Hi there, just wondered... How many kids do you have!?

And ... Is it much harder than having say just 1 or 2 kids?

Why did you decide to have a large family? (or did it just happen?) Thanks

I'm curious as my sister has 8 kids! She really loves children so I guess that's why she had so many... They were all from the same marriage. I think she had 2 sets of twins. Started at 15 as far as i'm aware. She's a half sister that I haven't met yet... Anyone have this many???

Oh and - if you don't mind... Is it a struggle financially?

I have 3 soon to be 4.

Is it harder than one or two? It is more time consuming and you need to be more organised. "Harder" is a personal thing.

I decided to have a big family because it felt right. I'm an organised, practical person, with a big heart. I love watching them grow and develop, become their own little people with their own strengths and weaknesses. I also come from a big family, so perhaps that's part of the puzzle.

Is it a struggle financially? The answer is different for everyone. I'm fortunate enough to have married someone who is on a flying career path, so every time we get to a point where we have outgrown something (like a car, or currently the house) he seems to get a promotion and pay rise! I also work part time in my own business, which pays for daycare and fun holidays. We might have a reasonable amount of money, but we also spend it carefully and prioritise it.

Hi there. I have 6 children.


When I met my current partner we both had 2 children each and then we decided to have two more. So we are a bit of a mixed family. The ages of my kids range from 1 year, 2 years, 6 years, 8 years, 9 years and 16 years old.

It was not always my plan to have a large family but I love it. It is however harder than just having 2 children but I found once you have 3 kids or more the numbers don't really make any difference. There are times when we have the kids friends over and it is no different than having our six.

However it does take a lot of organising. There is much to remember with school excursions and events and so on.

I wouldn't change it for the world.

I have three kids and find it really hard work.

However, the issue for me is that I work from home, whilst looking after the kids. If I wasn't working, I am sure I would enjoy them a great deal more.

Also, there is a five year age gap between the first two - so I have now had preschoolers for nine years and have another three years to go. That is a long time to be looking after really small children and it seems there is no end to it.

Today I am overwhelmed and exhausted. If you asked me the same question on a different day, you would get a different answer.

ETA - Despite how difficult I find it, I wouldn't change it for the world either.

We have 5!

4!

14

Eta, it's extremely hard and extremely wonderful all at the same time.

HOLY !!! My boyfriends grandmother had 14 kids... But you rarely hear of that many kids now days

We have six. Like Michelle said... hard but wonderful.

5

It's hard and I get sick of the snide remarks.

Four. I always thought I would have one child, but dh convinced me to go for #2 and then after that I was hooked.

It is a struggle some days, just like it was when there was one kid or two. You learn to balance and adjust your time. None of my kids want for attention or one on one time.

Financially- I think this kind of question is offensive, sorry. I don't like that large families are constantly questioned about how they afford stuff or what assistance they receive. Families with two children never get asked. We have what we have and budget.

We have 8.
Yes it's hard work and expensive, it is also extremely rewarding and we are very happy (most of the time ).
From a financial point of view I think having a large family is quite different from having 1, 2 or 3 children, especially as they get older. How you cope financially would depend on individual circumstances.
I'm actually a very disorganised, go with the flow type of person. Although I've become better, it is organised chaos at best in our household.

We have four.... it just happened oops. The plan was 2 but I am so glad we have 4. I would love more but DH says NO!

How many kids do you have!?
5

Is it much harder than having say just 1 or 2 kids?
Sure is - if we stopped at two life would have been cruisey (but would I have known that???). Smaller everything - car, house, bills, needs/wants...

Why did you decide to have a large family? (or did it just happen?)
I always wanted 3 . Dh wanted 4. We ended up with 5.


Oh and - if you don't mind... Is it a struggle financially?

We both work. My kids have everything they need and enough of the things they want.

That said I am extremely happy with my place/choices in life. I would love to do it all over again!

I have five. Yes it is much busier than having one or two. There is always something happening. I do try to keep our lives with a lot of downtime though.

Only a small family here, with 4 children.

Wow! One of my clients is the eldest of 19 - he is 60 and his baby sister has just turned 30! You should see their family xmas photo, now that most of them have kids of their own!!

Big families are an amazing thing. My parents are both the oldest of 6, I'm the oldest of 4 and have (nearly) 4 myself. I have around 30 cousins, but now that they are starting to have kids I'm struggling to remember all their kids names! Especially the one that is married to the grandson of the Maori king, gee, their son has a crazy long Maori name! It's very sociable and I think it really helped me when growing up to have all those people around me.

My sister's partner is the total opposite. His parents are only kids, and he has one brother, no cousins. He was completely freaked out by the idea of meeting my kids, but is turning into a really great uncle. He's young enough to play lots of sport with the boys, which is all they seem to want in an uncle

How many kids do you have!? we have four and one on the way.

Is it much harder than having say just 1 or 2 kids? We stopped at two for awhile and time wise, financially it was a lot easier, we could just pick up and go on holiday, had a kid for each hand, they were both going off to school so I was back at work etc etc. The jump from 2-3 was hardest for us because it was a big family adjustment for everything, the jump from 3-4 and now 4-5 is a lot easier. It comes down to being organised, making sure that each child gets individual attention and that you all get some down time when you need it.

Why did you decide to have a large family? (or did it just happen?) We stopped at 2, then decided to go back for 2 more. #5 was a bit of a long discussion over 18months that finally ended in up in us agreeing to have one more. I know that I am done after this one, however DH jokes around that he'd go back for more

Is it a struggle financially? Depends what you define as a struggle, could we do with more money, well who couldn't? DH works fulltime and we balance things quite well, the bills are paid, there's food on the table every meal and if the kids need something they get it. The kids don't miss out on school activities and we go out and do family things as often as possible, we enjoy each others company a lot more then material possessions which makes a big difference in how we define 'comfortable'.

The only thing I get sick of is being asked if they are all planned and this morbid curiousity into our lives like we are some freak show on display for all to poke at because we're doing something outside the norm.

I'll note that I wasn't asking to offend anybody. I already stated that my sister has 8 kids... I don't think you're a 'freak show'

I guess asking about the financials was a bit silly because I know people with 2 kids who 'struggle' and both parents have to work full-time. Yes it does just depend on circumstances.

I guess I was asking because I thought it might have it's benefits - eg: handing down clothes and toys, etc.

If you thought the question was offensive, you shouldn't have answered!!! Feel like I'm being prosecuted for being interested.

I have 6 children (less than 8yrs between them all, no multiples). Some things are much harder than it is with 2-3 kids. I recently went grocery shopping with only 3 of them, it was so much easier just to walk across the carpark! But, I believe more kids play better together and entertain each other better.

Financially, no it's not a struggle. But, I haven't yet tried to get a decent sized house (we're in a 4bedroom, 1 bathroom atm). I would dearly love an extra couple of bedrooms and atleast 1 more toilet, but this isn't an option at the moment.

There are definatelythe benifits you mention; hand me down clothes and toys and general equipment. However, I've found most items aren't designed to last that long, for example, my pram has been replaced a few times over the years. My boys tend to play in the dirt and mud, their clothes don't last too long. My girls have opposite taste in clothes, hand me downs isn't an option there.

The LF thing kinda just happened; was going to be 3 kids, then I got "just one more" disease....only recently got cured!

Sorry, my reply in that regard wasn't directed at you, I expect these kinds of questions on the large family board and I'm happy to answer them here, it's complete strangers out in public that approach you and make offhanded comments that I was referring to. Sorry for the confusion.

Four on Earth, One in the stars.

If I have struggles, it's not with the number of children - more other things in life, I think, in general.

I don't know if we started out with a 'number' in mind... maybe we did but not out loud... anyway, #3 made that decision for us.

We have 6. Yes it is hard. We often dream about how easy it would be with only two or three. But I wouldn't give any of them up for the world. The main thing I find hard is because of our age gaps it is hard to find something that everyone can do at the same time and the poor little ones get dragged around alot to all the older ones sports/activities etc.

We both work so financially it is not a problem at the moment, but obviously if we didn't have so many children we could have a much better, bigger house. But then again we wouldn't need it then would we.

We never really planned how many we would have, we just knew when we were done - which was actually at 5 then another one suprised us!!!!

I do hate all the comments from other people though, I never tell people that they shouldn't have had two kids or one. Its not like they have to look after our kids or feed them etc.

Bec

We have 5 here Our eldest son is 5 years old, then we have a 4 yr old son, a 3 yr old son, and now 4 month old twin daughters.

I find it rather easy sometimes, we have a lot of family support & whenever we find ourselves in a financial pickle I have had the amazing support of my Dad who helps us out (eg. an unexpectedly higher electricity bill, etc) so we are very blessed!

The pressure of 5 kids all so close together can be a little stressful at times particularly if I'm having a "disorganised" phase. Staying on top of the housework and washing etc is the key for us. Also paying for things in bulk keeps us out of trouble most of the time.
Getting the kids to do lots and lots of jobs (the ones they can manage) is believe it or not a huge help. My 3 boys help with a lot of things even though they are very little still.

The lack of energy is a big struggle sometimes. Since having our twins 4 months ago I have struggled to keep my energy up to deal with tantrums, sibling rivalry, little wants/needs etc. I had a massive pph so that has a lot to do with my lethargy and fatigue. But as time goes by it does get easier I am really looking forward to Christmas this year with our 5 kiddies. I love our big family! We never planned to have that many kids but I am so glad we did. If we were millionaires I would love to have more but we have DEFINITELY stopped now

We have 6 aged 3 months - 10 years
I don't find it hard, challenging at times (but having 1 child was challenging at times too) but still not hard.

Busy - definitely though, I've learnt to be a LOT more organised since we had #4 and I think thats what helped #5 and #6 fit in so easily! Would love to have another 2 more but can't so 6 is it!

We have 5 (13 down to 3). All boys.

I dont find them hard at all. They are SN so a bit harder than the average bear, but that aside I think its just as easy with 2 as it is with 5.
I homeschool them as well, so we are together 24/7.

Financially I cant comment as they are very expensive due to thier issues.

Overall though as I said, if you ignore the special needs, having 5 is not that hard at all IMO, and I would have had more if age and sucky genetics werent in the way.

4.

Grew up wanting none, changed my mind, had one. Decided to give her a sibling. DH convinced me to go for one more and after we had that third, we got a surprise baby when I was 44!

.

We have 4, and I love it!!

4 here, aged 9, 7, 3 and 5 months.

I found the jump from 1 to 2 the hardest.

DH and I are seriously considering 1 more.

How many kids do you have!? 6

And ... Is it much harder than having say just 1 or 2 kids? Um.. yeah I think it's definitely harder than say 2, because there are 4 more.

Why did you decide to have a large family? (or did it just happen?) Dh wanted 6, I said maybe 4. We ended up with 6.

And financially we are fine. It's tight, but we get by.

3 is more then enough for me

4 hopeful going 5. God please give me a

We have 7 and love it.

We have 5 aged 16 to 4 yrs

Hubby and I would love to have at least 1 if not 2 more.

We have 10 earth children and three angels.......and what Shell14 said

I have 5 and I am done, despite being sad about it right now. I could probably keep going but dont want too big an age gap between my first and last.

It is defintely harder with more kids, especially as they get older and the fighting begins! At the same time though, it is so much fun and the kids never get lonely.

Financially, it doesnt make a difference to me. You learn to live with what you get.

How many kids do you have!? 5

And ... Is it much harder than having say just 1 or 2 kids? It's busier, but i wouldnt say harder.

Why did you decide to have a large family? I've laways wanted a big family and so has my husband.

Financially we are fine. I wouldnt have had so many if we were struggling. We certainly arent 'rich' but our kids have way more then they need and we are awesome at budgeting

I have 4 and we are TTC another one which should complete our family.

I actually find more is easier but it could have a lot to do with the age gaps we have. We didn't plan as many as we have as DH only wanted 2 and I wanted 4 but we are hoping to get one more.

Next month we will have 3 cant wait! So we will have 3 living kids, however have birthed 4 (our angel passed June last year.)

Thanks for all the replies

I've been thinking more and more about having a big family - but I guess I won't know until I begin! (I don't have children right now)

I had another question... Do you feel like you get enough quality time with each child?

Hi i have 5. 2 are at school full time and i have 3 at home full time. i love it and wouldnt change it for anything. i would also love to add to them but my body needs a break.
quality time is hard. because i have 3 at home i spend more time with them so i try really hard to spend time with my older 2. my hubby does alot with the older 2 and needs to spend more time with the younger 3. its a balancing act that we all have trouble with.

a friend of mine once said to me that you know when you are done when you cant spread yourself any further. so i think im done. spreading myself over 5 kids is just right for me at this stage