Watching documentary about the family with 22 kids!

[mothersdayhmm]

The Radley family. How do they do it? They seem to be really good parents actually. I cannot imagine how you cope with so many kids though. My blood pressure is through the roof just watching this! There are multiple dogs as well! I have 2 kids (adults now) and that was enough for me. How will they cope if all 22 go to Uni? My brain is fried!

I think your head has started to run away from you, gain some perspective

We have 5 kids. Soon to be 6. There are families with 2 kids or 3 who could have conflicting events on during the same evening. My husband and I have a really good shared organsier on our phones and made sure we never miss anything. We’ve never once missed a sports day, nativity or anything despite both working. We work our shifts so one of us is always home with kids- so someone is always available. They all have their own interests and hobbies- they don’t all like extra curriculars as such (two are neurodivergent and wouldn’t cope) but anyone who wants to take something up, can. We do one on one days out and trips etc as we recognise they won’t all want to do the same things, and want to make sure they get quality time with us. We bend over backwards to make sure they aren’t disadvantaged by us choosing to have a larger family. There are plenty of families on here with kids in nursery from 9 months old- both parents out the house from 8am to 6pm 5 days a week who literally only see their parents for dinner and bed on weeknights. Nobody ever points out how little quality time these children get with their parents. Whether you 1 or 10 children- the time and availability you offer them is very much a choice.

A girl in my class in high school had 21 brothers and sisters. This was in the early 70s.