Anecdotes

We all have times when in spite of the flurry, you just have to stop and laugh. Humor is an important part of raising a large family, but sometimes when things get hard, we forget how to really laugh for a while. This site section is here to share some funny stories, and to share ways that we handle daily challenges with humor.

David got new glasses today. They were frameless on the bottom. He fussed with them on the way home, trying to adjust them a bit more. One twist the wrong way, and the filament on the bottom of one of the lenses broke. He sat there feeling angry at himself, and sort of silly holding this pair of glasses with only one lens. He pondered the practicality of monocles, and of running around with one eye closed, then sat silently while we drove. Then he said, "Maybe I could just tell the other kids that I got contacts!"

Kevin found an article on parents who are trying to toilet train their children from birth. I am thinking about how hard it is to train a two year old, getting them to understand, and how you'd have to work at it for MONTHS with a newborn just to get an advantage of maybe three weeks over doing it at the right time anyway. Erik had a different perspective - "You can't toilet train a baby... their legs aren't long enough until they are four!"

When one of my kids is making obnoxious noises with their mouth, or they won't stop talking when they need to be quiet, I will threaten to staple their lips to the ceiling.

When my young girls were around 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 they spread shortening over the kitchen and rubbed spices into it. I can laugh about it now, but it sure was not funny then!

We are new to home-school. One of the benefits to home-school is choosing math that fits our family. Investigational math is very common in our area and parents are unhappy about it. Here is my daughter's comment on the subject.

Mom, do you want to Homes-School me because of the excavational math?

I guess we are upset about our children falling into holes!

Cheryl - Mom to 7 great children

I stumbled on your website tonight and had to laugh when I read the first paragraph of your homepage:

If anyone has ever said to you, "Are they all yours?", "Wow, how do you manage so many?", or "Are you Catholic or Mormon?", then you officially have a Big Family.

 All three things have been said to my husband or me on different occasions.  I just wanted to add another favorite of peoples for others “big families” enjoyment.  We often hear “you know what causes that don’t you?”…I told my husband we should answer, “yes we do…and we’re very good at it!” 

Jill
Mother of six (15 to 4) in Michigan

This mother also submitted the following story:

The other night I was reading to my 7 and 4 year old boys.  I just got the new “The Message” bible for my birthday and thought the way it reads some of the stories might translate well to them.  So I decided to start with an old favorite and read them Noah’s Ark…Travis, my seven year old is a thinker and he asks A LOT of questions.  He listened intently to the story but wanted to know what was meant by “the human race”.  I just said, Travis that just means “all people”.  I continued reading but I could tell that his mind was elsewhere….finally he said, “so the human race is just all the people in the world running around to see who gets done first?”…from the mouths of babes…that sure does seem like what people are doing sometimes doesn’t it?