My great grandparents have twelve kids. Twelve! My Granny Bonnie is one of the oldest of the twelve and she and my Grandpa Dave had six kids. My mom is the oldest of those six. Because of this, I have a ton of family members: cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, all on one side of my family alone. The Alden family. There are many pros and cons of having a big family, but I have found that the pros far outweigh the cons.

1. Family reunions are majorly fun events. With a plethora of organizers available and a guest list of over a hundred people, it's quite a great party and chance to catch up with everyone.

2. Big support system. So many people can connect on a deep level that only family members can, and so when anyone is having a tough time, there are always lots of people available to help.

3. Generational gap. This one is interesting at least in my family because the distance in ages of the twelve kids created a large range of ages in grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I am one of the oldest great-grandchildren at age nineteen and I am very close in age to some of the grandchildren who are children of the youngest of the twelve. In fact, I'm older than a lot of the grandchildren, yet I'm in the next generation down. I can't tell you how many times my younger cousins who are the generation above me have teased me about being "less important."

4. Excuses to travel. Having a huge family means that not everyone will be living close together, and some will be moving very far away indeed. I have relatives in other states, as well as on other continents.

5. Plenty of role models. With all of the older cousins, aunts and uncles in the family, there are certainly a lot of people to look up to.

6. Lots of people who think of you as a role model. When you are in the middle of such a large extended family like I am, you have a good number of people below you who look up to you. Yes, this means more responsibility, but it helps you learn to help others learn.

7. Family stories. My giant family has a wealth of inside jokes, family histories, and stories from over the years. It certainly makes getting together more fun when you can tease someone about the time they did something crazy as a kid.

8. Things that only your giant family can do. Can your family of 20 turn a banquet hall into a full on casino with 20 different card games going on at once? Can your small family sing together songs that you sing at every family event and be so loud the neighbors call the cops on you?

9. The crazy diversity and yet similarity. With so many people sharing some DNA, it is interesting seeing the physical diversity while still having some sort of similar looks. There's also an incredible amount of personality differences, with some interesting family quirks shared by everyone.

10. Connections. There are bound to be family members involved in a field you are interested in working in. Having that family connection is always a plus.

11. More opportunities to see social diversity within your family. Within large families, there are very likely to be people in the LGBTQ+ community, of multiple races, of different political opinions, of different religious backgrounds, etc. This is interesting to see this amount of diversity within your family and often means that you are much more open-minded towards these things.

12. Built in best friends. This one is the big one for me. Very often you can find a very best friend within your large extended family because of many reasons. You may have grown up close together, or bonded during every family event. I think the most important thing is that that family member who is your best friend is so close to you because they understand you on a level that no other friends can. They understand where you come from, and what your mindset is more than anyone else because they are a part of your family, and in some ways, a part of you. For me, this is my first cousin, once removed Isaac Sellner.

Do not be discouraged if you have a small extended family or don't have much of one at all. Every family is unique and every size family has their pros and cons. I just think that my huge family is the best one in the world because, duh.