Do you ever look back into your family history and wonder how your ancestors were able to do some of the things that they did? I have been thinking about that a lot this week in regards to my grandmother and my husband’s grandmother. As I experience the ins and outs that come with adjusting from being a mother of one to a mother of two, I wonder how my father’s mother was able to raise six children and my mother in law’s mother was able to raise seven.
Large families were much more common during the time that my parents were children. From what I understand, life in a large family was actually pretty good for the kids and my father and his siblings all share very close relationships. They all live in within a half hour of each other and get together frequently for holidays, birthdays, and just for the fun of it. They also have a lot of funny stories to tell from their younger years.
People who are raising large families now can provide insight into how our grandmothers may have done it. From what I have heard, having a few children instead of just one or two can be easier in some ways. Children learn to entertain each other and look out for each other. There are also plenty of sets of hands available to help with household chores. Of course, financially it is more difficult to raise a large family in the current economy but just as our grandmothers did in years past, today’s large families find ways to make their finances work.
While raising two children can be a challenge, raising six or seven must certainly have been a daunting task at times. My grandmother and my husband’s grandmother both raised large families, and I admire them for that.
Photo by kakisky on morguefile.com.