Thoughts on Large Families for our ‘Tolerant’ Modern Society
Large families are an anomaly in desperate need of an advocate in modern society. A writing prompt on a health website asked, ”Are you an advocate for any cause?” I sputtered to myself, ”I am not an advocate for anything or anybody!” Immediately after that statement, a new idea popped into my mind, ”Hey, wait a minute. I stand up for large families in modern society!” Thoughts on Large Families In my experience as a mother of nine children, I have met more condemnation than acceptance and more questions that understanding. Perhaps it is because I do not look like the mother of a large family. I am tiny, look younger than my age, and all my life people have labelled me as cute. People’s first reaction to me is shock. Confusion follows because I am happy. A joyful, cute, tiny mother of nine simply baffles people. I shatter all their preconceived notions. The typical image of a multipara woman would be a large, matronly, robust, grim, battle-...