I always knew I wanted to have more than one child. When I was younger, I envied kids from large families. It seemed like so much fun. If I had started having children earlier, I probably would have gone for as many as four–yes, that's why I would consider a large family by today's standards–instead of only the two I ended up having. But then I always think about how much more complicated my life already is with only the two I ended up having and I thank the heavens for the fact that I waited a while to have them. Having children is A LOT of work.
I know I probably sound like a wuss and a whiny wimp, especially in the face of a family with 19 children–and I'm not talking about the famous Duggars. Yes! There's another gigantic family like them and you'll be able to meet them tomorrow in TLC's second reality show about this phenomenon, The Bates Family: Baby Makes 19.
The Bates are evangelical Christians who don't believe in birth control and always planned to have as many children as God would send them. People are free to do whatever they want to, right? I just can't seem to fathom what kind of life you can possibly have with 19 children. Ugh, just thinking about the laundry makes me want to run far, far away.
Read more in ¿Qué más?: I LOVE my kids, but I HATE what they did to my body
Check this out: Kelly Bates, who's in her mid-40s, has been pregnant 19 times and all none of her deliveries have been via C-section! Can you imagine what 19 pregnancies will do to your body? Bates says she's spent more time being pregnant than not being pregnant. ¡Me muero!
But the biggest issue I have with parents who have so many children is that there is no way that any of those children can receive any type of individualizedattention from either one of their parents on a regular basis. I'm sorry, but unless they're super human–which may be the case, after all, having 19 children can be no small feat–, someone (or many of them) will always feel some kind of neglect. (Or maybe what you don't know can't hurt you.)
I mean, I had to make sure to carve time out for just my daughter and I to hang out once my son was born and even now, more than two years later, some times I feel like one of them is not getting as much attention as the other one. Imagine then having 19 at a time? They obviously don't all need the same type of attention, but how and when do you even develop a relationship with each of your children? I don't get it. I guess I'll have to watch the show to find out.
What do you think of gigantic families like this one? Will you be watching this show?
Image via TLC
