18 kids and counting C4 tonight (9pm 10/12/2015)

[seasidesally]

new episode shall we have a thread about it ??

So if the mum was 14 when she had her first child, and the father was 17 that's child abuse! I won't be watching again then as that cannot be condoned let alone celebrated!! What the hell were the grandparents thinking?!

It is interesting that they get really upset by people responding negatively about their family size. Their response is usually that they aren't claiming benefits so why should anyone care. The whole time/attention thing doesn't seem to occur to them, although Noel did mention this in the programme last night for the first time.

Does Sue have mild learning difficulties?

Although Sue had Chris at 14, it was a about 4/5 years before Sophie came along!

I only have 2 kids and they moan about the noise of the rest of the family and there's only 4 of us.

sea, I meant from a physical point of view. How could one parent cope.

They defend the resources the family drain, by saying the children will when adults will pay back. So far that has happened with one, the other is a carbon copy of her Mother. They don't even offer voluntary work in the community, it's all about them.

I wish them no ill will. I wish they would stop being disingenuous and trying to feed the public bullshit.

I really enjoy watching it. I would love to see the truth of what having a family that size is like. They seem nice enough.

Sue did annoy me when she said that any after 3 is easy, more are just easy. perhaps if the ither dcs are dojng the work

Did she say that and follow it with her laugh, nervous tic? I haven't watched it yet as it's not just her that does the daft laugh thing and I get irrationally irritated at them.

Sue's parents seem nice and they appear to be a regular feature in their lives. Sue got pregnant at 13, had her first at 14 and her mother looked after him while she went back to school. She was very fortunate that she had the family support that she did; it could easily have been a forced adoption.

Nobody gets WTC on earnings of 30k plus it will be much more than that with the blog , tv show etc.

I've never watched anything like this before and I was horrified if I'm honest. Absolutely not fair on the children, the state or the planet.

Makes me really quite cross actually.

It all seemed crazily chaotic, I couldn't stand it. Just recovering now from my two teens having two mates round earlier, shrieking and clumping about.

I'm sure I wouldn't even remember their full names, birthdays, hobbies, who their teachers are, who their friends are. In fact could they even have hobbies, the parents couldn't be running them all around to guides, scouts, football, ballet ......

The parents can't possibly have the time to be properly aware, and deal with, any insecurities or fears about school, friendship issues, phobias. Anything like that. I can't get my head round it.

I couldn't cope. 2 is plenty. If they have friends over I'm ready for them to leave after 2 hours that's for sure

How do they get everything done? Mine are primary age, and we spend 30min min per child every evening on reading and homework for school. So 1 hr. They would need 9 hrs a day to do the equivalent!

I agree Art, I had a couple of friends, with their children, my house was trashed, I was ready for them to go home after a couple if hours, and felt relief when calm was restored when they had gone home, having that 24/7, no thank you.

And they can't do anything ever spur of the moment, I mean sometimes we might decide to just eat out that evening whilst out already, you could hardly do that with needing 20 seats at a table!

And you can hardly visit anyone, I can just see my grandmothers face if we rocked up with 18 children to their twee little cottage

I hate the way the Radfords are so lauded for "really loving their kids". I mean, it's pretty much the bare minimum expected of a parent.

Yeah, so the children might all prefer sleeping three to a bed or whatever, but it's all they know. I feel sorry for them. I know I wouldn't have liked to grow up in a noisy, chaotic household, with next to no quality time with either parent, where meal times or bath times or homework is just a production line of siblings to be dealt with and moved on as quickly as possible. I don't think I would look back at my childhood and feel like I was cherished as an individual.

I suppose it's a good job they don't know any different, really.

I agree vague, it's all they know. I was shocked in the programme when I saw 2 3 child bunks in the bedroom. Looks so de personal. Where can the child have some quiet space when they feel it's all too much. The parents have enforced this onto the children. I remember in the very first programme, one of the boys said that the parents would not notice if he went missing, he looked quite sad really. Says it all. No thought is given when they procreate, only what they want and everybody should like it or lump it!

Yes that's a point. If they had regular income from C4 that might take them over the threshold for TC. I wonder how they have got round that? Maybe a PP is right when they suggest a trust for that money. Which would be fraudulent, IMHO.

Prof that post is pure speculation and imo quite out of order.

I remember that programme recently where they assessed whether a child was naughty or had additional needs - there was a boy there with several siblings/dogs and in a small cramped house when they found our his issues were due to additional needs and he needed a quiet space. How do you do that if you have so many kids that by the time a child has been diagnosed eith additional needs there is no way you can support them in what they need.

It is pure speculation, yes, of course.

No one needs to have 18 children. I really don't think its fair on the children as how much one to one time do they actually get with their parents?

I just read some of the early newspaper/magazine articles on the Radford's where they give a lot more info regarding their true life than is given now. It seems they are quite defensive about criticism now and make an effort to dispel any myths. Things like Sue's Mum coming over to help three days a week and how they got £160 per week in CB, which is something that they won't discuss nowadays.

They stated people with opinions on them, were keyboard warriors didn't they. Nobody would be interested if they didn't keep going to the press and making themselves a news topic, they pimped out their family, what do they expect? There is always a price to pay for fifteen minutes of fame.

I don't think that we can say it's not fair on the children, I mean we all make decisions about how we do things from going out to work, from going on holiday and leaving the children with other relatives, etc etc. I can't say that I have honestly only made decisions that are undoubtedly fair on my children all of the time and I don't think that any of us can.