Large families?
I love big families.
Or maybe I should say, I love the idea. The pictures. The family tree. The videos already get too much sometimes. And the normal, non dream, regular large families I see around me? They often make me sad because of what they could be ideally.
From my new student (tag "teaching") in an officially large French family (3), to that exhausted obese frum lady with 5 (!) shabbily clothed small kids going for a blood test (the 6th?), to my husband's great grandmother who had 16 kids and spent 20/25 years in bed, to the ladies breeding away and then putting the 5 yr old brother or sister in charge for a full day until they are old enough (10? 12?) to be a mora/more in a backyard charedi daycamp and bring moniiiiies home.
I don't see large families where the kids are home, flourishing as opposed to going ok, mom is healthy, parents are not hardcore ultra strict or totally given up, and dad is not the last concern of mom. It seems there is always at least one thing missing. Except MAYBE with big big big gaps.
Oh I know it's not everyone. And I still want one and hope I can do much better than that for everyone concerned.
My friend who grew up in the French equivalent of the shtetl with 9 siblings, is 37 and tells me she has 3 and she's sooooo doooooone.
My trendy chassidish (long sheitel, lots of make up, stiletto boots) friend, one of 4, 31 and just having had her third, tells me it is an accident (cv) and it's "BTish to pop many kids" and "I'm right to take my time and be normal" - little does she know I'm not taking anything except what's given to me ;)
On contrary I do notice many baalei teshuva who start (much) older having one kid after another, or trying to.
PLEASE TELL ME THERE ARE SOME WELL ADJUSTED GREAT LARGE FAMILIES!!
Or maybe I should say, I love the idea. The pictures. The family tree. The videos already get too much sometimes. And the normal, non dream, regular large families I see around me? They often make me sad because of what they could be ideally.
From my new student (tag "teaching") in an officially large French family (3), to that exhausted obese frum lady with 5 (!) shabbily clothed small kids going for a blood test (the 6th?), to my husband's great grandmother who had 16 kids and spent 20/25 years in bed, to the ladies breeding away and then putting the 5 yr old brother or sister in charge for a full day until they are old enough (10? 12?) to be a mora/more in a backyard charedi daycamp and bring moniiiiies home.
I don't see large families where the kids are home, flourishing as opposed to going ok, mom is healthy, parents are not hardcore ultra strict or totally given up, and dad is not the last concern of mom. It seems there is always at least one thing missing. Except MAYBE with big big big gaps.
Oh I know it's not everyone. And I still want one and hope I can do much better than that for everyone concerned.
My friend who grew up in the French equivalent of the shtetl with 9 siblings, is 37 and tells me she has 3 and she's sooooo doooooone.
My trendy chassidish (long sheitel, lots of make up, stiletto boots) friend, one of 4, 31 and just having had her third, tells me it is an accident (cv) and it's "BTish to pop many kids" and "I'm right to take my time and be normal" - little does she know I'm not taking anything except what's given to me ;)
On contrary I do notice many baalei teshuva who start (much) older having one kid after another, or trying to.
PLEASE TELL ME THERE ARE SOME WELL ADJUSTED GREAT LARGE FAMILIES!!