Well I know where Shulman may have gotten her idea, from two reality shows now on TV. One is Don & Kate makes Eight, the cameras follow them around filming the intracasies of a family with twins and then sixtuplets. The husband works and her family pitched in in the beginning but it's still a rough road. Adorable kids though and the mom, Kate, looks like a teenager. Their show is ending this month and a new one takes its place called Twelve at the Table. Ten kids and two parents! Don't know if it will be a good one or not.
But the one I watch and admire is Family of Seventeen + One, Michelle the mom just gave birth to her eighteenth child which was delivered by cesarian because the baby was sideways. This couple has had all their children one by one and they are TOTALLY SELF SUFFICENT. They bought, years ago, a piece at a time, several rental properties which supports them now, he made warehouses storage space from an old delapidated chicken coop farm he remodeled himself into commercial storage spaces, and they make almost all their own clothes, make soap, buy in bulk, shop the second hand stores, and are frugal in everything they purchase and do. They own a huge, lovely home with nine bathrooms and all of these darling, well behaved, healthy kids pitch in. It is an amazing show to watch and learn from. The mom is teaching the boys to cook and clean and the dad is teaching his girls how to change oil in a car, change a tire etc. They want the kids all to be self sufficient.
They do all things in the name of God. Now this is a remarkable reality show. I kid you not and the parents as well as the children just simply exude health and wholesome good looks. It is a pleasure to watch these amazing down to earth people go about their daily lives.
I have seen a few episodes of Don & Kate Make Eight.
Interesting about the new show of 10 children.
And that show with 18 children. Good grief.
I have an in-person friend whose father comes from a family of 17 children. Actually 4 are dead already. Not sure if miscarriage or early childhood illness or what. She has an uncle on another side of family who comes from a family of 24 children. It is possible there were also some miscarriages. Actually until recently families in the province of Quebec did tend to be larger..the Catholic faith and other French-Canadian cultural attitudes promoted it in the past.
I did watch the tv show that I mentioned earlier, ...at times ...out of sheer curiosity. One can't help but compare against one's own family.
For a big family to be self-sufficient, it would take alot of physical stamina and patience among the parents to maintain a life of self-sufficiency. I actually think..it's quite stressful..even with well-behaved children where the older children are delegated with some childcare responsibilities.
We must not forget that the life expectancy of the parents when there were less household conveniences (and I'm not talking about junk food nor TV dinners. :)), was simply shorter.
It's admirable some people want huge families, but coming from a family where I grew up with 5 siblings and all 6 of us were born over 10-year period, I did see the toll on my parents. And it was a family, where the older kids, including myself were required to help with household chores as young as 8 yrs. old.
And they tried to be self-sufficient with big firm limits, ie. our garden only grew 3 types of veggies, our clothes were sewn (Mom, then later her daughters), we rarely ate junk/convenience foods, so whole food cooking style, no car until I was 15 yrs. old., etc. It is true that self-sufficiency can lead to a more team tendency of doing stuff. But not every child was happy every time either. Somebody is bound to rebel..strongly.
yes, it sure shapes a person's upbringing, it made each of us more "resilient" for life's challenges, but I would not wish the demands of a large family on any parent(s).
It's affected me personally....that I chose not to have children after witnessing great stress on my parents.
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