To parents with 3 kids...

[Bellasima20]

Could you tell me how much more hectic going from 2 to 3 is? Do you feel it is still the right decision? I'm about to have DC2 and think Id really love 3. People keep scaremongering me saying how much harder life would be in terms of practicalities i.e. cars/holidays and most importantly- once they are all at school- the mayhem that's involved with being a taxi service to clubs/activities/friends/parties as well as helping with exams and homework and the pressure that comes with being a parent at this stage. I feek confident having 3 smaller DC would be fine for me but its when they get older I question how we'd cope with different pressures.

Is it insanely pressure/mental?!

Reason I'd want 3 is the desire to have a bigger family, with bustling, fun, noisy (but controllable) chaos, I just have 1 sibling and always felt it would've been lovely if there had been 3 of us. Thanks.

There's always someone left out - but there's always someone to play with - rounding up three can be like herding sheep!

Worse I suppose is that society is set up for 4 in a family - 4 burgers in a packet - one adult = one child free

Family of 4 package deals - any type of family deal is for 4 - theatre cinema pizza places etc -

So it's annoying!

Yes I'm a mad taxi service but we have one night where nobody is allowed to do anything that requires mom power -

Keeping track of parents evening discos netball matches scouts etc can be hit and miss (must get better at this!!) a calendar is your friend

Lots of posts on how it is going from 2-3 etc but I think you were looking for some insight about how it is when they are older OP? I only have 2 who are now very close in age teenagers. It's undeniably hard work as they are both into activities that require a fair bit of parental involvement. We have 2 doing exams, DofE, Scouts inc camps, as well as other Sports activities and we don't live in an area with good public transport. I can't imagine that it would be easy adding in a 3rd child without a lot of compromises. Having said that, maybe it is the gap that is the issue more than the number of children? Maybe 3 with a bigger age spread would be easier than 2 close together?

I have 3 aged 9, 7 and 4.

It is chaotic at times, but we are all very happy. I'm glad we had three. They are all really well behaved and play well together ignores constant bickering

Good point OneMagnum, something to consider then op, is where do you live, regular bus service to town, we don't as rural, so lots of lifts at weekends now they are older. I don't mind though, I play my music on the way, listen to radio 1 when I pick them up

I love having three now and wouldn't change it for anything, but initially it was very hard, maybe that was more to do with having 3 under 3.5!! Plus number 3 was incredibly clingy - I was under the impression that no. 3 just fits in with whatever you are doing - not so in my case!

Practically it is more difficult, we're still sneaking the third one into premier inn family rooms as they don't offer a room for 5 people and we always have to book holiday homes/caravans for 6 as they rarely have ones for 5 people, I'm sure there are plenty more practical problems that come up. Obviously there are financial implications, even little ones that you might not think about. But in my opinion it's still worth it.

They are now at the ages where they can play together and are very rarely bored or need entertaining and I definitely agree that having three makes you realise how different they all are and how it's pointless comparing.

I found 2 to 3 much harder and certainly noticeably more expensive than 1 to 2.

But I think if you want a third then ultimately you'll be happy and you won't dwell on any of the aspects which mean extra work etc.

2-3 here was hard initially as we had three under three (what did I expect?!) but got much easier as time went on and they all got more independent. Dc3 is very easy going though thankfully so that definitely helped. They are a great little gang now, all with similar interests which helps too. The big thing at the time for us was having to change the car to an MPV to cater for the car seats. We've since gone on to have DC4 so it's all a bit of a blur now :)

Best of luck!

That's beautiful VocationalGoat love that

I think I'm going against the trend here but I have three and found 2-3 the hardest. I have big age gaps, which is better in some ways but harder in others (pre teen and toddler in same house isn't fun). Totally worth it but it is much harder than I expected...

We had three 4 and under. It killed us but also made us! We had to accept the limits of what we could achieve with three children in terms of fancy holidays, schools, after school clubs/activities, saving, home and general sophistication!😂😃 It was strangely liberating however. It unified us as a couple, us against them (tongue in cheek here), the children get along very well and it is not as bad as I feared. Key for us was making peace with the limits of the situation and accepting exhaustion.

I love my 3 quirky DC and could not imagine my life without them.

I agonised for years over whether to have a third- for all the reasons you'll see listed on the related posts in this topic. I can't overstate how glad I am that I let go of analysing the pros and cons and just went for it. DC3 is now almost 2, DD is 6 and big bro is 8. I am still amazed at the fact that we nearly didn't have him. The toddler stage IS blimmin hard work- all the climbing, night waking etc - but utterly worth it. I work 33 hrs pw and was lucky that our brilliant nanny came back, which removes an elements of chaos. The age gap was great in the early days - while older two were at school it was like having a PFB again. House is a dump but then we were never particular in that regard anyway. Holidays haven't changed- self catering all the way. Glad that in this case my fear of regret trumped my misgivings borne out of overthinking!

I love it. I have a biggish gap between 2 & 3 which means it's spread things out very nicely. We all adore ds3. However life can be very busy!

Three is fab.

Mine were 7 and 4 when I had dc3. It couldn't have been that bad because I went on to have dc4 and 5!

They are now 15,12,8,6 and 3 and we love it. The hardest bit was the 2 year gap between dc3 and dc4. I think age gaps make more of a difference. My sister has twins and I'd take my 5 over her 2 any day!

3 is the magic number
Mine are close in age which has worked well because they could all do the same stuff at more or less the same time, which has made holidays a breeze, for example.
It is expensive, shelling out for 3 of everything though, and no hand me downs.
Embrace the chaos, buy a big car and an even bigger family planner calendar and you will be fine!

I love having 3 and I'm so glad we did. But it's very busy. Much, much more work than having 2 dcs. Now that 2 of mine are at school it's a constant roundabout of drop offs, pick ups, homework, play dates, clubs, cooking, organising, cleaning.

4 here. Aged 12, 7, 4 and 11 weeks. 2-3 was hardest but that was down to number 2's personality. He was just a very difficult baby & toddler! I don't find it chaotic at all. There's a lot less mess then there was with just one as they would all rather play with each other then a mountain of toys. Holidays are a bit harder in the sense that you won't get into a hotel room but just look for self catering. We still have foreign holidays every year.
It's wonderful having a big family.