I grew up in a big family....an actual big family: Kelly, Jordan, Heather,Samantha, Christopher, Candice, Natalie(ME), Nichole, Angelique, and Cameron. Ten of us plus parents. So. when I was watching a talk show the other day and the host commented to her guest who has three children, "Wow, that is a lot of kids." I laughed. Three isn't "a lot" is it? We have three. Does the world at large view a family with three kids as a big family? Then the other day I took the kiddos to visit Daddy at work. As we entered his staff room at the hospital with me pushing the baby in a stroller and the older two running around....I suddenly felt like I did have a lot of kids. We filled his office with bodies and noise. It was beautiful. Am I seriously a lady with a bunch of kids? What if we have a few more? Will we start getting jokes about being like the Duggers? "The doctor and his wife plus eight?" We are of the mind set that every child is a blessing...that doesn't mean we plan on having 20 though, so just calm down! It was just a strange transition that took place in my mind that day. For a moment I didn't feel like the young thing I usually feel like. I felt like a Mom with 3 kids. Very weird...and pretty awesome.
3 comments:
Yeah, that's a weird thing I've noticed, too. In the ex-pat world, families are normally two kids max--esp if there's a boy and a girl. (Sometimes I even run into people who only want one kid and are super adamant about it.) Less kids sure makes traveling easier (everyone can sit next to each other on the plane...only need one taxi...you can get by driving a compact car...) but I think people regret "small family" decisions when their kids get older. (Of course, I have no experience with the later point. I only know about parental regret from older people telling me about it.) Keep up your "big family" ambitions! (Only a few more and you, too, can star in your own reality TV show...;)
Yeah, that's a weird thing I've noticed, too. In the ex-pat world, families are normally two kids max--esp if there's a boy and a girl. (Sometimes I even run into people who only want one kid and are super adamant about it.) Less kids sure makes traveling easier (everyone can sit next to each other on the plane...only need one taxi...you can get by driving a compact car...) but I think people regret "small family" decisions when their kids get older. (Of course, I have no experience with the later point. I only know about parental regret from older people telling me about it.) Keep up your "big family" ambitions! (Only a few more and you, too, can star in your own reality TV show...;)
When I was pregnant with my 4th child while we lived in Idaho, I received a lot of grief from others who felt it was their business to ask me if I was done having children. I had a ton of trouble bringing #4 into the world because my body tried to have him 10 weeks early and as a result I had to stay in the hospital 4 weeks because of that. Even though people from church were nice enough to babysit the other three while Jason went to graduate school and bring in meals, we still received many comments from those at church that were curious to know if this child I was carrying was our last. People felt that by me having 4 was plenty and a huge family. I know what you must feel like since I've been there and especially now that we live in Iowa, people seem to be less tolerant here of anyone having more than 2 children. When I was pregnant with my 6th child while living here in Iowa I received comments daily like, Is this your last child?, You do know what causes this? etc. I think it's great when anyone decides to have more than 1 child. I understand when people can't conceive and so having one child is all that can be for their family, however I feel that if you can have more than 1, that it is something that is such a blessing to have a larger family. If those who only chose to have one realized the joy of what it's like to have 2 or more, I feel that everyone would have more. Your children are adorable by the way.
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