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"Mom delivers 16th child" - Is there something wrong with this?

I think the story has it at 9 bathrooms...I'll have to re-read it.

There are 10 children aged ten years or below, and five of those are 5 or younger. How the hell can the parents devote any quality time to any individual child with a newborn, and a one year old...plus 14 others to look after?

edit: "The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family from the northwest Arkansas town of Rogers has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers."
 
Like I said, the oldest ones are roped into looking after the younger ones.

I wonder how many washing machines they have? with 18 people, they'd be doing laundry constantly-the machine would be going day and night. :eek:
 
Well, Oskar Schell summed it up this way:

(I'm pasting from Shade's EL&IC post)

Anyway, the fascinating thing was that I read in National Geographic that there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn't, because there aren't enough skulls!
 
Motokid said:
I think the story has it at 9 bathrooms...I'll have to re-read it.

There are 10 children aged ten years or below, and five of those are 5 or younger. How the hell can the parents devote any quality time to any individual child with a newborn, and a one year old...plus 14 others to look after?

edit: "The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family from the northwest Arkansas town of Rogers has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers."
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I did notice the sets of twins..thankfully mine came one at a time, with at least 14 months spacing, sometimes more like 18 months. All I know is, time with the kids can be done. I wonder if they homeschool. This would encourage the quality time you are concerned about. I expect the kids to do a certain amount of upkeep on the house. We've divided the rooms and paired off the kids so that the youngest kids are working with an older child or myself(The four year old just has to help clean up the messes he makes). Then we rotate rooms per week. It certainly isn't perfect and there are abuses..such as the dd who bribes the others to the dishes..but I think my kids will be better prepared to take care of their own homes someday than I was when I married. Even my laziest child is aware that clean dishes don't get done by elves in the night.
 
Kenny Shovel said:
I would have thought this was a tradition in many cultures around the world.
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But that brings into question: Should a young teenager be helping with the parenting, or should the young teenager just be being a young teenager?

Is it better to have the child playing little league baseball, or going to gymnastics, or into scouting, or should the child be home cooking dinner for the other kids, doing laundry, and changing diapers?
 
StillILearn said:
Well, Oskar Schell summed it up this way:

(I'm pasting from Shade's EL&IC post)

Anyway, the fascinating thing was that I read in National Geographic that there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn't, because there aren't enough skulls!
Click to expand...
That's an interesting quote; complete bollocks of course:
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/dead.htm
 
Motokid said:
But that brings into question: Should a young teenager be helping with the parenting, or should the young teenager just be being a young teenager?

Is it better to have the child playing little league baseball, or going to gymnastics, or into scouting, or should the child be home cooking dinner for the other kids, doing laundry, and changing diapers?
Click to expand...

I don't know the answer, but when I was 15 my parents looked after my oldest niece while my sister worked. When I got home from school and on school vacations the baby got foisted off to me. While I loved my niece and most of the time enjoyed playing with her, I was always glad when my sister took her home. I also learned firsthand how much work a baby is, so I didn't have any romantic notions of having a baby before I could responsibly take care of one. It's a pity that so many teenagers and young women never learned that lesson till they had a baby. Somehow, carrying around an egg or a sack of flour or even a doll with a computer chip doesn't quite cut it.
 
Motokid said:
But that brings into question: Should a young teenager be helping with the parenting, or should the young teenager just be being a young teenager?

Is it better to have the child playing little league baseball, or going to gymnastics, or into scouting, or should the child be home cooking dinner for the other kids, doing laundry, and changing diapers?
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We've tried very hard not to go overboard in expecting the older kids to babysit or whatever. I've never made them do laundry for the family, just their own, or maybe help fold a load to empty the washer and dryer for their own clothes. Changing diapers usually fell to me unless I was gone and they were babysitting(I rotate who's in charge and will asign one older to a different younger child). What all this means is, of course the teens feel overworked! Show me a teen who doesn't feel his/her parents expect too much. A nice side benefit is, they are much in demand as paid babysitters from others. They don't lose their cool too easily, and when the oldest two babysat a family with three rambunctious boys who decided to dance nude in the sprinkler.. my girls just laughed and told them to smile when their mom or the UPS guy drove up..So, I don't know that we've hurt any of them too badly. My second dd is an education major, and will be a great teacher.
 
For my region and generation, I have a large family (four children). There are only a few families around here that are bigger than mine. While I cannot spend tons of time every day with each one of my kids, there are some hidden advantages to having a larger family. On the subject of attention. Do you have any idea how spoiled my youngest is for my oldest? When he was a newborn, she would hold him for 5 minutes and he would be out like a light. Now that he is two, he climbs into her bed in the middle of the night as often as he climbs into mine. The kids give each other so much attention! My older son has to spend a certain amount of time reading aloud for his homework and what an attentive audience my youngest son is. He pays better attention to my older son when he is reading to him than to me when I am reading to him. As far as the older ones being roped into caring for younger ones, to me, that is simply part of being a member of a family. Family members take care of each other. Family. Not a group of people who just happen to live in the same house. When I go back to school and then to work, I expect my older girls to take care of the boys after school until they can take care of themselves. That is being part of a family. Everyone contribues in some way. But anything above and beyond that, will be a paid job, like if hubby and I go out on a date, whoever is the sitter will get paid.
 
I'd like to hear a feminist's viewpoint. The mom with 16 children (and likely more) could be seen as little more than a baby-making machine.
 
Well said cajanmama! Another neat thing I've seen with my crowd, is the way they get excited when the littlest guy does or says something new. I've seen them trying to share this with their friends from much smaller families, and those poor kids just look blank. They don't get what the fuss is about, while we're all having a blast over the latest cool thing the kiddo is doing. And they help ME notice this stuff too. Then there's the stuff they purposely teach the little guys, like to dance to Toby Mac's music and quote movie lines..I don't think anyone is starving for attention around here.
 
I do agree, though that 16 is a bit excessive. She has spent 12 years of her life pregnant, oops make that 11, I forgot about the twins. :rolleyes: I love my kids, but I am so relieved not to be spit-up on, drooled on, chewed on, have to pack up half the house to go anywhere, and diapers!!! My last one is potty trained and only wears them at night. This baby-making machine has been retired.
 
abecedarian said:
Well said cajanmama! Another neat thing I've seen with my crowd, is the way they get excited when the littlest guy does or says something new. I've seen them trying to share this with their friends from much smaller families, and those poor kids just look blank. They don't get what the fuss is about, while we're all having a blast over the latest cool thing the kiddo is doing. And they help ME notice this stuff too. Then there's the stuff they purposely teach the little guys, like to dance to Toby Mac's music and quote movie lines..I don't think anyone is starving for attention around here.
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YES!! They get just as excited over new happenings as I do (sometimes even more, I think). And hero worship can be a handy tool, too. (look at big brother using the potty, you can do it just like him!)
 
Miss Shelf said:
I'd like to hear a feminist's viewpoint. The mom with 16 children (and likely more) could be seen as little more than a baby-making machine.
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I understand, and appreciate your wish to hear from a woman's view,but why is only a "feminist" view relevant? Just because a woman chooses to have as many children as God sends, does not mean she's "just a babymaking machine."- whatever that is. She's a thinking individual, with a mind of her own. Believe me, if she didn't want those kids, she'd have done something to "close the factory." Why is a woman who doesn't follow the feminist line viewed with such low regard?
 
"Jim Bob Duggar, who sells real estate, previously lost his bid for the U.S. Senate. He said he expects to run for the state Senate next year but isn't ready to make a formal announcement."

How much time can Dad be spending at home with the children if he's a real estate salesman and he's running for U.S. Senate, and he has to provide for building this new house, while also providing for himself and 17 other people?

Unless this guy is making some astronomical salary I just don't see how Dad can be around much in his kids lives....
 
Motokid said:
Unless this guy is making some astronomical salary I just don't see how Dad can be around much in his kids lives....
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You could say that about any number of professions; are soldiers on active duty 'stay away' dads?
 
Kenny Shovel said:
You could say that about any number of professions; are soldiers on active duty 'stay away' dads?
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Yep, but I'm hoping they don't have 16 kids....or even 6....
 
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