Me and my 10 kids mega families

[Namechange8471]

Watching on catch up.

Thoughts?

Apart from madness

I can't believe one family had only 3 bowls. She seemed to think it was funny that she never used condoms. Not so amusing for her kids who had to take it in turns to use bowls because they presumably couldn't afford any more and yet she was still having more kids!

I think the psychology behind it was summed up by the dad of the other family who said 'she just loves babies'. What about kids and teenagers though? I find my older kids still need a lot of time and attention and money. It seems unfair to put them in a position where they can't have any of that because 'mum loves babies'.

I couldn't understand why the woman with 9 kids wanted another? Surely being a single parent is tough enough, they were all clearly struggling too. The house was dropping to bits, non stair carpet, flooring etc.

Ohh what channel please?!

I think they suffer from a mental disorder. It's like a habit /addiction

5 star I think it was. I agree, I've seen some people compare it to hoarding before and I think it is a bit like that. There's no logical reason why you would keep on having kids you have no way of providing for.

Chaos, and for the most part not even organised chaos. I felt sorry for the ones who got changed into pyjamas as soon as they got home from school, and as a result were totally bored and disruptive inside the house. The barber scene was awful, especially as the dad had told us viewers exactly how much more on the ball he had to be than dads of smaller families, then proceeded to be totally ineffective at controlling any of his own kids.

Can these families not see what the rest of us see? Parents pulled in too many directions, not enough money, not enough time, not enough energy for that many children? I sincerely hope neither family has any more.

Thank you @Eric! I love stuff like this. Channel 5 is my guilty pleasure. I agree with the above. I thought the O'Rourkes kind of had it under control until it just all went tits up. Which they deserved after being so smug about how well behaved their kids are. The dad was like a chocolate tea pot, so obvious the mum does everything! Also I would never make my child have his hair cut if he screamed that much. Totally nessesary and awful for everyone involved. Poor little thing.
As for the single mum one... where are the fathers of ALL TEN KIDS?! How is that allowed to happen?! Hoping it's a series and not just a one off so we can see her baby is okay! X

What I want to know is how the O'Rourkes are funding their lifestyle? The dad only seems to be working mornings so I assume most of their income is tax credits. Having so many (and I assume no real education for the mum) will be a trap for them in the future, they will have to find jobs that just keep them within the UC threshold, there is no way they can support that many children alone. Her need for a newborn to get a new pram is very sad.

The single mum family are the epitome of why it pays not to work. Boyfriend lives separately, they have that one worked out well. She can go off to his for adult time and leave the kids at home. There was something very childlike about her, she doesn't seem like an adult and she is very reliant on her older children. I was horrified about her laughing about never using a condom, terrible example for her children.

I dont think making tv programmes about people like this helps them though , they probably think they can be the next Radford family and get some free holidays

Yes, I was horrified about the single mum's "never used a condom" comment. Shocking and depressing that she's just taking no responsibility for her own fertility (and neither is the kids' dad, of course. Will we see him in the next episode, he's conspicuous by his absence).

Interesting that the O'Rourkes were having conversations about choosing to have another baby, the underlying assumption being that they were using contraception.

I took it that the O'Rourkes dad worked early shift, probably something like 6am-2pm Mon-Fri, so full-time but obviously needing a hefty top-up from tax credits.

IVEgottheDECAF I dont think making tv programmes about people like this helps them though , they probably think they can be the next Radford family and get some free holidays

I agree to a point, but I also think that for every one who aspires to this lifestyle, there are 1000 others who think, "god no way, I don't want to be that family"

It does make you grateful that we have a welfare system, women in years gone by like the single mum would have had to put her children into the workhouse. Such a shame that children suffer because the parents are reckless.

Interesting that the O'Rourkes were having conversations about choosing to have another baby, the underlying assumption being that they were using contraception

I made that assumption as her husband did not look convinced that having another one would be a good idea.

Just watching this on catch up. I'm that there's only 3 breakfast bowls between 9 kids.

The 3 bowls thing wasn't actually true. At dinner time there were loads of lovely matching white bowls, that was just bad editing. I think she originally meant that there were only 3 that were plasticky type children's bowls.

All I kept thinking was I’d hate to be in the flat below her with no carpet on the stairs and all them kids running around. I noticed the fact she only had 3 bowls, it’s really not expensive to get a couple more. All her kids had like adidas and Nike shoes though

Eva, she has commented on social media posts to say the three bowls thing is because her kids are always smashing stuff.

I'm not sure if it's Sonjia or the way the documentary has been put together but there has been no mention of any help from any of the fathers, which is wrong. I know Lexi's dad who has her every weekend and pays maintenance weekly. I'm sure he isn't the only father to be doing so either.

First thing Sonya said I don’t do drugs and drink and all my money goes on my kids yet in the show there’s beer pack in the kitchen a pandora bracelet on her wrist and brand new nike air max on her feet and tax payers are paying for this

How do you know that? They could be gifts/second hand/knock off. Just because you're on benefits it doesn't mean you can't ever have anything nice.

The single mum lives just up the road from me. The Iceland she was shopping in is on the local precinct with TWO pound stores where she could easily grab a couple of packs of bowls. No reason at all for them to not have enough, especially when that shop was £20 under budget. There is also a Lidl next door to the Trampoline place (£10 per head so that wasn't a cheap hour) where she'd have gotten her shopping even cheaper, but wouldn't have gotten the free home delivery. Plenty of hands to help carry the shopping home on the bus though.

Shelli so are the dc from various fathers? I don't know how she can be bothered!

On planner. Will try and watch today

And here's me wondering whether we can justify a second...

From my understanding there are 4 fathers.

I haven't watched it yet, but I do wonder with these things how much is just edited for TV.

Do they get paid for appearing?