The Dugars family in Little Rock Arkansas just welcomed their 17th child into the world. Yes you read that correctly. 17th Child! It was an 8 lb 8 oz and joined its 16 siblings who range through ages 19-2. According to the article that I linked above, Michelle Duggar has been pregnant for a whopping 10.5 years of her life! I couldn't even take the 18 months that I was pregnant with my two, so all the more kudos to her for that fact alone.
But how many children are too many children? When I was 14 I was entered into a Pageant, and while we were waiting for the Judges to make some decisions on my age group, the MC would spontaneously call out contestants and ask them questions. My question was "How many children do you think people should have in a family". Well, I was naive. Without thought or even regard to the other contestant who was in a family of 12 siblings, I blurted out "2, because that’s how many I have in my family and that seems like a perfect amount." Later, after it was all over and I massacred my shot at the big trophy, my "Coach"/Aunt took me to the side and said that the correct answer was "However many children the parents love" was the more PC Answer.
Well now that I'm older, I feel as though my coach's answer was incorrect. I think there are a lot of factors that go into raising a family. Love is definitely the biggest factor, but I would say running a close second to love, is support. You need to be able to support your family, and if you can't handle one, you probably have no business having two.
I had recently while standing in line had a conversation about the Duggar's with a woman who was just in shock over the fact that this woman wanted to have another child. I told her about it and she just simply laughed and said something rude. Something rude to the comment of how its probably impossible to care for so many children and she's probably on food stamps and a drain on the economy. Well because I had visited the Duggar family website some time ago, I knew this wasn't the case. I also know that they have a 7,000 sq foot home (that is PAID for btw), have NO debt, and are really quite down to earth and very organized and friendly.
She combated me with "well, all those kids, someone has to get lost in the shuffle." My response was ”true, but you know, I think that as children get older, they start to look out for one another as well as themselves. The family seems very family oriented and I wouldn't bet if everyone pitches in, and the older children help with the everyday life just as would be in a family of two." She agreed, so I was pretty proud of myself for winning my argument.
So my point is, the Duggar's are loving parents, with 17 kids! I know that’s not the life that I would have wanted for myself, but I'm not going to judge these people or call them drains on the economy, because I've done my research and know otherwise. I won’t get into their belief system of "if gods wants me pregnant then he wants me pregnant" because on that front, I also think that god invented someone smart enough to invent birth control...But to each their own. 10 years pregnant? Not for me. But, congratulations to the Duggars on number 17!