<p>Well, good for them. That is impressive. I could not have done that. I’m not very well organized, and though I would like to be more organized than I am, I find an inflexible system/schedule stifling. To each their own. I agree that were truly lucky to have no special needs kids. Or kids with allergies. Extraordinary genetics? I used to have neighbors that had twelve kids. They were awesome, disciplined, organized to the hilt, just as this family is. But they did have two special needs kids out of the twelve kids.</p>
<p>I thought for myself that two kids seemed like a good idea. Two of us , two of them. As long as the finances are there, I guess it’s none of my business. But for every kid, you do increase potential bad outcomes, services , impact on Medicare, etc.</p>
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<p>From the article: </p>
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<p>I doubt, even with 14 children, that they would’ve qualified for much, if any, FA ;)</p>
<p>I just clicked back on the article and noticed that in the right margin, there are numbers. When you click on the number, comments appear. Apparently we on CC are not the only ones with lots of questions about this family.</p>
<p>VH, I hate the layout of that website. I tried forever to find the comments section!</p>
<p>I wonder how many games, plays, recitals, etc they were able to attend with 12 children all involved in multiple things? </p>
<p>And how were they home every night for dinner promptly at 5:30 when they had practices, clubs, etc? </p>
<p>This doesn’t make a lick of sense the more I think about it.</p>
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<p>while I think it’s good for the fifth grader to read with the 1st grader, I’d much rather the PARENT be reading to the first grader (and WITH the fifth grader!). There’s just something very special about reading with your parent, not your brother/parent (which is what older siblings sound like in this model)</p>
<p>There’s also just something very bothersome to me about making a 3 year old clean a toilet.</p>
<p>Oh wow, I missed this snippet: </p>
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<p>Hmm… this means they haven’t all been in the same place since the oldest was ~22 and the youngest was ~7.</p>
<p>The family photo is worth a thousand words. They had to photoshop it because they haven’t all been together since 1998? I’m guessing the kids each found a significant other and ran as far as they could, never to return!!!</p>
<p>I don’t know about you, but I clean my toilets with bleach, and I don’t give that to 4 year olds…</p>
<p>I am not buying that this worked as well as they want us to think it did. But, to each their own, I guess.</p>
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<p>No…wire…HANGERS!!!</p>
<p>More power to them for having something that worked for their family…but there’s nothing about how they paid for college. </p>
<p>Laughing over how at dinner they “nearly always had desert of some kind”. Gobi? Sahara? Antarctica? ;)</p>
<p>Same here, Ema. I’m allergic to bleach so I can’t even be in the house when my fiance cleans the bathroom. Obviously there are non-bleach cleaners but I still wouldn’t trust a three year old with any of the chemicals that I use! I don’t even care if they’re the “non-toxic” cleaners.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t disagree with a whole lot there…value of family, hard work in school and life, money sense, serving community…but I don’t understand how all that translates into 12 young people financing their own educations. Some of it seems exaggerated or just plain silly. Building your own car and computer? The kids were born so close together, couldn’t they share a few cars or laptops?</p>
<p>I personally want to know how big their property was where they could have at least 8 cars there at any one time!</p>
<p>Are they related to the Gilbreths?</p>
<p>I’d be curious to know what kind of breaks they got with schools for having so many children. What average cost was per kid for college. Sorry if I missed that.</p>
<p>Actually, the EFC formula doesn’t give a break to families with more than a few kids … I discovered that when reviewing the EFC of a friend who has 9 kids. I was surprised that it was as high as it was. Turns out after 3, maybe 4 kids, there is no difference as more kids are added to the family size.</p>
<p>I see some similarities to my family. Back in the '60’s I knew many families with lots of kids. As the youngest of 6, my oldest sister taught me to read. She also had A LOT of family responsibilities and I believe that is why she moved away to college and never came home. I had to sit at the table until I ate my vegetables, and I raised my kids very differently. We all had to pay our own way through college, luckily as mentioned we were all very good students and healthy. I resented this the most as the youngest, not much FA and my parents were in a better financial position by then.</p>
<p>Nice looking family - everyone looks healthy and energetic, except for the mom who looks absolutely wiped out.</p>
<p>Surely by now some child of these rule-bound families has written a tortured memoir. Or maybe not. Maybe the children are always just like the parents, who sound like humorless non-creative grinds.</p>
<p>The subtext to the allergy comment - food allergies are imagined indulgences, not evidence of extreme good luck, or fantastic genes.</p>
<p>I too didn’t see how they educated 12 kids for free (BYU?) but I do know that for some that is the ultimate goal.</p>
<p>It sounds like a lot of control. I couldn’t get myself up at 5:15, let alone my children. A well-rested mom is a happy mom, and a happy mom is a good mom. </p>
<p>I hope he doesn’t sprain a muscle patting himself on the back. </p>
<p>Does denying thing to your family - a trip to Europe or Disneyland, a stay in a hotel - things you can afford, really make you and your children better people? I’m not talking overly-indulgent, going into debt, stuff, but treats, holidays. We camp. Big whoop-di-do. We like it, but I never realized it made us better than you. </p>
<p>Oh, and there isn’t an executive in my company who isn’t still in the office at 5:30pm. And 3 week vacations are unheard of, especially every summer. If I worked with someone who abandoned the group like that every year, I’d be furious. </p>
<p>If it worked for them, great. Nothing I would hold up as an example to the rest of us.</p>