I’m waiting for the Discovery special where one of them announces they’re gay, as by now its a statistical inevitibility- that’s going to go over well in a family that goes by the good book. And they don’t own a TV, but gladly take the money TV gives them- a bit odd.
VAGINA- its not a clown car.
Also every birth decreases life expectancy, and there are potential problems with any birth, so why risk mom dying at 45, then you have 20 kids without a mom for no good reason.
I see absolutely no need to have 18 children.
How do these kids develop close relationships with their parents? How do 2 parents, one of whom works outside the home (father works but also, I remember hearing they also receive donations - which they wouldn’t have to do if they had less kids and father same job…) even really get to know their kids individually? Goes along with the whole buddy thing too. Yes siblings in every family should help each other out. But this is like having the older co-parent the younger. Yeah, it may “make them be better parents” but what if they just wanna be freakin KIDS for awhile? This isn’t babysitting some weekends and after school - this is "Every morning you help your buddy get cleaned up, get dressed, clean the house, homework, etc etc).
And the boys all live in one big room, the girls in another. Hello, zero privacy. Like permanent army barracks. Yeah it may not be feasible to have 19 bedrooms, but maybe split them a little? So you’re only hiding your fapping from 2 brothers instead of 7?
And “well my grandparents raised 839855 kids with no job and they’re all fine”: I believe you. But that was before condoms, birth control, tubal ligation, etc. Maybe grandma didn’t want 15 kids, but her or her husband still wanted to have intercourse. Whoops, baby. Now, that is not necessary.
And of course the kids seem happy. When your whole life is only (judging from shows I saw):
religious home school with mom and siblings
church
religious or home school camp
what else do you know? How can you be unhappy when you haven’t experienced or been exposed to anything else?
I’m not saying just having less kids makes you a better parents or your kids turn out better, but it seems if you give a crap as a parent it would give you the upper hand to have maybe 3 kids instead of a 3-string hockey team.
Yeah, I don’t get the grief these folks get. Basically, the thing they lack is certain material goods. I’m thinking most of the kids wouldn’t want to trade a little brother or sister for an iPod or a Wii.
Who has been exposed to anything else other than the way they were raised. I was raised in a family of 4 kids. Maybe I would have been happier if I was the only one. I guess I’ll never know, because I was never exposed to that.
All the press coverage is playing to people’s need to feel superior, that is what sells papers and drives up ratings. And this thread is the proof that people love to feel superior to others.
Because you ‘see no need’ is the height of hubris. Who the hell are you? You get to say how big someone’s family is based on your perception of what’s needed?
No one can stop you if you would rather not listen to the experience of others with large families who produced no ill effects in their children. And, again, the only ‘donations’ they take are recycled clothes from their church.
And since when do others get to decide whether or not you have enough contact with your kids? Last I noticed it was a free country. Do you think those hostile mall rats got enough one on one contact? Are they any better off because they come from smaller families? Sorry I don’t see it.
Pfft. I only had one brother and I’d have traded him in a New York minute for a Wii.
Wee Bairn
Cite?
(Tell it to my grandmother of 15 who lived to be 104yrs old.)
Not your only one, but how about you’re 20th one?
And they lack a hell of a lot more than video games- how the hell is mom supposed to bond with her freakin nine month old when she’s got another one on the way? Granted pregnancy to her now is as much of a hardship as a paper cut, but its all about the rationale behind it as well. If you tell you me you did something I think is bizarre because hey, you really enjoy doing it, fine, different strokes. If you tell me you did it because its God’s will, well then you’re a idiot, because you have no idea what God’s will is, Christian or not- why are you are the only Chrisitians out of millions in the world with this ridiculous archaic view?
Ha ha…I knew someone would say something like that! 
I’m reposting this, this time with correct punctuation…
Who has been exposed to anything else other than the way they were raised? I was raised in a family of 4 kids. Maybe I would have been happier if I was the only one. I guess I’ll never know, because I was never exposed to that.
Same thing…maybe I would have been happier if I had 20 brothers and sisters. Who the hell knows what’s going to make someone happier?
Same way my mom bonded with me. I was about that age when my mom was expecting my younger brother. Didn’t seem to hurt either one of us TOO badly.
They aren’t. Some Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, and Muslims have large families, too. What difference does it make why you do it? This seems to make them happy. I don’t quite understand it, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.
Uh… common sense?
(In the US) 13 women out of every 100,000 [live births] (or 0.13%) die as a direct result of childbirth. It stands to reason that there is also an increasing risk for each birth per woman, but I can’t figure out how to look it up. Anyway, even if there isn’t, the direct maternal mortality rate would clearly lead to a decrease in life expectancy per birth.
No, the thing they lack is self control.
It’s not right because they are doing it in the name of God but promoting their views by spewing “facts” on how birth control causes abortions and people who use them are sinners, and highlighting every possible rare thing that could be a side effect of vasectomies. They are part of the Quiverfull movement. They believe ‘god opens and closes the womb’ and that if we interfere we are sinning. Base beliefs on faith please, not incorrect or highly skewed facts, which you then perpetuate to your children and others.
And when you are allowed to socialize with other children who aren’t raised the same way as you (peers from school, kids in neighborhood or baseketball camp, whatever), that’s how you experience and see other ways to live.
These kids don’t seem like they are able to choose their own path, it’s been indoctrinated. And ANY family who disallows their children to think for themselves or even just have the freedom to be in situations where they could, have my scorn.
I seriously doubt it. The thing is, there isn’t enough time in a day for all of the siblings to bond with each other- I wonder if they wear nametags around the house? Seriously, do you think the younger ones even knows all of their siblings names? They’re probably close with their “buddy”, but amidst the chores and constant cooking and cleaning, how does boy age 14 even see girl age 4, let alone form a sibling relationship?
Repeat after me: My personal anecdote is not data.
If we assume there is some positive non zero risk associated with pregnancy over and above not being pregnant (I personally think this is a fairly easy assumption). Then statistically speaking there must be an impact on life expectancy for multiple pregnancies, your grandmother notwithstanding.
For the record I dislike large families on population grounds but any solution that one could impose upon people to conform to this would be a worse ill than the large family size. The best correlation between small population growth and anything else is I believe to education and female education in particular, so I am a strong supporter of that (preferably by a body independent of the parents, feeding children data from only one source (religiously motivated home-schooling) is a bad thing)
I’m sorry, but I’m asking for an actual cite, not homey advice, here.
If you’ve got one, show us, if not, own up to it being your opinion and nothing more.
Please tell me this is a woosh. I know the names of all 80+ employees in my department, and we have a 30% turnover every 2-3 years. Do you really think 18 names is too many to remember? Especially if you spend most of your waking life with some or all of them?
Which is not to say I’d have 18 children…I’m not even sure I want any, ever. But hey, as long as they aren’t breaking the law, neglecting their children, or taking money out of my pocket, they can do whatever they want, for whatever reasons they want.
They don’t all HAVE to “bond” with each other. I would say that they are most likely to be close with the ones closest to their own age, plus the one they are buddied up with. That’s a special relationship right there. A lot of families have situations where the siblings don’t know each other that well…there’s a 10 year difference between my husband and his brother, for instance. They have a totally different kind of relationship than I do with my brother who is 2 years older. So what? Who’s to say what the “right” kind of sibling relationship is supposed to be?
Math is not an opinion.
But this;
, is okay in smaller families?
'Cause if you’re saying it’s not the number of kids but the parenting, well, that’s another discussion isn’t it?
People are free, in this country, to raise their children within their own religious beliefs. And last time I looked that didn’t require your approval. Do you believe in all the doctrines your parents raised you with, or can you make up your own mind?
Counsel Wolf, I was not claiming it was data, I was asking for a cite.
I’ll ask you for one too. Or is
data in your world view?
So why would having another sibling you have no relationship with hypothectically make a kid happier? Clearly the children can’t benefit from all the other kids, so why subject kids you love to additional burdens that don’t benefit them? It’s selfishness on Jim Bob’s part. Here’s an idea- if the Bible’s against contraception, how about quit having sex? Or is there is a passage that says thou must screw thy wife every chance you get? It’s not like he could possibly be getting any satistaction out if now anyway, its gotta be like the proverbial hotdog down the hallway at this point.