Thinking Outside of the Box
I was raised in a small family. I had 1.4 siblings. We lived in a 4½ bedroom house. We did everything the “normal” way, as did all of our neighbors.
By the time I had more that 3 children I was in uncharted waters. I had no role model to follow. This can be cripplingly difficult or totally freeing.
We have 5 Pirates ages 8 – 16 and The Princess who is 5¾ goin’ on 30. We live in a typical 3 br, 2 ba, 2 c g tract home. If I didn’t think outside the box I was raised in I would have 5 Pirates in one 10′x11′ br, which worked fine when they were small, but some of them are getting to be quite gigantic.
Well, in my typical tract home I am blessed with a breakfast nook and a dining room. The breakfast nook is just outside my bedroom and the perfect size to fit The Princess’ twin bed and her dresser. The other bedrooms are at the other end of the house, so that affords her a tiny bit of privacy. She uses my bedroom for changing her clothes and she shares my bathroom. And since we can’t eat in a breakfast nook anyway (we wouldn’t all fit), it works out for our family, for now.
The point is, if your family doesn’t fit the normal way, turn it around, upside down, shake well, and see if things will work another way. Just because it isn’t normal to your way of thinking doesn’t make it wrong. Remember, in many parts of the world people sleep on mats on the floor, and everyone in the same room. Not wrong, just not what we are accustomed to.
Have y’all checked out my HFGF page? The Cap’n and I have made a small assortment of buttons you can use on your blog. You can use ‘em in your post and you can put one in your sidebar so lots of moms can find Help for Growing Families.
Now it’s your turn. Share your helpful hints and practical tips for raising a large family. Write your Help for Growing Families post and link here with my Mister Linky. For more details click here
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