Kelly Crawford

One of the things I love about our large family is thinking about what the future will be like. Imagining Christmas, with all my grown children, anticipating that they will all be very close to one another, and their children as well, conjures up the sweetest anticipation! I imagine that life can only get sweeter and sweeter as the years go by. And sometimes, when the days are rough, and three little people are all crying at the same time, and there are Cheerios crushed all over the floor, and the house is so messy I want to run away, I just close my eyes and remember that sometimes the gardening is hard…but the fruit of faithful labor is delightfully wonderful! And then I sit down among the crushed Cheerios and tickle my children, and try to enjoy even the gardening…knowing that every season is a gift, and there are so many more to come!

One of my favorite benefits of having a large family is the opportunity it provides to speak to others about the value and joy of children. If you have a large family, you know without a doubt, that going out in public is sure to produce interesting results, at best. But what a blessing to respond to others’ comments or questions with a joyful, sincere answer about the value of children. What a joy to be able, by a word or comment, to plant a seed, or shed some tiny light that may shatter the darkened thinking of someone.

I would LOVE for as many of you as wish, to comment about your favorite response to people about having a large family. What do you say when someone asks, “Are they all yours?” Or, “Are you gonna have anymore?” Some of my favorite responses are: “Yes, I am a rich woman!”…”I hope so!” (to the “anymore” question) What do you say when someone says, “Boy, you’ve got your hands full!” My sinful nature often tempts me to say something less than loving, but we must remember we’re combating a long-standing thinking pattern about children. Some people have never thought about children any differently, and perhaps we can be the first to send their thinking in a different direction.

I challenge myself, and you, to give loving, joyful responses. Let our children see the love of Christ in us as we respond to others about these incredible little gifts!

Socialization.

Another benefit of having children in our series, is that you don’t have to send them to school to socialize them! (Sorry to disappoint the anti-homeschooling people…) but, having a large family creates the natural opportunity to handle and learn all kinds of social issues.

After all, what is socialization? To me, it is the process by which a person learns to “get along with others”, share their things, their thoughts, and their interests, function in a communal way where people help each other, and basically learn to communicate at all different levels. Well, there you go! It’s all in the family!

My children haven’t developed a common social deviance where they suddenly become mute when a person out of their peer group speaks to them. That’s not normal. Of course, since they don’t have to go to school to be “socialized” (I hope by now you realize I’m not convinced that school is the proper place to be socialized), they fortunately get to by-pass all the other junk that’s there .

Today’s Benefit:

Laughter! Children do and say the funniest things, that who can imagine life without their unexpected, irresistible little idiosyncrasies? We don’t even have a television (well, there are other reasons too, but…) because the level of entertainment is so monumental in our house! In those moments when one of my little ones pronounces a word wrong (Mom, can I have Yucky Charms for breakfast?), or makes a face that melts a mother’s heart, I am reminded of the promises of Scripture: “Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them”…”He shall bring delight to thy soul…”

I think it is no mistake that our loving, creative Heavenly Father delights in giving us joy through our children, even in the small moments of life. Sometimes, though, we must stop, and listen closely, and soak in those sweet moments.

This series is dedicated to expounding on the benefits of a large family. So often, we are bombarded with the “disadvantages” of having children, but no one talks much about all of the incredible benefits! It’s high time we place the value of children in its proper place. Feel free to leave your comment about your favorite benefit of having a large family, or just benefits to having children in general. Of course most of these benefits are based on the assumption that the children are raised in a Christian home, and trained properly according to God’s standard of child-rearing.

Today’s benefit is:

A large family supports the common adage that “many hands make light work.” It is so true! Every time someone gasps at all my children and says, “I don’t know how you do it! I can barely handle my two!” I assume they don’t have a clear picture of what a large family can look like.

I have done less house work in the last few years than ever in my life. And the work I do is less boring because I have so much little help. Now, unless you are about to scoff at my “slave-driving”, let me clarify. Work is GOOD for children. In our entertainment-centered culture, that theory is becoming less popular, and parents are often accused of heaping unfair amounts of work on their poor, deprived children. I’m not denying that somewhere, some family requires too much of small children, but most of the time that is not the case.

In most families, the work and play and fun is healthily balanced and the children learn proper responsibility, while sharing the work load and developing a bond of unity between the members. Any time people are a part of a team, having a common purpose with a common goal, those people develop of sense of closeness that is unmatched by any other. Working together as a family accomplishes that level of unity.

A child as young as 1 or 2 can begin to pick up things off the floor, and straighten their rooms under the direction of an older child. If all the chores of a household are divided between mom and three or four or five children, nobody has to do a lot of work. My five year-old can completely clean the kitchen by herself, from the loading/unloading of the dish washer, hand washing, drying, putting away, sweeping the floor and wiping down the cabinets. What’s even better…she LOVES it! She begs to do it! (Grab that while it lasts.) And though she won’t always beg, we do hope that by the time she is less thrilled about her work, she will recognize its value and feel the contentment from a job well done.