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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask how big your family was?

145 replies

Deliainthemaking · 17/03/2011 16:57

Coursework statistics

past & present families
and the general view in the past families were bigger.

How big was you family?
How big is your family of children?
Do you come from a big/small family do you think it affects you??

I'd like to see who comes from the biggest :)

OP posts:
MissusF · 17/03/2011 19:14

Maternal
Grandmother 1 0f 8
Grandfather 1 of 12

Mother 1 0f 4

Paternal
Grandmother 1 of 2
Grandfather 1 of 3

Father 1 of 6

My Siblings and I.

1 of 5

Eldest Brother died as a child

2nd Brother 5 children, no grandchildren yet.
3rd Brother gay no children.
3rd Brother Twin of 2nd Brother 3 children, no grandchildren

Myself 3 children

Eldest 1 child
2nd & 3rd DC died as babies.

So Families have got smaller as generations past.

Interestingly all my Fathers siblings had 5 children, but all the rest had 4 girls and 1 boy.

My great grandparents generation, the smallest Family was paternal GGranparents with 12 children, not many survived to adulthood. They were textile workers in the main, and lived in Spitalfields

My Maternal GreatGrandparents were Farmers from Lowlands of Scotland, had as many as 18 children and most survived

onehotmomma · 17/03/2011 19:14

Born in 82. My mum had 5 kids (she was 1 of 4) and I have two, brother has 1 and 1 on the way. Other 3 brothers have no kids as of yet). My nan was 1 of 9 children

onehotmomma · 17/03/2011 19:15

On DH's side he is 1 of 2, his mum is 1 of 5. His dad is 1 of 2

whoatethelastbiscuit · 17/03/2011 19:18

I am 45 and an only child, I have 6 children.
My mum was one of 3, her mother 1 of 8, her dad 1 of 2 (by different dads)
My dad 1 of 4, his mum 1 of 5 (another one died), his dad one of 15 that survived (by 2 mums) but there may be more!

Numberfour · 17/03/2011 19:24

I am 44, I was one of 5 daughters from the same mum and dad. I have one son due to starting breeding late (Grin) and not out of choice.

I was number four (geddit?) of the 5 girls and I always felt that I had to talk louder and be cleverer to get noticed by my parents! I don't remember my mother and father playing games or rolling around on the floor with us. They were too busy.

My husband is the only child of his mum and dad but has a half brother and half sister on his dad's side and four half sisters on his mother's side.

My mother was one of 3 girls and my dad the youngest boy of one son and 4 daughters.

The saddest thing is that I am not very close to any of my family except for my dad and one aunt. And maybe two of my sisters but they live on different continents to me.

Squitten · 17/03/2011 19:27

I'm 28 and have two children - likely will have one more

Me and DH both just have one sibling and ALL of our aunts/uncles and cousins have two children so we would be bucking the current trend

My parents are both one of four. My maternal grandmother was an only child but my maternal grandfather was one of 13 so that side of the family is bloody MASSIVE!

ethelina · 17/03/2011 19:28

I am the middle of 5 born between 1970 and 1980 - 3 boys 2 girls.
I have 1 son with no intention of more.
We all grew up to be independent from an early age. No favourites, more the other way. My mum is quite cold and hard, in a loving sort of way.
She was middle of 3 in the 40s/50s and she always says her mum was cold towards her.
My Granny, her mum, was youngest of 10. I think she struggled lots as her father died young. Maybe this is the start of the unemotional coldness the females in my family suffer.

hmmSleep · 17/03/2011 19:31

I have 3 children, I am one of 3, my sister has 3, my bother has none.

ragged · 17/03/2011 19:36

My 8 great grandparents were...
One of 7 or more by 2 marriages
One of 4
One of 7 or 8
One of 7 or 8
One of 4
Only child
One of at least 16 by 2 or 3 marriages
One of 2 children by one marriage

My 4 grandparents were in families of....
Only child
Two children
4 children
5 children (one died as an infant).

My dad was one of 10 by 4 different marriages (but no first cousins).
My mom was one of 5 by just one marriage.

Me and my brothers made 3 when I was growing up, from 2 marriages. We had dozens of first cousins!

I have 4 DC from one marriage, but they have only 2 first cousins.

Family sizes are much smaller on DH's side.

ShinyMoonInAPurpleSky · 17/03/2011 19:37

I only have 1 child so far - would ideally like 3 or 4.

I am one of 3 - late 80's to early 90's
Mum one of 4 - 1942-1955
Dad one of 6 - 1950ish-1963

Mum's mum one of 13 - 1910-1930 ish Interestingly (well to me anyway) my nan's mum was one of 3 and her mum was horrified at the number of children she had (she married "below her station").
Mum's dad one of 5 - last child was born in 1923

Don't know about my dad's parents.

My aunts and uncles on my mums side have 3, 4 and 5 children each.

DH is one of 9.
DH's mum is one of 3
DH's gran (mum's mum) was an only child, as was her mum.

ragged · 17/03/2011 19:39

ps: you asked "does it affect you"
I think I had more children then I could really handle, tbh!
My mother would have liked more, but she couldn't afford more.
One of my grandmothers would have stopped at 2 if birth control had existed. The other grandmother kept trying until she got a boy.

2 DC does seem like a weeny size family to me, though.

goingroundthebend4 · 17/03/2011 19:48

ready to be confused Confused

hmm ok im asmost 38 and offically i have only one brother .But have 3 fosters sisters but two t move3d in after i left home but they are family and im closer to them than my brother .they are 27,24,and 41 obviously the 41 was living there while i was at home .and there was other foster kids in and out for years

My brother has 2 kids but has no contact with them ;(i do Smile
eldest foster sister has 5 kids
next foster sister has two
and youngets is expecting her first

I have 4 children
My mum is one of 6 ( irish catholic family)
her siblings have 2, 2, 1, 3,29 number of kids each sibling )

My dad was one of two .his brother has 5 kids 2 from first marriage taht are grown up and 3 more that are younger than his grandkids

ShinyMoonInAPurpleSky · 17/03/2011 19:52

Eek, thanks ragged didn't see that bit!

So did it affect me?

Well being the oldest is a PITA because everything they do is my fault Hmm and I had to share everything with them but they didn't have to share everything with me. And they broke my stuff. But I did manage to get to adulthood and still love them.

I think my mum wanted more children and my mum was my nan's "accident" because she was bored once all the children went back to school.

I also know that my nan's mum probably only had 13 because of being Catholic and no contraception. She reportedly told one of my nan's sisters, after the birth of her 6th child in as many years - "Do you think if they had had contraception in my day I would have had all of you?".

MistyB · 17/03/2011 19:59

My Mum is one of 10, my Dad is one of 8, I am one of three. (I'm Irish) DH's Mum was one of two, DH's Dad was one of three. We have three DC's.

deemented · 17/03/2011 20:04

I'm the youngest of nine. I have four brothers and four sisters.

DB1 has 5 children
DB2 has 5 children
DB3 has 4 children
DB4 has 3 children

DS1 has 3 children
DS2 has 3 children
DS3 has 5 children
DS4 has 1 child.

I have four children, though one died at birth. I am currently pregnant with number 5.

My mother was one of eleven. My father had a bother who died at birth.

goingmadinthecountry · 17/03/2011 20:12

I'm an only child as was my mum. I have 4 children (plus dd2's twin who died at 24 hours). My dad had 2 sisters.

DH is one of 3, his sis has 3, brother none through fertility probs.

I really missed out as an only child (fertility probs again) and love having my brood, but as they approach university, dread the cost!!

Original poster
Deliainthemaking · 17/03/2011 20:15

Im going to attempt averages in a minute arrgh l,ol

OP posts:
Raahh · 17/03/2011 20:22

I am 39.

I have one sister

My mother had two brothers (her parents both had one sibling)
My dad is an only child (his dad was one of 10, his mother one of 3)

My sister has one child (wanted more, but unable)
I have 3 children (never saw myself having anyBlushGrin)

Misfitless · 17/03/2011 20:24

My mum (b 1950)is one of five.
My dad (b 1947)is one of two.
I (b 1974)have one sister.

My DP (b 1971) is one of four.

My sister has 2DCs.
Me & DP have 4 DCs.
DPs sister has 3 DCs.
DPs other sister has 3 DCs.
DPs brother has 3 DCs.

ComeAlongPond · 17/03/2011 20:29

Mum's mum was one of two.
Mum's dad was one of (I think) three.

Mum is one of two plus four more half siblings.

Dad's mum was one of three (I think).
Dad's dad was an only.

Dad had a twin sister who died at birth so grew up an only but would have been one of two or possibly more if his mother had been able to have more children after the death of his twin.

I'm one of four - older sister, two younger brothers. (I was born in 1990 by the way, and have no children or any plans for them. But I think a family with fewer than three would seem 'incomplete' for me.)

So I suppose our family is getting bigger.

However, I know that my grandparents had more siblings who died, so even though they appear to have had smaller families, there were actually a lot more babies who sadly died.

Misfitless · 17/03/2011 20:36

Sorry - forgot to answer the question about how it affected me.

My childhood family dynamics still effect me deeply. There were almost 6 years between my sister and me - she hated me until she was about 18 and made it her life's work to make me never forget it!

I was lonely growing up - and longed to have more siblings to play with. I used to look longingly

I was determined that I wanted a big family with noise, laughter, a degree of chaos and a house that wasn't resembling a show home!

Mission accomplished!

RueLaChesty · 17/03/2011 20:41

i am one of 5, 2nd oldest but as the oldest was a boy i was treated as oldest. Very close still to all my siblings esp my 2 sisters.

Mum was 1 of 4 and dad was 1 of 11. After my gran had her 11th she had to have a hysterectomy. Before leaving the hospital she asked doc when she could fall pregnant again :( always makes me sad!

I have 2 but would love more, DP wanted 4 but after tricky delivery last time he wants to stop at 2.

DP is 1 of 3 and his mum is 1 of 13!

pink4ever · 17/03/2011 20:45

Maternal grandparents-

nana 1 of 9(might have been more as miscarriages/stillbirths not dicussed then). 2 died as children.
Grandfather-1 of 2(a sister) but he also had a twin brother who was stillborn.

Paternal grandparents-dont know.

Mum-1 of 3(a younger sister and brother)
Dad-1 of 9(4 brothers and 4 sisters)

Dh-1 of 3(but youngest brother died in childhood)
Me-1 of 6(1 full sister,2 half sisters and 2 half brothers).

Sister1-1 child(not having any more)
sister2-2 children
sister3-no children(yet)
brother1-no children
brother2-1 child

Me and dh-3 dcs.dh doesnt want anymore.I would probably have 1 more.

TheSecondComing · 17/03/2011 20:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

psiloveyou · 17/03/2011 22:10

I am 49.
My nan was a only child
Mum was only child
I was eldest of 4
We thought we were happy with DD (now23), then DS came along (10), then we adopted DD2 (3), then our family grew again with 2 long term foster children, then another foster child. So now we are a family of 6 children.