How many cousins do you have/ your DC have?

[Allswellthatendswelll]

Inspired by this article in the Times:

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/why-cousins-are-dying-out-it-matters-more-than-you-think-d6vr0rgtx

It's behind a paywall sorry but basically it says due to declining birthrates children born now are much less likely to have lots of cousins. I think down from average 7 to 5 but falling quite a bit. The article argues that this means children have less peers their age in family gatherings to play with and smaller networks.

I find it very interesting as I have 13 cousins but I'm not very close to any of them as an adult. My DC have 4 for now but probably 7 or 8 once everyone is done. I'm quite glad they have quite a few cousins but perhaps we are becoming more unusual as all our siblings have kids or intend to.

Wow amazing all the people who have 20+ cousins!

>20 for me and >20 for DH

My kids have 8

Obviously it's not a huge issue of birthrates falling but it's just an interesting consequence. I think in the past centuries cousins would have probably formed quite a large part of one's social network as people didn't move around as much. I'm quite a demography nerd!

I have 14 cousins (not in contact with a lot of them) who are spread around the world and my daughter has 3 (2 on the other side of the world and 1 we have only met twice). I am best friends with a second cousin though (dad’s cousin’s daughter) who is also in another country. DH has 6 cousins. He’s close to one and others are in other countries.

I have 4 cousins - both my mum and dad have one sibling each, and each of those siblings had 2 children. My DC have 9 cousins - 5 on my side and 4 on DHs. But we are both one of 3. So in our case my DC have more cousins than me!

I have 63 first cousins. Big Irish family ! My kids have 8

My siblings and I have about 27 first cousins (not even counting our second cousins who we all grew up with - big Asian family).

My kids have 3 first cousins.

I have 7 cousins and my DC have 8 cousins. At 49 I am still in fairly regular contact with all my first cousins on my Mum's side. We used to play together a lot at my grandparents as children. I am also close to some of my 2nd cousins (partly I guess as my Mum is close to hers - their parents). 3 of my DN live in Australia so we don't see them very often but the English cousins we see every week and when all ten of my Mum's DGC get together it is riotous fun.

I do feel very lucky in my cousins and my DC's relationships with theirs but if we did not have them.I guess I would put more energy into my/their friends.

I have 4 but only grew up with one. My kids have 4 but they dont see them.

I have one and my children have none!

I've got 11 but only speak to 1/2 occasionally, DC have 7, but only see 1 weekly as the others live further up country and we don't see them very often

11 and im very close to 5

I have 11 first cousins and my children have the same number.

My DH has 50 first cousins on his dad's side alone.

I have 32. My kids have 5. (Only on my side as SIL could not have kids).

Fascinating subject. I have 3 cousins (of which I’m
the youngest, there is a 13 year gap between myself and my youngest cousin). I never saw them frequently growing up, probably once a year at the most. I am an only child, so used to wish for more frequent contact, now I realise how little we had in common. As adults, we seem to keep more in touch and see each other more frequently.

DH however has five cousins (one set of three sisters and another set of two sisters), who are all the same age as him and his brother, so were all very close growing up, went to the same league of boarding schools, mixed in the same social circles as teenagers etc. The last he saw any of them was seven years ago, reason - they resented that he returned to the Christian faith.

Our four DC have one cousin (DH’s brother’s DC), who they/we have never met and likely never will, because BIL also cut contact with DH and us for the sane reason.

Families are can be very strange…

I have 8 cousins. My DC only have 1. 😔

I have 9, my children have none

I have 4.
DS has 8
DH has 41!

I have 6 cousins. None local but as you say, always there at family gatherings. Have been quite close to 2/3 at different times.

Dh has 5. Not close to any of them.

DD has 8 cousins. 5 are overseas, 2 live at the other end of the country so she only sees one regularly.

I have none, both dm and df's only sibling died before adulthood. My dc have 12.

12 (11 alive) - in contact with all but one and we are all very fond of each other, we grew up having lots of family parties etc. We are geographically scattered now but most of us are in a group chat. DH has about the same but some are a lot older than him and their DCs are closer to his age and if you add those in there must be at least 20, again lots of family parties when growing up. Whereas my DCs only have three and of those two are much older and they never really see those two. I feel as though they are missing out on what I had but they’ve never known any different. There won’t be any more, we are all too old now.

I have 5, my children have 6. My husband has lots though.

DC has 2, I have 32 first cousins. My dad has 9 brothers and a sister, my mum has 3 brothers and two sisters. None of my aunts and uncles had more than 2 children, which I think probably speaks to growing up in households filled to bursting.

I have one brother, DH is an only child.

I have about 30-odd, i think.

My parents are both one of 10 kids.

The only cousins my kids have are through DH as my sisters (20, 17 and 15) have no kids yet. I have 3 kids (and want more) and they have 13 cousins - DH has 4 siblings - one has 6 kids, another has 5, and another has 2. DH's youngest sibling has no children yet.

I only have 5 cousins ( 4 through my mum) but they live in my country of origin, which I haven't visited for 18 years - so we have no relationship.