There’s nothing like a houseful of kids, temper tantrums, massive dinners, endless sleepovers and lots and lots of toys. That was my childhood in a nutshell. I grew up alongside my five siblings. And in my childhood home, nothing was simple and no one was sane.
According to Pew Research , half of Americans (48%) say two is the ideal number of children for a family to have. My parents were obviously overachievers, and I ended up growing up in the modern-day “Brady Bunch.” My family was always a little different, a little louder, a LOT crazier than my friends and classmates. Let’s just say, things were a little different in my house growing up than your average normal-sized family.
Car rides are a war zone
If there was one word that caused more turmoil than any other in our household, it had to be: shotgun. Since we had a brood full of kids, my parents always drove a terrible, ugly, foul-sounding mini-van. And the only decent seat in said mini-van was hands-down the front passenger seat. Now my younger siblings generally posed no threat. For one, half of them were in car seats and the other were still too dumb to realize how awesome the front seat is. So that just left me and my bigger brother. We would stiff arm all the whole way to the van, screaming “shotgun” as loud as we could. It got so bad that my mom made a rotating seating chart. A seating chart. Now tell me, do only children need a seating chart for car rides? Probably not.
Food is precious and must be hidden
Growing up, we were blessed to always have plenty of food in our bellies. But that doesn’t mean that anything good (cookies, soda, chips, anything remotely chocolate, etc.) didn’t instantly disappear as soon as it made its way into the pantry. You never grabbed just one cookie—because the next time you reached for you, the only thing you’d get would be crumbs. So if you wanted to make sure favorite snack didn’t vanish, you better have a darn good hiding place. (Side note: this is a trait that has never left me. I still hide my food. You’ll most definitely find a box of Girl Scout cookies in my desk drawer).
But the absolute worst has to be when you have a drink or snack that you’re taking to school. You put it in the fridge the night before, wake-up the next morning to find your drink or snack half empty. You must claim everything in the fridge. I mean everything. I would write my name on string cheese. If you didn’t want it gone, you had better write you name ALL over it.
Toys aren’t necessary
When you have three brothers and two sisters, you don’t need video games or Barbie dolls. Your best toys are your siblings. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of summer nights spent playing tag and hide-n-seek until it was time for bed. I may have felt jealous of all the only children when it came to always getting to ride shotgun and never having to share snacks—but I definitely felt blessed that I always got to go to bed and way up with a whole group of best friends and playmates.
Space is precious--clothes are not
In my family, it’s hard to be alone. Children are everywhere. Bedrooms are sparse and quiet is non-existent—especially when you have to share bedrooms with your siblings. You’d have better luck taking my turn at riding shotgun then you would finding a quiet spot to gather your thoughts.
It’s funny, growing up, I craved peaceful solitude, but now that I’m on my own, all the quite feels too empty. When I’m home alone, I leave the t.v. on full blast—just to feel the space with some sound.
But when you are lucky enough to find a quiet spot, it won’t be long to sibling or a parent finds you out. If you do manage to find solitude in a big family—it never lasts long.
While the peace and quiet may be as precious as gold, clothes are certainly not. I never got too attached to clothes growing up. I knew I would only have them so long till they were passed down to the younger ones. Favorite t-shirt? Get as much wear as you can, because Natalie will be rocking it as soon as the next school year starts. Love your awesome light-up shoes? Don’t worry, I’m sure Natalie will too.
It’s always difficult to describe exactly what it’s like growing up in a big family to someone who grew up as an only child or with one or two siblings. Growing up in a large family was challenging, stressful, loud and annoying, but it was worth it.
