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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Who DOES NOT have a cleaner but 4+ Kids??????

49 replies

NotAnOtter · 02/07/2006 20:47

ME!!!! and 5!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
NotAnOtter · 02/07/2006 22:35

sorry to hijack own thread do you think we should have our own section for 'BIG' families???

OP posts:
SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 22:38

I would pay for a gardener, I have a problem with getting the grass cut all the time and I have weeded my boarders once this year [lazy Mummy emoticon ]

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 02/07/2006 22:39

QE your family is remarkably similar to mine!
ds's 13.5 9.5 3.5 4 months
dd 11.5!

OP posts:
SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 22:41

Another area - but who would have the say on how big a family you need to have? (after all it would seem that 3 is considered abnormal now - when I tell people I have 4 they seem to have run out of dissaproving things to say as they just kind of jaw drop and blubber )

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 02/07/2006 22:43

maybe 4+???

i would love to be able to share and compare ideas of how we cope!

OP posts:
SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 23:03

Yes, it would be interesting - I have always wanted to know who to talk to about juggling all these after school clubs - and I only have 2 who are "after school" yet

Also it would be nice to associate with people who do not automatically assume that, because I have 4 children, I must be some kind of guru and obv. have absolutly no insecurities about parenting

cazboldy · 02/07/2006 23:09

I always find that people are very rude when I say I have 4. 1st it's always " you dont look old enough to have 4!" ( I am 24) and then its " are they all by the same dad?"

lilianna · 02/07/2006 23:12

does it really matter if they are by the same dad and what your age is? as long as you are not neglecting those children it shouldn't be a problem.
Thats the way i see it.

SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 23:14

Cazboldy - I like that question - it means I can say, No, they have one each. Has an amasing effect on people, espcially older people (although can be a shameful waste in sputtered coffee )

TBH I don't see it as rude, I was 27 when dd3 arrived and I get the young one all the time too, I just think that it is so unusual now that people just have no idea how to respond!

I mean people really agonise over having three, like it really is breaking some kind of social taboo to have, more than 1 or 2 children!

lilianna · 02/07/2006 23:14

being 24, i take it your kids are young or did you start having children at a very early age? just wondering how you cope.

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 02/07/2006 23:17

securemummy!! YES i agree..
People say about the baby ' you should know' and although i have experience i amstill not secure that what i am doing is right. Parenting is something new everyday and just cos we have a few does not make us immune to that
PLUS re the same dad comments - i have had that . DP and i are still not married and i can see peoples minds ticking over because i have a 6.5 year gap!!! Midwife asked me as well!

OP posts:
lilianna · 02/07/2006 23:20

i don't mean to sound rude asking it's just i'm always asked these questions. aswell as always being told i look 17 (i'm 20).

cazboldy · 02/07/2006 23:40

mine are 9, 6, 5 and 6months. I was 15 2months before my eldest was born.

SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 23:41

It does make me laugh that, on the one hand, we are the parenting cheif's and must by definition know everything there is to know about all children

And on the other, we are too stupid to realise that yes 4 is quite a lot of chldren and that yes the average birth rate is dropping

lilianna - you are just 20yo? well, that's it - I think you deserve a whole section to your self!

cazboldy · 02/07/2006 23:41

and I have been with my husband for 12 years in October and we got married 4 months after I turned 16 ( 8 years ago) and thankfully very happy!

cazboldy · 02/07/2006 23:42

yep I agree secur! WOW lilianna

fattiemumma · 02/07/2006 23:45

mum had 10 of us and never had a cleaner....she would have been horrified of the thought of someone else clearing up our mess.

milward · 02/07/2006 23:48

I've got 4 kids - from 8yrs, 5,3 & 9 months. Now my ds4 is mobile!! I find it hard to get any jobs done. So now house is a mess but still clean (I hope - but after reading the thread on others houses not so sure )

SecurMummy · 02/07/2006 23:54

Milward - I read through that thread and decided that I was fine on everything mentioned on it ...because I don't invite people to my house, ever

milward · 02/07/2006 23:58

good thinking securmummy! cringe when parents of my kids friends go round the house to find them if they're hiding when it's time to go home (what a fuss sometimes) - ahhhh no place is safe!

JanH · 03/07/2006 00:01

There is a whole website for large families:

4 or more?

(Has no link to MN though so maybe we should ignore it )

SecurMummy · 03/07/2006 00:05

Milward - yes, how is it friends always know to hide in the only place you have forgotten to clean for the last three weeks (ish )

JanH I am not sure I am quite brave enough to venture outside of MN quiet compound yet, I mean, I have heard all sorts of things go on out there

milward · 03/07/2006 00:12

Securmummy - I gave a lift to a friend the other day & just said that I hadn't cleaned the inside for a few weeks - then realised it was much more than that - ahh! another job that I haven't the time to do. Plus dd3 is scared of vacuums (another good excuse )

Will check the website out - thanks JanH

SecurMummy · 03/07/2006 00:17

Milward - I just got rid of the car that sorted that problem out

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