[RedStateGreen]

Good Lord, they have the whole family named with a 'J' ...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')oshua, Jana & John-David (twins), Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah & Jeremiah (twins), Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer (and #18 due in January 2009!).

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kpeavey', 'I') browsed the link above. The family has their act together.

7000 sqft home, built debt free.
regular daily schedule, which allows flexibility
hygiene routine
cleaning/sanitation routine
a buddy system, old/young children paired for training
home schooling
musical ability
a high and clean moral standard
politically active

In a slow crash, I suspect they will be just fine.

[Mominator]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mominator', 'I')'m only kidding
I'm not enough of a people person for that kind of responsibility.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mominator', 'I')'ve joked that I'll train him to be the security--he'll be patrolling our perimeter at 7. Our now 1 yo is obsessed with food and dirt and will be a master gardener.

[Mominator]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kpeavey', 'I') browsed the link above. The family has their act together.

7000 sqft home, built debt free.
regular daily schedule, which allows flexibility
hygiene routine
cleaning/sanitation routine
a buddy system, old/young children paired for training
home schooling
musical ability
a high and clean moral standard
politically active

In a slow crash, I suspect they will be just fine.

[darwinsdog]

I don't know about being a feudal lord.

I just want to be the guy on the horse with the shotgun, while the rest of you are hoeing.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('darwinsdog', 'I') don't know about being a feudal lord.

I just want to be the guy on the horse with the shotgun, while the rest of you are hoeing.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mominator', 'I')'m hoping to be a feudal lord one day. Or would that be a feudal lady? Whatever.

[darwinsdog]

Get back to work!

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', ' ')It's really a recipe for disaster.

[Mominator]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mominator', 'I')'ve joked that I'll train him to be the security--he'll be patrolling our perimeter at 7. Our now 1 yo is obsessed with food and dirt and will be a master gardener.

[blukatzen]

I've heard of these folks, but haven't heard the news that 2 more came since I've heard of them last time. (and another one in '09, eh?) Good luck to them.

When I was growing up in the 60's, in my neighborhood grade school (Roman Catholic) there were several families with more than "a few" children.

There were many that had 7 to 8 kids in the family, but there were about 4 more families that had 12-14 kids in the family.
There was one lady that was our brownie/girl scout leader that loved children, this family had...I kid you not...24 children. There were 2 sets of twins and one set of triplets, the rest were "single births". I was friends with one of their daughters, a girl named Flora. I played over at their house, and all friends of their kids were welcome, not just the kids themselves. (but not for dinner, however, you may have been offered a glass of milk and a few cookies.) They were the exemplary soul of kindliness, charity and family love.

I wish more young parents today had their mettle , most of the parents of those large families never impressed that they were "needful" of most anything that we felt was important.

Things were shared back then, and hand-me-downs were an accepted part of life. No one questioned this. There was something to be said about growing up before all these electronic gadgets became the thing a youngster MUST have at all costs.

We were happy with little transistor radios!

They had a park in the backyard just for the kids alone. Several of the kids had left the house because they were older, had gone to the Army (Vietnam service), and a few had gotten a job and had gotten an apartment to relieve the living situation.

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, my adoptive parents both came from families of 8 children, so when it was only my sister and myself, well, we felt like the oddballs...! "ONLY 2 KIDS!" was the retort my poor mother had heard from time to time. (she had 5 miscarriages.)

It's interesting to see families that have this amount of children, I haven't seen this since I was young myself. I think they can succeed.

Families have persevered with a lot of children if the older ones help the younger ones, thus relieving the burden on the parents.
(no I don't have children.)

Blu

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')I just have a really low tolerance for folks who seem to want to "go back" to a way of life that sucked for most people.

[californydreamin]

Just move within a few miles of a city, and you will never know what hit you, that is the easiest way, if you don't like to suffer.

One day you will just wake up dead. very simple.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '
')That seems to contradict with your endorsement of Anthropik.

[hironegro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'M')y wife and I have come to the decision that we will have two kids if the economy holds up, and 5 or 6 if it doesn't. In a world about to be devoid of many pencil pushers, having more hands around makes some sense.

[darwinsdog]

If I invited young people to come here to participate in a commune, they'd have their own ideas which would mostly be wrong & I'd end up having to correct them & boss them around. I detest bossing people around. I'd rather shoot interlopers than boss around kids who require it. Let 'em form their own communes elsewhere. Thrive or go down according to your own merits & deficiencies. I have my own issues that don't concern you. Your issues don't concern me. We need to sort out our own issues, then perhaps we can trade, form alliances, or go to war. As the case may be...

[eric_b]

Ooof. Wow, that's a lot of kids.

F*cking ourselves off the planet.

[Fiddlerdave]

90% of everyone will die in the dieoff. If there 10% more people, then 91% will die. More kids now is a negative sum game, earth's carrying capacity will not be more just because there is a larger oversupply.

And I am older now. I have no wish to watch my own kids die of hunger, some stupid disease a shot of penicillin would have cured, or as the plaything or slave of pirates or wannabe Feudal lords with whips for an evening or a week before they are used up. Its going to be hard enough to see it happen to other people's kids, in the unlikely event I am not early out of the game.

[Tyler_JC]

Unless these folks are extremely wealthy, it is utterly impossible to provide a decent standard of living to 17 children.

How do you feed that many people on a realtor's income? Especially in this environment!

It's irresponsible and when they end up on welfare, they are going to take down the entire system.