I have my hands full with two kids. But I make no judgments about large families. My husband is from one (5 kids) as is my mom (8 kids).
But this story about a mom pregnant with her 18th child caused me to pause. I can't imagine having energy for that many kids. But that's me.
Here's the top of the story, from the Associated Press.
LITTLE ROCK - It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's pregnant with her 18th child.
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.
"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.
Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.
Kudos to her! Wow! I have
Kudos to her! Wow!
I have four kids and run my own in-home daycare so I couldn't imagine having all of these kids on a daily basis 24/7! I would be flat out exhausted!!!!
My husband is 6th oldest out
My husband is 6th oldest out of 17. All from the same parents. She populated half of Queen Creek lol. I do not know how is mom did it. I am stopping at 2, thank you.
DD 3 years old EDD #2 C/S sched for 6/9/08.
Well, in all fairness, kids
Well, in all fairness, kids kind of take care of each other after a certain age. I am not saying that I don't give her credit for giving birth and taking careof 18 kids,beacuse I do, but it might now be as much as you make it out to be. I am sure some of those kids are in thier teens if not early 20's so I am sure mom gets some help.
Cruz Family Day Care
~Samantha Cruz
I've watched this family on
I've watched this family on TV. They are remarkable people! Their kids are so well behaved and loving--it's crazy how helpful they are! And the parents both are so loving and involved with each and every one of kids, it's just great. I personally can't imagine having a big family, let alone 18 kids, regardless of whether the older kids take care of the little ones, but they make it work and are an inspiration to other parents. Kudos to this family!!
My dad was the yougest of 13
My dad was the yougest of 13 (actually 14, but he had a brother who died of polio on his 5th birthday)....big familes like that are not common these days but if she's got the energy and the means, God bless her.
As one of the other posters pointed out.....in my dad's case many of his siblings were grown or close to it when he was born....I still can't imagine his mom actually giving birth so many times, the wear on her body must have been great because she died relatively young, I think she was in her early fifties,/late forties at the most.
I LOVE watching the Duggar
I LOVE watching the Duggar specials! I can't imagine having that many children and not being crazy. They all help pitch in and see to be very happy, intelligent and well adjusted. The only thing that bothers me about it is that these children did not ask to have to become "parents" so early in life. When Mom has a new baby she is it's buddy until it is weaned and then one of the older children takes over helping with the daily care of that child. Seems to work for them.
I love to watch this show,
I love to watch this show, too. They make Jon & Kate Plus 8 seem like slackers (a show we also watch). They are very organized. I think their religion/faith has a lot to do with how they live their lives, and perhaps plays into why they have so many children, but the shows never focus too much on their beliefs.
GopherGirl
This is a great show! I like
This is a great show!
I like how the kids truly seem to LOVE eachother and work together so well. This family is doing SOMETHING right, so having another is good for the world!
I wonder how she has the
I wonder how she has the energy and financial aspect of it covered! Good luck to her!
There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one!
I understand loving children
I understand loving children and loving to hold children and loving how children love you, but at some point your decision to have children becomes a decision we all pay for.
I'll probably get flamed, but I think after a certain point it is a selfish decision to have more children. If you want more children great! but find some that already exist who need love and attention.
18 kids will mean 18 cars, will mean 18 houses someday. Pollution for 18, food and litter for 18, water use for 18, then if each of them have 18 kids (which they won't but for the sake of arguement), where there were 2 people originally there are now 324 (now this doesn't account for the 18 spouses, but you get the picture.)
So, count me out as someone who is impressed with her uber-fertility. I don't think it is fair to the kids she has, and I don't think it is fair to my kids who now live in a world with more stress on it then it has to have.
I always thought zero population growth was the most socially conscience thing to do, and then I got pregnant with twins, so I lost a bit of my high moral ground (lol) but still - 18 is crazy.
I think it must be a disease like the opposite of the disease where you kill your kids for attention. I think she gives life to her kids for attention.
Having said that, God bless them all. Once a baby is born I think it should be loved and cared for.
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.
Kids from larger families
Kids from larger families are often better 'stewards of the environment' than children from of one or 2-child parents.
They learn very early about reusing and recycling, about efficient use of water and energy, and about making the most of everything because money is usually tight and resources must be carefully managed. Only children or other small family kids, on the other hand, often have no same sex sibling to give 'hand me down' clothes and toys to, and so it's easy to see everything as disposable. These kids are also much less likely to have time limits placed on their use of water for the shower, and one kid watching TV takes up the SAME amount of electricity as 18 kids watching, and the same is true of driving ONE kid to the park as opposed to a bunch.
So yes, they will produce a bigger carbon footprint, but overall they will more likely hand on their thrifty (and thus resource saving!) habits to those around them and to the next generation.
But a bunch of kids at the
But a bunch of kids at the park is using resources other can't. If you arrive after this family, their family is taking up the picnic tables that 2-4 families could otherwise be using, same with playground use (and they only paid taxes for 1 family.)
Is this your opinion that they use less or have you seen research? It is an interesting hypothesis, and I agree a few things don't change with more kids, but I don't think I buy your arguement on the whole. 18 toilet flushes, diapers for 18, food and food packaging for 18, transport for 18 (2 vans or 1 really big one?)... trash and energy use for 18 will be trash and energy use for 18 with few exceptions.
Only a few families do this, so it is certainly not a national crisis at this time. Luckily our world can still handle their decision.
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.
I like to watch the Duggar
I like to watch the Duggar family also on tv. It amazes me on how organized they are. What is even more surprising is how young the mom and dad both look!
These people have a system
These people have a system that's for sure. I'm going to go with two in my lifetime if that's possible. I can barely handle my one right now!!
Lisa - Mom to her spunky little Scarlette
I like watching the show as
I like watching the show as they are definitely a unique family, but I am a little opposed to the fact that the children aren't really able to fulfill their childhood with being a child. I mean they are and they aren't if that makes sense. I agree with teaching responsibility and helping out and having responsbilities around the house and that type of thing, but have the responsibility of a younger sibling forced upon them. I personally think that it's parent's responsibility to ensure children are cared for, taken care of, fed, bathed, have clean laundry, etc. etc. and this responsibility shouldn't be forced or rather passed down to a child due to the parents choice to have an excessive amount of children. These children that care for their younger siblings weren't born to be babysitters although most of their younger and adolescent life is lived as just that. Like I said I think it's important to teach responsibility, accountability, etc. to all children but I don't think it necessarily should be done at the expense of another child and having to be responsible for them.
Just my thoughts .....
I saw them on the Today show
I saw them on the Today show this morning. The Mom announced another baby is on the way! Holy cow! The oldest son said "well, ya, I guess that's about right, it's been nine months." It was kinda funny.
It's not something I could partake in that's for sure. But to each his own.
The Duggar family genuinely seems to love their children and living this way so that's all that matters.
Personally I love watching "Josh and Kate Plus Eight" on TLC. It reminds me to count my blessings!
I love Jon & Kate plus 8; my
I love Jon & Kate plus 8; my daughter loves it too!!
I don't watch "Jon and Kate"
I don't watch "Jon and Kate" because their whole story and anyone that has had sextuplets, is an abuse of medical science. I think it is completely ridiculous that more and more women are having quints, septuplets and sextuplets. These women are being implanted with way too many embryos, or being way over stimulated by the injectables.
DD 3 years old EDD #2 C/S sched for 6/9/08.
I like watching the Duggar
I like watching the Duggar family shows as well. I don't know how they stay so organized.
jesshod is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.
Lovemy4 - I think I
Lovemy4 - I think I understand the jist of your comment and why you might feel they are being selfish. While the family expecting their 18th child is indeed organized and they take great care of one another, they are receiving government and church subsidies in abundance. The mother/father are forthcoming with that info (although it is not regularly discussed). Most of their ability to survive has been at the hand/will/grace of others. That is a fact.
They did help finish building their house w/"sweat equity," but truth be told, they are pulling heavily on resources outside of the pool they generate.
Is that the intention of your comment?
Mouse_tales is a discussion leader in the East Valley for arizonamoms.com. She is a business owner, community volunteer, and aspiring runner (whew!), who most enjoys her roles as wife & mom. Her children range in age from 4 to 13.
That would be my only issue
That would be my only issue with it......if you want to have a big family, then you had better be able to support it on your own. I don't think people should feel obligated to limit their family size based on some sort of "green" mindset or environmental concerns....there are enough people choosing not to have children at all - more than ever before - to offset the family size..........but if you have a mess of kids without any intention of providing for them YOURSELVES with no government assistance, then that is wrong and it is selfish. Why should we - those of us who work and pay taxes- have to support them?
I only have one child, because that's what I feel I can provide for comfortably.
I had no idea what their
I had no idea what their financial set up was so I wasn't talking monetarily, my point was that now where 2 were -18 are, and that HAS an impact on the entire world. Some positive, but also negative. I wouldn't think Bill Gates should have 18 either.
My comments were to share my feeling that they are helping themselves to more resources (earthly and now I know financially) than I feel any one family is entitled to in this modern age. If they are using church subsidies, those subsidies aren't available for other families, so again, scarce resources are being used because of their decision to have 18 children.
So, as long as more people don't feel this entitlement, we'll be o.k. if more do, there will be "green" concerns for both money and the environment.
Katy, have you watched "An Inconvenient Truth"? They show a graph of population trends and even if some people are not having kids, with more people surviving longer the world population is growing, especially in third world countries. It is also obvious that if we are going to continue to populate we're going to have to make sure technology keeps up. When I think of how much Phoenix has grown in the past 20 years with moderate to low population growth in the US, I wonder where we are going to keep putting people.
So, I am glad the family is happy and healthy, but I think they have used more than their share at this point and should stop. This is of course my own humble opinion.
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.