Page 4 | I have 13 siblings- AMA!

1ofMany · 2023-05-05T16:54:12+00:00

I've seen this done from parents of large families before and thought I could do mine as a child of one.

Original poster

1ofMany · 06/05/2023 00:49

secondaryquandriesqq · 06/05/2023 00:04

Are you or any of your siblings neuro diverse. I wonder if it would be harder to grow up neuro-diverse in a large family- much harder to make adjustments to eg. reduce noise, support disorganisation, support fussy eating, spend time coaching for language or reading delay etc etc.

Thankfully nobody to the point it became unmanageable.

The older ones grew up at a time these things weren't really acknowledged so much, or as long as you could scrape by in school then nobody thought there was a problem, so it was different for them, sadly. My parents knew but it was still different for them than it was for younger ones.

Some of us younger ones were born at a time that was better for ND children (not as good as today and even today has a long way to go with some things) so did get extra support where needed, but generally at home we all had to learn to slot in somehow which wasn't easy but we had to cope.
Those of us who needed to have extra appointments for these things usually had to be taken during school hours so others wouldn't have to tag along. Adjustments were made at home but not massively.

I must stress any of us with any "issues" are not severe and if they were severe it would have been much more difficult and unlikely a case of just learn to deal with it. Likewise with physical disabilities or health issues.

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VladimirVsVolodymyr · 06/05/2023 04:07

@1ofMany this is amazing! I'm an only child so very envious of people with many siblings! You don't need guests for a party 😂

BlueDinoRawr · 06/05/2023 07:31

JaneyGee · 05/05/2023 22:40

Looking back, do you not think it was a bit irresponsible? I mean, considering climate change (not to mention declining fish stocks, environmental destruction, mass extinction, and the sheer lack of space). I don't mean to be rude. Your parents sound like good people, as do you, but I don't know how anyone can justify having that many kids.

In 1900, there were a billion people on Earth. By 1960 that had trebled to three billion. In 2000 it was six billion. Now we're at eight billion. People talk about declining birth rates, but that's not true everywhere. Africans, for example, still have five children, on average, and Africa's population is going to double by 2050. If it was up to me, I'd make it a law that no one can have more than three kids. There ought to be a UN agreement.

Good job it’s not up to you.

Liorae · 06/05/2023 09:46

JaneyGee · 05/05/2023 22:40

Looking back, do you not think it was a bit irresponsible? I mean, considering climate change (not to mention declining fish stocks, environmental destruction, mass extinction, and the sheer lack of space). I don't mean to be rude. Your parents sound like good people, as do you, but I don't know how anyone can justify having that many kids.

In 1900, there were a billion people on Earth. By 1960 that had trebled to three billion. In 2000 it was six billion. Now we're at eight billion. People talk about declining birth rates, but that's not true everywhere. Africans, for example, still have five children, on average, and Africa's population is going to double by 2050. If it was up to me, I'd make it a law that no one can have more than three kids. There ought to be a UN agreement.

Wow, I bet the OP never heard that kind of Karensplaining before 🙄

LBFseBrom · 06/05/2023 09:53

1ofMany · 05/05/2023 18:03

Two. The sibling who has most has 3, some have none.

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That's interesting to me. My mum was the youngest of ten by five years. By all accounts they were, on the whole, a happy family but there was much hardship when the older children were growing up.

None of my mother's siblings have large families, 1, 2, one had 3, another died young with no issue.

Can't blame them really.

AnotherVice · 06/05/2023 10:09

Breastfeeding and biological spacing of children would usually prevent pregnancies in such quick succession. I can only assume formula was introduced fairly quickly? Perhaps so siblings could take on the feeding of babies?

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 06/05/2023 10:13

Surely you couldn’t do extra curricular activities, did your parents event have time to sit and do homework with you?

Liorae · 06/05/2023 10:33

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 06/05/2023 10:13

Surely you couldn’t do extra curricular activities, did your parents event have time to sit and do homework with you?

Parents sitting and doing homework with you is a fairly recent thing. Most of us were very well capable of doing our own homework before infantilization of school children became the norm.

Original poster

1ofMany · 06/05/2023 17:27

VladimirVsVolodymyr · 06/05/2023 04:07

@1ofMany this is amazing! I'm an only child so very envious of people with many siblings! You don't need guests for a party 😂

Definitely lots of pros and cons to both! There's a reason big families used to be more common but are less so for recent generations.

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Original poster

1ofMany · 06/05/2023 17:35

LBFseBrom · 06/05/2023 09:53

That's interesting to me. My mum was the youngest of ten by five years. By all accounts they were, on the whole, a happy family but there was much hardship when the older children were growing up.

None of my mother's siblings have large families, 1, 2, one had 3, another died young with no issue.

Can't blame them really.

Show quote history

I'm sure, like every family, every child in the family will have different opinions. Maybe the older ones hated it in mine too but just haven't said. They have complained they had more responsibility than the younger ones and that we were babied for longer. Also born when parents were younger and still finding their feet in life. We're born in different generations and their generation had less, even basics like central heating being in practically every home rather than things like fireplaces or warmed bricks being just as common in their time.

None of mine have large families either. The one who has 3 surprised us all.

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Original poster

1ofMany · 06/05/2023 17:40

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 06/05/2023 10:13

Surely you couldn’t do extra curricular activities, did your parents event have time to sit and do homework with you?

We did extra curriculars, we all played an instrument and a sport. They didn't do much homework with us, we had to do it ourselves but could ask for something specific to be explained if we were stuck

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