FAMILY SIZE ADVICE

Please be aware that this family size advice may offend some readers.

When people ask me what’s like having a baby, I tell them in a systematic manner…   I start with something positive like “it’s the most intense love you will ever feel, stronger than the love for your parents, stronger than the love for your siblings, stronger than you could imagine”.

Then I give them the negative.  “You will have to learn how to operate under extreme fatigue, you will have to change on average 8 nappies a day, you will have to share your bed, you will have no privacy, you will spend plenty of time at home, you will worry about everything child related, your relationship with your partner will be tested”.  Now it’s time to bring them back up.  “All that being said, it is worth it. Having the opportunity to live the experience of having kids and all the milestones on the way is wonderful.  Having someone around you, holding your hand, on your team no matter what, a side kick for life, that’s what I call family life.

The next common question I get is the what’s it’s like having two kids?  The advice I usually hear is that it is easier and after you have had one, two is not a problem.  I don’t agree with that advice.  The real advice should be everything is doubled.  It’s not easier, your just better equipped to deal with another child mentally.  Physically it is double and therefore harder in my opinion.

The follow up question is the reach from two to three.  Same advice as above but the biggest hurdle is that you only have two hands, one kid has to run free.

My parents made the jump from three to four and their key advice is that you need a van and the running around for activities is ridiculous.  Everything takes longer than you could imagine and the financial cost of a family this size is very large.

If you want to make the jump past four kids, I would imagine that your older kids need to help raising the family.  Do you really want to load them up with that many responsibilities?