'Supersize' Families: The Joy of Having 8-Plus Kids

Well I'm not impressed. At the minimum I hope this family isn't drawing on public funds for their menagerie. We have an oveerpopulated world. If you want 8 kids .... have a couple of your own and adopt the rest. Then I'll applaud you with both hands.

But I have no applause for AOL's infringement on privacy on these comment boards ... including this one.


WARNING ... there are Hyperlinks under your display name on this comment board. Try it. WOW .... isn't that neat?. There's your "profile'.

That profile was created the first time you signed on to ANY comment board on AOL ... and there are almost a hundred of them, including this one. It's linked to your EMail address . Permanently.

Now look at the nice archives of EVERY comment you've ever made, right there on your profile. To be seen by anyone who clicks onto it.

AOL never warned you that whatever name you first used would be DISPLAYED online and on that profile. Even if you later post under a pseudonym .... heck ... that original name is still on your profile. Gee whiz .... they never even warned you a "profile" was being made. Only that your comment had been "verified". Sneaky sneaky ....

Alotta hype

I had 4 and adopted 1 that had been abandoned 3x's. It was very difficult, our adopted one came with so much baggage and immediate care. The other 4 learned that not all children are the same, some need more care. The ones born to me always tell me that they all knew that the' new one' needed me more and they admired our hard work. I am proud they were so secure and felt so loved. As I sit around the table for Mother's Day, I tear up, I am busting with pride and I love them dearly. I am very rich, they learned sacrifice, helping in the night shelters, scouts, communties, church, neighbors and they are each others best friends. They are all grown up and are far wiser, special adults and I am blessed to say thank you for teaching me to be a MOM.

I am #8 of 13, we grew up with love and respect from our parents and for our parents, yes we worked hard, and we still work hard. We had three gardens and took care of them. We learnt pride in our work because we were warm and fed all winter long. We even had a small baseball team of our own. Oh yes there was fun too.
We all turned out to be responsible, not one of us is on welfare, we all have jobs, and two of us even were lifers in the service.
Our parents sacrificed a lot for us and we all love them deeply.

So, they list every comment you ever made? Are there some you are ashamed of?
Here is a great way to live.
Never say or do anything you do not want your Grandmother to find out about.
It works. Try it.

To all the negative comments
would you perfer abortion?

Quite frankly, while it is nice reading these articles and watching TV reality shows about large families, the real heros are the single moms raising large families on their own. 20 years ago I was left in a situation to raise my 6 children (ages 8 to 13) on my own. I NEVER rec'd a cent of government money unless you count the reduced lunches that they rec'd at school. It was plain hard work! Along the way tho I have found many in my same situation and they are the heros, they are the ones that should get the "shout outs"!

...

Hmm... I don't think people have problems with big families, per say. But rather, they have problems with the parents who choose to publicize their children for fame and profit, for example the Duggards and the Gosselyns. They use their children for publicity and to make money, which is obviously morally wrong. In the case of the Duggards, I believe that it's the only reason they keep having kids (that's my personal opinion, don't flame me for it if you happen to be a fan of them).

These respectable women, on the other hand, don't publicize their children on a regular basis. Chances are, this is the only article they've been in, and it's an informative article that focuses not on the children, but the mothers that raise them and the hardships of it. And these ladies raise their kids themselves rather than hiring others to take care of them (unlike the two most famous mothers of eight or more children that do when the camera's not rolling), and love doing it, which I have nothing but absolute respect for.

However, I DO think there is a fine line between "a big family" and "too many kids". I don't know where this line is exactly, but it's there. Actually, scratch that. The line's in a different place depending on who the parent is and how they raise their children.

we have 5 and 3 foster children with one foster child on the way, and their mother is expecting again. We would not have our home any other way. There is ALWAYS room for one more. Bless the families that understand these kids learn to work for what they want and share in the responsabilities of a home and family.

I ask you, What would be better for the health of this world -- 19 families with one Paris Hilton each or one family with 19 children such as the Dugger family in Arkansas?

It isn't how many people you have in your family that really matters when it comes to over population and the drain on the economy. It is the summation of how much your family consumes.

Paris Hilton (and her kind) probably consume more than entire population in the state of Arkansas.

So all you people out there with "attitudes" about big families - GET OVER YOURSELF. Look at the quality of the people involved. Look at their habits and lifestyles - then -

PICK A FIGHT WITH THE REAL LOSERS IN OUR SOCIETY - you know who they are. Remember Lindsey and her selfish ways?

Opihi, you sound like a very angry and opinionated person that truly has to much to say. I too am a father of 8, same mom, same dad, all in wedlock and all planned. How dare you insinuate that I need public assistance. Rest assured, I make more than enough to take care of my family and more than likely more than you. If you don't well exceed 6 digits don't even bother getting into the conversation.

Herr's some more food for thought, if your tiny little mind can handle it. All eight of my children are A students and will attend higher learning in the future and yes, on my dime. These 8 children will excel in the world and more than likely become leaders of your narrow minded children.

Somehow, probably through poor upbrining, you have determined that anything that is not normal to you is not right.

That's just what the world needs!! If you're not divorced, you probably will be in the near future as more than 50% of the parents of 2 to 3 children are.

You probably shovel your children off while you go to work, leaving them alone until you return from your job, in a bad mood, only to take your day out on your kids.

Your children are probably disrespectful. They'll surely smoke, drink and probably do drugs too.

You'll also probably be a grandmom before your 45 and your husband won't be walking any virgins up the isle.

Take this all to the bank. How does it feel when someone predicts your life?

Take most of this to the bank.

Just because they come from large families does nor mean the offspring will also have large families. I come from a family of 14 children. My father was an airline pilot while my mother stayed home. We now range in age from 27 to 52. I have more children than the rest of my brothers and sisters, how many? 4. Six of us have no children. If I could have chosen to I would have grown up no other way, my family is awesome!

I'm afraid you are wrong about the world being overpopulated. ZPG has actually has a negative impact on the educated first world countries. Highly educated people have not had enough children while the poor and undereducated third world (and certain religious groups) have been having large families.
At the current rate of population growth, most European countries will die off over the next 50 years and the US is heading the same direction.
For Americans who can afford and are willing to have large families and educate them appropriately is a necessity for our country to survive.
It's countries where there are no means to survive that need to practice birth control more efficiently.
My comments are made on scientific data you can confirm by looking up the effects of ZPG on population growth on line.

I really disagree with you people I came from a large family 6 sisters 2 brothers plus 2 more sisters who were adopted as teenagers never once was my mother on welfare or this and that there were times that she and my father overworked themselves just so they wouldnt draw money you idiots had to pay and as for people from big families having big families. Wrong again dip shzt I have one child who is my only and will be me and my husbands only and he is the most precious thing in the world. So before you go and condone someone for something they did look at your self because obviously these people are growing up fine and what about the other people on welfare? You wanna talk crap about these people I know of black, white, asian all kinds of people who have only one CHILD and they are sitting on their worthless butts drawing more money than imaginable from the state. GET OVER YOUR SELF AND GET A LIFE.

Overpopulated by whose standards? I'm assuming you've never driven through West Texas, where there's miles and miles of. . . miles and miles! And there are tons of places on this Earth that are completely uninhabited. You've bought into a lie that says we have to take over God's job of deciding how many people to send to Earth because, after all, we know so much better than He does. He's the only one who knows, folks, and if He chooses to send kids, we (having had the fun of doing what it takes to make them) should be happy with His choice. The only people who should limit the number of children they have are those that believe that, being so inferior to the rest of us, they don't deserve to pass on their DNA. Personally, I have 5 kids by choice (actually I would've loved to have more, but God saw fit to give me these and so I'm happy). I am also the third of 20 kids -- 6 biological, 14 adopted. God sent all of them, too.

I say, vote on the issue of how many kids to have by limiting yourself to what you believe your DNA is worth to the world. Then, in a very few years, there will be many more of us, and many fewer of you. Thank God.

The United States and Europe do not have "overpopulation issues". Why is it that we are expected to bend over backwards so that the third world can breed as much as they want to?

I hope you don't have any children!