To have 10 children

[Sapphire2012]

Hello waves I'm new around here. I'm Kirsty, mum to 10 lovely children. I'm curious as to what you honestly think of people with lots of children. I am not on any benefits and their child benefit goes into their savings accounts. (I hope this doesnt sound like I am bragging, I just hate when people assume we are scroungers, this is most definately not the case)

ILoveIt, i dont think we actually need people to have children to the extremes - one or two each suffices. Not all children go on to be tax payers, many will claim benefits so will never contribute anything back to the "pot" and will simply continue to take.

i wasn't advocating having 2 dozen. one poster talked about her and her siblings not having their 1-2 dcs. that is what i was referring to.

yes it was amijee, sorry, couldn't remember the name.

Actually probably best that the more affluent have more children, as these children likely to end up as taxpayers, and are a net benefit.

Often those on inter-generational benefit have children who are net recipients.

I don't accept any of these arguements because very few people are going to have huge families, and many people don't have any children. If the global warming etc issue is a problem then no one should have any children.

Also see this book - very worrying - basically about how very religious people have huge families and how they will take over the world!

link

Congratulations on your pregnancy. Hope you and yours are having a lovely christmas. Like other posters I would love to hear more about your family, daily life etc

I understood that in many western countries the birth rate is falling to a dangerous low. Particularly in places like Spain where women have far more control over their fertility than in previous generations.

The birth rate in developing countries remains very high but the infant death rate is also very high.

Do these things not balance out all these dire warnings?

I have a largish family of 5 children. I would like more but I am 43 so think its best to stop now.

OH was one of 12 (all same fathers, family never claimed any benefits incase anyone was wondering ).

I think it did cause quite a few problems for them and the older siblings (well the girls) were expected to do a lot of the childcare. This is something I do not like and my DS probably gets away with too little babysitting because of this.

I think it is generally assumed if you have lots of kids you are too dim to do anything but pop out babies.

10 children! Wow!

I hope you don't mind me asking, but how has having so many children affected you physically? Do you have tons of stretch marks, for example?

I could only have one child, so part of me is a tiny bit jealous of your fecundity.

Sapphire2012 I agree about wanting small age gaps. I only have 4 and have what I consider smaller age gaps 18 months to 2 year and wouldn't want it any other way.

I get all the comments from people too, if I had a pound everytime I heard "havent you got a tv?" I'd be rich!

I would have loved to have more children but DH doesnt.

Welcome to Mumsnet by the way. Its great here I've been here a good few years and it has make me cry with laughter more than anything else.

Having a household afflicted with flu and gastro at the moment, one question that comes to mind is - how the hell do you cope when your kids are ill? They usually all catch the same virus off each other.

Christmas eve night I was flitting between 2 sick kids, tending to DH and feeding my 6 mth old who is still bf at night. I didn't get more than an hour's sleep in one stretch and I also have a cold. And I only have 3!

How do the chinese limit the amount of children? Are you fined if you go over the amount? Surely they don't make you abort them if you fall pregnant?

Are there exceptions for multiple births?

nappyaddict women in china are forced into abortion as late as 9 months, not only for already having one child but also if they are unmarried and not old enough for a marriage license also forced sterilisation is common place.

nappyaddict, yes they frequently do make pregnant women abort children over their quota.

nappy, you either abort or have to pay a fine- its a lot of money. I watched a documentery on a couple on the run who were pregnant. I heard stories of babies bodies in the streets but not sure if theres any truth to this.

Yeah I spent a year in China, they get fined a hefty amount. Most abandon rather than abort.

fluffy i have seen images of baby bodies in the streets, mostly little girls , it is true.

The normal sex ratio at birth is 105 boys to 100 girls. In China, the one child policy and male preference combined with the 'disappearance' of female babies means that the sex ratio is about 119 boys to 100 females, sometimes as high as 130 boys to 100 females in rural areas.

It is a social time bomb.

10 kids!

I agree with the concept of the welfare state and totally believe that the state should ensure a minimum level of care for everyone but there comes a point where those who benefit from this need to accept that they have obligations to the same society that gives them rights. In my view those obligations include making rational decisions on how many children they should be bringing into the world. Education and healthcare for 10 new lives would probably exceed any taxes paid (please correct if wrong) therefore you are relying on the state?

i read somewhere that (in china) exemption for multiple birth so those who can afford it, have ivf to result in twins so that they can avoid the policy.

OOO scooby well said you!

i agree that environmental concerns are lame.

FIrst of all, all the men people in power do fuck all to help the environment. The people on this planet with the largest families leave the earth without leaving a scratch on it; then you get the people of the rich world with one or two children, who consume more than a third world village...

so I agree with the person who said that people love to attack mothers others with their environmental arguments, but don't do anything to try to stop the property boomn [shops and houses sprouting up like mushrooms to feed demand] , or oil wars; or dirty factories built all over china to produce tat for people in the rich world...

good point well made sakura.

I would expect that gp's are helping a lot
try to get 10 kids ready to get out all at the same time out of the house...

Or peel potatoes, carrots and cook meal for all of them at the same time

or do the preparation for bed + reading books

it is as we parents know impossible to do by 2 grown ups

I can imagine 3-4 bathrooms to clean, towels to wash, school socks to pair after the wash

bring them all from school...
or maybe they are HS?

I'd be crass and say that one family driving two cars and a minibus is leaving a fair dent, Sakura.....
Though I agree in principle with what you are saying. If you generalize and compare a large third world family with a filthy rich, say American family...