We live in Utah, which is famous for “large” families. But even within Utah I have been treated to disparaging remarks by rude people about the number of children I have–even when I only had three. It was shortly after my third child was born that my sister sent me a t-shirt that read: “Yes! All of these children are mine.” I wish I had a video of the exasperated clerk who was obviously about to ask and then saw my shirt.
Then there was the cute lady in a restaurant in Florida who came over to our table to ask us if we didn’t “just love having a big family.” We still had only three children at the time.
My husband and I chose to have five children. I never really enjoyed pregnancy, but I adore each of my children. My desire to spend time with them is a big reason for my decision to homeschool.
Here is an article by another mom who loves her five children. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
KSC
I never really got looks suggesting I had a large family until moving to Alabama. Even at church, there are many large SUV’s or vans in the parking lot. Mini-van sized families seem to dominate. Out west, it didn’t seem to shock people that I had four kids. Yeah, some would give me the “you’ve got your hands full” line, but I didn’t see people shaking their heads in disbelief. Here in AL, I’m getting it all the time.
That’s actually kind of funny. You’d think the Bible Belt would be more comfortable with “large” families than the liberal west would be.
http://womenlivingwell.org/2013/04/having-babies-in-opposite-world/
Interesting blog post on the topic of having families and the reactions of others to large families.