

We only have one very fussy child, who is getting better. Usually everyone will eat the same thing, but there's sometimes complaints. Older ones can make themselves something like a sandwich but I won't cook a second meal.

What do you cook? (We're veggie also)

All sorts. We're big pasta fans so have a lot of that, I like to make my own sauce. We all also love veggie pulled pork burgers with salad/rice/chips. A lot of vegetables are consumed in this house. A lot.

Did you and DH both want a big family or did you need to talk him into it?

We both wanted a big family.

How on earth do you get presents organised for Christmas?

I make a vague list early on (Feb/March time) and buy throughout the whole year. What they like at the start of the year is usually different by the end so I save the 'big' presents until the actual festive period. I'm w fan of Black Friday.

What's your general organisational system to make sure everything gets done/booked/prepared etc

We have two white boards in the kitchen with activities on etc. We have an app called FamCal which means that everyone's schedule is on there. I am obsessed with lists. Every morning I write a list on what needs to be done.

[amazinggracing]

I know that I have missed questions. I've found it hard to keep track, I'll answer all of them tomorrow hopefully if i get chance.

[HollowTalk]

How on earth are you getting up at 8 am when you have 8 children to get to school?

[fantasmasgoria1]

My first husband was from a big family. The age ranges were more spread apart though. Three had left home by the time the last one was born. They had absolutely no money and the children were somewhat neglected, no encouragement to do homework etc. They ate mainly junk food, chips being eaten 5/6 days out of 7. I admire you for the way you are raising your children. They have a good diet, they are all given attention, encouragement and you give them everything they need.

[Ginfordinner]

Has having so many children taken its toll on your body?

[Caramel78]

Do you also have pets too?

[Sharonthetotallyinsane]

I think you missed my question.

At what point did you become aware of the environmental impact of children?

[Lobsterquadrille2]

I have no questions, merely awe. You sound like an incredibly calm and organised person .... i believe that I am to an extent but definitely wouldn't be with your household!

[Waytooearly]

How do your kids get alone time?

How do you check in with the quieter ones to make sure they're okay?

[amazinggracing]

How on earth are you getting up at 8 am when you have 8 children to get to school?

DH gets up at seven and I get up when our youngest wakes.

Has having so many children taken its toll on your body?

Yes it has, but not as much as one would assume.

Do you also have pets too?

We have two goldfish and one cat.

At what point did you become aware of the environmental impact of children?

Only fairly recently from all of the media coverage on how much our planet is suffering and from watching documentaries.

[BlackCatSleeping]

Someone may have already asked this, but how organised are you? Is you house really tidy? Or like mine, pretty messy?

[Namechangeymcnamechange11]

Did your births get better/shorter/easier? Or was the 8th on par with 2, 3 etc?

[tempnamechange98765]

What additional needs does one of your children have?

Are they state or privately educated?

What does your husband do for a living and how much does he earn?

What part of the country do you live in?

[ChloeDecker]

Also, if 3 or more of your children had an important event on the same day, and you obviously can only split you and your DH once, what would you do and how would you feel?

Just posted my question again because you have missed it again. Also if you could answer my other question too (it’s not too far back) that would be grand!