Dear Mumsnet please could we have a 'Larger Families' section?

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

rather like the 'multiples' section

it could be for 4+ children maybe and we can all get together and discuss how to run home soup kitchens/chinese laundry and whether or not Nick Leeson had the right idea for how to finance our broods?

I have mooted it before and people seem quite keen - it is different having a lot of children and it helps to have support

Thanks !

i certainly give mine jobs - ohh yes

I like the idea of them choosing their jobs though psycho

Re clothes - i love clothes and dressing children nicely etc - having four boys is a help although a gap og six years between ds2 and 3 means no hand me downs as i am not a hoarder - the opposite

my daughter tends to get a full wardrobe for her birthday which is handy - the boys once over 12 only want quicksilver etc and tk max can be good if you can be bothered

i like boden and do think it is worth the extra expense
shorts for example last years and years when handed down and t shirts soo much better quality than hennes for example .
hennes is fab particulrly for fashion conscious teen but for wash after wash quality not great

as for underwear i am with jeremy paxman on rhis - i used to be m and s everytime and they were great. nowadays they are so cheap and thin and baggy - i would rather pay more and have them last

now i buy gap or even vertbaudet for the littles

ooooh i am a bore!

I always get the Kids uncles and aunties to buy them clothes from Next and Gap for their birthdays

I always get the Kids uncles and aunties to buy them clothes from Next and Gap for their birthdays

And Dd4 is into Jane Norman which is ok coz I love the clothes too so we share!

No I mean dd1 dd4 is only 4!!!

oh mine are still all dress nicely and trendily paula, just not expensively!

I got 4 fab outfits for DS1 about 3yrs ago from Gap, and all items were just £1 each.

still looking fab and going strong, altho am thinking he may just have grown out of them this year, as I got them baggy as he like them and now he is grown more they will lose the baggyish look. DS2 will get them tho and won;t care that they are ever so slightly faded. well, the T's are, the shorts look still as good as new.

undies are bought from tesco/H&M/M&S/new look (for DD1 & 2), adams and Gap.

asda fall apart after a couple of times in the tumbler, as do primark.

psycho i am not sure my teenagers ever look great any more

they ruin shoes in minutes - refuse to wear coats
hair only gets washed when i insist

it's so sad!

easter eggs - we have over 20 all piled in tower fashion on top of the fridge

clothes - have 3 dd's so do the hand me downs but find only the better quality stuff lasts through to DD3....M&S, Gap, Debenhams, Next etc. DS (4mths) has got a ton of stuff as the family were excited we had a boy after 3 girls and went OTT. The girls mostly wear a mixture of hand me downs and new outfits as I am lucky to have a mum who has a bit of a shopping habit!

ttc - ahh, not sure, would love to go for #5...but finances/ space and sanity might prevent us

DS1 has a coat phobia ATM.......I may have cured it tho......

he refused a coat for school this week, and then he was the first to come down with the sicky bug, and has also been the last. I told him it was becuase of the lack of coat......he has apologized and for now is determined to wear a coat all the time.

I am very lucky with my teen and pre-teen so far. they are so fussy with smelling good anad with making sure their hair is not greasy I have no issues on keeping them clean.

shoes tho.......I despair. maybe if I got them to polish them tho, we wouldn;t have this issue.....but then......polish and 5 kiddies is a recipe for disaster!!!

o.....he was the WORST.!!!!

where did last come from????

Hey i could join too

Ds1 16.6
Ds2 12.6
Dd1 3.6
dd2 1.6

Won't be having anymore sadly as we decided after dd2 we couldn't afford another. Part of me is soooo regretting Dh having the snip

But i am enjoying motherhood more and more(most of the time)

All mine have to help tidy the house, well, not the 2 babies obviously!!
After I've cooked they tidy the kitchen, wash surfaces, load/empty the dishwasher sweep the floor.
I have a star chart in the kitchen and playroom and every time I see someone tidying well they get a star. Once they get 6 starts they get a little treat.

I'm buggered if I'm going to do all the work, they make the mess they tidy it up.As far as I'm concerned we function as a unit and help each other.
They also have room inspection charts in their bedrooms with a list of 'rules'.
We have 'inspection' once a day, that way things don't get out of hand, if I left it weekly they wouldn't be able to cope!

As far as laundry goes each child has their basket and once that is full of clean/ironed clothes it gets put away in their room. They also have a kit box of out of school clothes, cubs, gym, footy etc so once those items are washed and dried they go in to their box ad they know exactly where to find it come next week's activity.

Now socks..... I have an enormous basket into which get chucked all the socks that come out of the drier then once a week i or the kids pair them up and discover that there are at least 100 socks without any 'friends' where the hell do they go ?

Oh dear I sound like tyrant don't I ?

I'd best add to the list.

I have 5 (which includes my 2 wee weapons of mass destruction)

DS1 (15)
DD1 (13)
DD2 (9)
DT1 (4)
DT2 (4)

The wee weapons are g/b.

They each have their jobs to do. Sometimes they do them willingly, sometimes they don't. The key is that they do them!

Kittywise,the Mercedes traveliner you have?

I have a Mercedes V Class with 6 seats (takes 7 tho) so might be similar to yours? Like the A Team van?

I am a CM so looking for something bigger,how does yours do for gas etc? And is it easy to drive?

kitty....I love the idea of a box to fill with clean stuff to put away. for us at the moment I put it in piles downstairs for them each to carry up.....only problem then comes from them being either too lazy to put away straight away, or we are rushing out so it gets left. then a couple of days later I find the nice ironed pile kicked about, or even put back into the wash with their piles of dirty stuff they have just gathered up.

if they have a box, it would stay boxed nicely until they do put it away, or I can easily hide it if they start getting lazy again.

love it.......and will get some bought asap

So many different topics here - we really do need our own section!

Eggs - one each. I bought Cadbury's eggs that were just foil wrapped, with no outside box.

Clothes - we hand down what we can. DS1 and DD1 get all new clothes, and the others get clothes as presents or special treats. This is not a planned strategy, but just how things have worked out. We keep our number of outfits down to an absolute minimum, as it can get very overwhelming otherwise.

Chores - everyone has to muck in. If they are physically and mentally capable, they are fair game.

Here are mine:
ds 20
ds 18
dd 16
ds 15
dd 13
dd 11
dd 10
dd 8
dd 4

Wow, juule. Are they all still at home?

thud

One's at university so only home for the hols.

how big is your house juuuule....??

Not big enough
4bed (2dble, 2sngle rooms)

oooh..... ever so slightly smaller than ours then!

we are 3 dble beds and 1 sgle....and that is hard enough with all the wardrobe needs etc.

hats off to you for fitting them in.

altho for me, it makes DH's arguement for space (or lack there-of) being the reason for no more.

not that will be anymore now, as DH has had the snip!

We have five bedrooms - but the aupair has one.

Shall I tell you all a trick to banish the sock monkeys from your houses??

Tis very very simple.

Anyone can do it.

Yes, even you Juule

Ok, you all ready?

I don't want to to miss this.....

Ready??

Ok. here it is....

wear odd socks.

Lifes too short to worry about matching socks.
I just chuck them in their piles of washing and if they match I pair them if not, well too bad Boy-o...wear 'em odd.

and do you know what?

Its only very very occaisonally that I see any of them with odd socks. They find a matching pair themselves, even ds3.

I just wear odd ones.

Told you it was easy, there are never any lonely singleton socks because they all just get chucked in together