Wow, I don't recall asking my kids how they felt about a new brother or sister. Quite frankly, it's none of their business if I choose to have another and I'd not let a child decide that for me, or have a say in it at all. So I'm in the selfish department here too I guess.
On the homeschool thing, she still has fewer students than most teachers in a public school room. So it's doable. She also does not have to deal with red tape or books that are 10 years out of date like our teachers here do.
Responsibility never hurt anyone. Being in a family, large or small, means responsibility. Unless you do every single thing for your kids from dusk to dawn the whole time they live with you, which is pretty far fetched imho.
Meh, I don't care how many kids anyone has, or how they name them, or how they feed them, as long as they dont abuse or kill them. Then it's an issue.
i so agree!!! my auntie raised or mostly raised about 20 kids. some were related in some way, most not, including me. she also milked cows twice a day and was a midwife. she nurtured all of us, and except for one, we all turned out fine.
later she said she wished she had home-schooled. (it wasnt an option in those days) she said it would have been easier than getting us all off to school, and louisiana schools arent the best.
we all helped, it was just the thing to do. we werent as well off as the duggars, but nobody ever went hungry or naked or unloved. we made do, and did fine.
it was chaos at times, but we all loved and depended on each other. if one youngun had a runny nose, whoever noticed it first got to wipe it LOL we all worked in the garden and helped around the farm. nobody ever felt that they were slaves. or used, or working too hard. in our house, if you felt 'put upon' you could always go back to the parents who dumped you on our driveway. that never happened.
she had no religion that told her to do this, it was sorta thrust upon her. in my case she fought the courts for 5 years to get me away from my drunk, drugheaded abusive mother.
i was the only one she had to go to that extreme. most of the younguns she raised were unwanted or in the way somehow. none of us were in her way, we knew love and care. yes, you can love and nurture 18 kids and teach them what family is.
she rocked colicky babies and teenagers who got their heart broke. made cocoa on cold mornings for 20 many a morning. our dining table was a 4x8 sheet of plywood, if that wasnt enough, we ate on the floor. we had 2 stoves and several refrigerators (yes, all but one were on the front porch LOL)
we got foodstamps for 3 months one time. auntie said it wasnt worth the humiliation, so we didnt reapply. most of the kids werent technically hers, so didnt count on the household number anyway. we had a garden and chickens and pigs and rabbits and beef calves and a milk cow. we canned and jellified and froze a ton of food every summer and fall. garage sales and goodwill dressed us, except for shoes. kmart was for shoes LOL
it was a wonderful way to grow up. we learned to make do with what we had, and work for what extras we had our hearts set on. we learned about family. we learned that nothing comes free, except love.
ETA we had one bathroom and no airconditioning most of this time. one of the stoves was a woodstove, and we had gas heaters, but mostly stayed in the kitchen dining room by the stove. some of us slept on the floor on pallets. i couldnt live in those conditions now, im too spoiled LOL