Three’s company
December 29, 2007 by Sherry Osborne
Filed under Parenting
Although I have always said that I only wanted two children, I’m starting to see the appeal of having a larger family. When my oldest is in school I’m constantly trying to balance working and cleaning with my main priority which is taking care of my youngest. It’s harder to do other things since she’s alone – she’s really good at playing independently but she still needs a lot of help getting set up. When they’re both home then they can play together and occupy themselves a little better, although then I have to deal with sibling rivalry and the ensuing chaos.
Today our phone rang and it was our friend asking if we had plans today. I said no, so he asked if he could drop off his oldest daughter for a few hours because her sister was going to a friend’s house so she was all alone at home and bored. I said of course that would be fine and she’s even going to stay for supper.
With the exception of doling out snacks and beverages earlier, I’ve had little to do today and have been able to do some work (yes, even on a Saturday) and some stuff for myself. The only real drawback is that there’s a bigger mess to deal with, but I’m trying to keep it under control.
So now I see the added bonus of bigger families – the bigger your family, the more people you have to entertain each other!
Yep, it’s a bonus. Two is definately easier than one.
Of course I’m never being pregnant or giving birth again. So, I invite friends over. It’s sooo much easier to work when the children are entertained by their friends. Sooo much easier. They distract themselves rather than distract me!
I grew up the youngest of 7 (4 girls, 3 boys) and it was great (and awful at times). The dividing of “sides”. The different personalities. I’m now in my late 30’s and love the fact that I had a large family (in a 3 bedrom home) experience. I now have a 16-yr son and an almost 2-yr daughter. I’ve been able to see the “benefits” to my son of being an only child for so long. The one-on-one time.
It all comes down to “to each his own”. Whatever you feel comfortable with and life allows to happen to you.
You could have a third, BUT 1) it’ll be three years at least until your “youngest” is old enough to actually interact with any of your kids and 2) by then you’d be back to the same place you are now when your “middle” kid is in school. Two is more than enough for us…I never understand why people want to outnumber themselves.