Welcome to the first Family Size Blog Carnival!
This post was written for inclusion in the Family Size Blog Carnival hosted by Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling and Patti at Jazzy Mama. Today our participants share their decisions on family size and whether or not to grow their families. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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- Photo by Green Pin Chang
After the birth of our second child, my husband and I received a lot of comments about how we had the perfect family: one son and one daughter. The people who made such comments went on to say, in various degrees of subtlety, that we could now stop having children, having achieved that sought after one child of each gender. Only, we weren’t having children to fulfill some societal expectation.
There were some disapproving stares when we were expecting our third child. One older man even came up to me and asked me what I was doing, going on to point out that we already had a boy and girl. I explained that we liked having children and wanted another. He jokingly made some comment about us having to have another child to even things out. He wasn’t prepared for my comment that we might just have another child, or two.
The birth of our fourth child brought us back to perfect family status. Not only did we have two boys and two girls, but they were born in alternating order: boy, girl, boy, girl. The comments we had received after the birth of our first daughter were nothing compared to the comments we now receive.
The thing is, there is no such thing as a perfect family. Every family is a blend of many aspects. Whether one child or eight, one gender or a mix, every family is a unique blend that makes it right for them at that point in time. Every child is a person to be cherished for his or her individuality. To compare families with one another based on number of children, or the genders of those children, only serves to diminish the special qualities that family has in the eyes of others.
I don’t know whether we will have any more children or not. The idea is something my husband and I both struggle with. If we do have another child, it will not be because of someone else’s predetermined idea of what a perfect family is but because we feel that another child is what our family needs.
Our family may not be perfect, but the size of our family is what it needs to be for right now. If that changes in the future, then we will change the size of our family. We may just need to buy a bigger van.
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Visit City Kids Homeschooling and Jazzy Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Family Size Blog Carnival!
Please take some time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants below:
- The Perfect Family The family at Living Peacefully With Children isn’t perfect, but the size is just right for them…at least for now.
- Family Size Carnival Zoie at TouchstoneZ discusses how she loves the extremes of being happily child-free for life to being a mom of several. And on knowing when her family is just the right size.
- Is Adoption for Me? Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares why she would consider adoption as the socially responsible way to have a large family.
- Getting Used to Having Kids Lauren at Hobo Mama went from “probably one, maybe two” to wanting a handful, but not without some major struggles and soul searching along the way.
- Magic Number For a while, Phoebe at Little Tinker Tales has wondered what the magic number will be for their family, but now thinks she’s finally settled on an answer.
- How Did You Get That Size Jorje explains how she “chose” her family size and why they aren’t planning to grow again on Momma Jorje.com.
- Family Size On A Per Kid Basis Sarah at Parenting God’s Children shares how plans change as families grow.
- More Babies: How, When, Why Joella at Fine and Fair writes to her daughter about when, how, and why she might get a sibling.
- Family Size Kelly at Becoming Crunchy shares how she has no idea what size her family will end up being; though she used to be sure, a few factors have recently come up to change everything.
- Thy Will Be Done CatholicMommy hasn’t decided how many children she’ll have. And she never will. Because, you know, she’s Catholic.
- Sanity and Health Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment talks about sanity and health considerations when deciding on her family’s size.
- Love Comes In All Sizes Melissa at White Noise and Mothers of Change shares her family’s journey to becoming a family of six!
- Family Size Liz at Homeschooling in Buffalo discusses how this carnival occurs less than two weeks after “closing up shop” by way of vasectomy.
- Family Size Blog Carnival Billy, a single mother by choice, writes about the size of her family at My Pathway to Motherhood.
- Creating Your Perfect Family Size Dr. Alan Singer shares insights from his new book, Creating Your Perfect Family Size.
- Our Family Size You might not be surprised to learn that Patti at Jazzy Mama can’t find any reasons NOT to have more babies.
- Economics of Family Size Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling uses an economic cost-benefit analysis to determine her family’s optimal size.
living peacefully with children 
Such a great post! I am so glad that you participated in this blog carnival. I always find it odd that people thinks it’s ok to comment on larger family size, as if it’s some strange aberration. Your post captured beautifully the choice to expand one’s family. And I love your ending–a bigger car would be in store for us too if we have another!
Thanks again for sharing!
-Kerry @ City Kids Homeschooling
http://cityhomeschooling.blogspot.com/
Lovely post! Growing a family is certainly a journey! Very eloquent. =)
LOVE this post! I’ve experienced the same sort of questions, now pregnant with number three and having two girls at home: trying for a boy, huh? NO! Bringing another wonderful child into our family, regardless of the gender! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I have one brother and four sisters. My brother is the second oldest, but every time people hear about my family, they ask if my brother is the youngest, as if my parents kept on trying until they got a boy..
Good for you for being true to yourself against what society has to say!
I agree that there is no such thing as a perfect family. Although I do admit to now (after having a boy) wanting a girl 😉 But, I would be equally happy having a family with four sons!
I could write a book on how tired I am of people commenting on the size of our family and on the genders of my 4 children. You are right–perfect family size is determined by nothing other than the family itself.
Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe someone came up to you to tell you to stop having kids or to have them only in evens. Bizarre!
I always suspected we had an perfectly imperfect family with our two boys and now I know for sure. 😉 Thanks for this post!
Isn’t it odd how free people feel to comment on such things? I was seeing a new doctor soon after the birth of my (1) daughter; she asked what we were doing for birth control and then said something like, “Now, after you have two you can look into something more permanent like an IUD.” When I responded that I may very well want more than two children, she just looked at me very oddly and said OK like she was talking to a crazy person. People are weird lol.
Really enjoyed your post and glad you don’t feel any sense of need to give into that pressure! Sounds like you have a beautiful family. 🙂
I really enjoyed this post. How do you respond respectfully to people who make such inappropriate comments? With only one child (so far?), I don’t get many comments from strangers, but many of my friends think it is odd that I’m not setting a limit on family size.
I loved this post! I can’t believe people find it appropriate to remark on family size or hint that you shouldn’t have more kids if you have “one of each”. Also, does that make families with all same-sex children less than perfect? I think not! 🙂