I know this is a silly thing to ask but the oddest thing happen the other night when I went out to dinner with DH and kids (3). Two separate individuals came up to us while we were eating and commented on what a lovely large family we are.

Since when is a family of 5 (hubby, wife, and 3 kids) consider big? I just have to ask.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 08:03 pm:

I don't consider a family of 5 to be large. I'd say a large family is more than 4 kids, but it's not a bad thing.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 08:14 pm:

I consider it to be a large family, but definitely not a bad thing as Crystal said. I don't know many people with more than 2 kids though, unless it's a blended family.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 09:02 pm:

I grew up in a family of 5. I didn't think we were a big family. Right now I have a family of 4, which is definitely not big. I have a friend with 5 kids and another friend with 7 kids. I would consider those to be large families!

By Marcia on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 09:15 pm:

We are a family of 7, I grew up in a family of 7 and hubby grew up in a family of 8.

By Kernkate on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 10:33 pm:

Between myself and my DH we have 4 children(5 but one is deceased). I do not consider that a large family. We are a family of 6. We are a blended family, but to me a Large family is someone with 6 kids. JMO
I have noticed now a days any more then 2 kids is having a big family...Why is that?? My mom was one of nine children and and maybe back that it was ok, but not now???

By Bobbie~moderatr on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 10:49 pm:

We have four children.. We are considered a large family but I don't see that. I actually would have like to have had more and we are thinking about becoming foster/adoptive parents after the older two are grown and the younger two are older. We always have a full house. Our kids love having their friends around, we have so much fun together.. I am going to miss it when they are all grown and gone..

By Kaye on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 10:58 pm:

We also have 3 kids, I never thought of us as a "large family", but most of our friends only have 2. I think we are more medium. But I guess four kids makes me think large. I also know well two people who have 12 kids each...so it is all in what ya see!

By Kate on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 11:00 pm:

I consider four or more children to be a large family, three to be medium, and two and under to be small.

By Imamommyx4 on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 12:11 am:

I think greater than 3 kids and 2 parents (which we are now) a large family. But our family feels so small b/c the 2 oldest are out of the house and the third oldest is old enough to out of the house but not really but isn't home much anyway. So for the most part, it's just dh, dd and me.

But what I think is weird is that 2 strangers walked up to you and commented on your family. Why did they feel it necessary?

By Mrsheidi on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 12:19 am:

3 kids or more...large to me.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 07:36 am:

When we first moved to Sheboygan, my friend with the 7 children, was pregnant with her 4th. The grandma across the street, made a comment then, about Heather having too many kids! (She was kind of a busybody! She told me Sarah was a chubby one, when she really wasn't that chubby.)

I just wonder what she would say now, to see that Heather had 7 children. She has since passed away and we moved from that location 9 years ago.

I would have presumed to make a comment, even when Heather only had 4 children. I would have considered it really none of my business.

By Sunny on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 08:39 am:

I am one of 6 kids, DH is one of 5 and we have 5 kids together. I think nowadays, since everything is geared towards a family or four (2 adults, 2 kids), any more than that and your considered larger than average.
I tend to think more than 4 kids and your on the low end of a large family. LOL

By Trina~moderator on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 09:11 am:

Before getting married I had a roommate who came from a family with 16 kids. Now THAT'S a large family! LOL! Seriously though, to me, if the entire family is not able to fit safely in a minivan, that's "large".

By Feona on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:05 am:

I consider anything over two children a large family. I am a only child though.

By Monicamomof3 on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:26 am:

I consider anything over 6 to be large....truly LARGE!

By Tink on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:38 am:

I come from a family with three dks, we have three dks, and I have always considered four children to be a large family. I have recently been approached about our "large" family and was REALLY surprised also. Most of our friends have either 1 or 3+ children so it doesn't seem that big to me. I've been wondering what others consider large, too. I have to admit to being surprised that three is considered large but I do notice that those that think 3 children is large only have one child. Maybe it's the fact that the kids now outnumber the parents.

By Groovepickle on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 04:30 pm:

I think having 5 children is a big family.

By Tayjar on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 05:20 pm:

Hang on to your hats, ladies. In my community, it is not uncommon to see a family of 8 or more kids. Most of them biological and no step-kids. They all belong to the same church. Honestly, I can think of upwards of 20 to 30 families that have at least 8 kids. My neighbor, the next farm over, has 13 kids I think. She has grandkids as well as kids that are the same age. It's wild. My DD is one of a handful of kids in her class that isn't related to anyone else in the class.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 07:41 pm:

One of my bosses is one of 9. He and his wife have triplets.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 07:43 pm:

P.S. I have 3 sons, and whether that was a "large" family depended on the day. I do remember that when my dad was talking about me trying again, for a granddaughter, I told my poker-loving dad that for me, three of a kind was definitely a full house.

By Bellajoe on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 09:37 pm:

Dora, wow!! The norm around here it having 2-4 kids.

I think that having 4 or more kids is a big family. I grew up in a family of 7 and did consider us a big family. i would love to have more kids, but dh doesn't want any more.

By Melanie on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:01 pm:

I would consider four or more kids a large family. I think it's funny that a lot of responses (including mine) consider large to be one more than their family is. LOL.

LOL @ Trina about the mini van...great response!

Ginny-that was a perfect response. LOL.

And Dora, yikes...that's the only response that comes to mind. ;)

By Annie2 on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:36 pm:

I grew up in a family of four kids. I was the youngest. I didn't think we came from large family since many of the Irish/Cathloic families that I knew had six or more kids.

We have four kids and I think by today's norm we have a large family. Most people that I know have two or three kids. Somedays it seems our family is too large then sometimes not large enough! If we could afford more kids, we would have had more. Plus with all of the kids' friends around we always have a housefull!

Two of our dds were away for the weekend and our house seemed too quiet!

By Insaneusmcwife on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 07:37 am:

Ya know I never thought about it. I would guess it depends on the what one would consider small. I would consider, for us, 1 child would be a small family, 3 or more would be a large family. But thats only because I have 2 ;)!

By Breann on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:40 am:

I want 4 kids, and I wouldn't consider that large. OUr best friends have 6 kids. That seems large.

By Kiki on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 07:09 pm:

Wow! I wasn't expecting all these responses. I wasn't offended by those people. They meant it in a nice way but it came across so odd to me. My father came from a HUGE family. He's one of 21 (same mom and dad- all single births).

Trina- I love the minivan logic
Ginny- I love the witty response

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 03:31 pm:

I raised 4 kids - blended family - but most families in my area have 2-4 kids. I think my kids have only known one or two kids that were *only* children, and most of the kids they know have 2 siblings, and some have 3 siblings. There are a few with 5 kids in the family too.

By Kym on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 09:15 pm:

I'm with Ginny, last night 4 kids seemed too large to cope with, today is a different story, I had two plus my 4 and it was smooth, fun, and I got alot accomplished.

4 is the new 2, more people are finding 4 to be the "perfect" number.

I guess it would be a family of 8, 6 kiddos and two adults following them That would be a big family to me. Of course I was raised LDS, so I''ve been around some BIG families lol