Everybody knows that the more children a woman has, the more rundown and frazzled she is. Which is why it's not really a good idea for a woman to have several children. There's no way she can give them what they really need, physically or emotionally.
So says conventional wisdom, also known as "stereotyping."
Any mother can be a tangle of frazzled nerves. It doesn't matter if she has one child or eight. I think it depends a lot on the ages of the children (especially the older ones) and the mother's own attitude. I, for example, was much more overwhelmed with Addie-age-2 and Stuart-age-1 than I have been with Addie-8, Stuart-7, Daphne-3, and Phillip-baby.
It is true that a mother with many children usually needs more help than one with one or two. Maybe that feeds the stereotype, seeing as Self-Sufficiency is a modern American virtue. As far as that goes, the best advice I've seen regarding a mother with many children is: When you hear of another baby on the way, don't say, "Oh, poor woman." Instead, say, "How can I help her?"
-- SJ
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
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3 comments:
Nice post Sara! :)
Sara, I love you and your four kids. =) So glad for each one, from Addie to Pip!
~ Leah
This was a WONDERFUL post. It's interesting timing - I've been thinking this week about how saddened I am by our current culture and its mission to squash the large family. My nana is one of 12. That wasn't so long ago. How suddenly our society turned their backs on family. It just kills me.
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