"16 Kids and Counting" - how do they afford it?

Nixer

Yes I thought they said he was a mechanic too. Although in the preview clip of next week he was saying "anyone seen my taxi badge" but that may have been the running joke about them picking the children up from nights out all the time.
Did the son have a Range Rover too or was he driving the mum's one?

fireyfirenze

pretty sure it was his because on one shot he was driving it away and you could see still their range rover parked on the drive. at least I think so! I was half asleep

tessie_bear

i enjoyed the programme but didnt envy that family with the asda delivery their food bills....i thought the family with the daughters had very nice cars...i wonder where i am going wrong

daska

I don't know, they seem happy, bright, clean, tidy, polite, well cared for and well loved. You can bet your bottom dollar the documentary makers would have gone to town if they were out kicking cats and spraypainting walls.

And while it may seem that the amount of money paid out is high perhaps some thought as to WHY tax credits (and other benefits such as housing benefits) are needed by ANY working family in the first place? Why does the tax payer have to subsidise so many working families? perhaps it's more because so many of the companies employing people exploit the availability of tax credits by paying a less than living wage and only offering part time jobs because it suits them to have a pool of people to pick from at busy times? (The tax payer heavily subsidises many private landlords, another iniquitous situation). What would happen to wages and rents if these two subsidies were abolished? Obviously that's a more general discussion but it's worth bearing in mind that the minimum wage, especially for those who can only find part time work, is nowhere near a living wage and the majority of payments go to working families.

And a quick reminder. State pensions and benefits are paid out of CURRENT recipts, not out of the mythical savings pots that so many people still seem to imagine they have paid into. We need tax payers to fund these and our low birth rate and aging population are therefore at odds. And 16 kids in one working family is less expensive than supporting 16 non-working families.

So I say good on them. They've been together for 20+ years. They're obviously a well functioning family and I wish them all the best.

sassyblue

tessie_bear wrote: »

i enjoyed the programme but didnt envy that family with the asda delivery their food bills....i thought the family with the daughters had very nice cars...i wonder where i am going wrong

My son did look up at that point and ask why she'd bought all that food, he was shocked when l said she had lots of children, he couldn't take his eyes off the screen. I'd be glad l wasn't a neighbour of theirs either with the farm animals in the small garden, - if they got them for good, where would the kids play?

msb5262

Not making any political point at all, but I'd hate to have been one of 16 children - it must be a bit like living in a children's home or being at boarding school. I don't think children necessarlly benefit emotionally from being in a very large family; the parents often seem to be fulfilling an emotional need in themselves by creating such a huge family group.

daska

msb5262 wrote: »

Not making any political point at all, but I'd hate to have been one of 16 children - it must be a bit like living in a children's home or being at boarding school. I don't think children necessarlly benefit emotionally from being in a very large family; the parents often seem to be fulfilling an emotional need in themselves by creating such a huge family group.

I suspect that's quite a modern viewpoint. Take it back 100+ years and large families were quite normal. My great great grandparents (1885 - 92) were all from families of 13+ children (I know my paternal ggd was the youngest of 16 but can't remember the others off the top of my head). Whereas my grandparents (1901-7) were from families of 1, 2 and 8 (no idea about my maternal grandad but suspect he was an only child). My dad had one sibling and my mother was a singleton

msb5262

daska wrote: »

I suspect that's quite a modern viewpoint. Take it back 100+ years and large families were quite normal. My great great grandparents were all from families of 13+ children (I know my paternal ggd was the youngest of 16 but can't remember the others off the top of my head). Whereas my grandparents were from families of 1, 2, 8 (no idea about my maternal grandad)

I agree that large families were quite normal but my point was that children's needs probably aren't particularly well met in such large families - especially their emotional needs. These days we have a lot more choice about the size of our families so I wonder why some people make a choice to have quite so many children!

daska

But the view on children's needs has changed dramatically with smaller families. Who's to say our modern viewpoint is better. One difference is that more siblings equals more children to play with, therefore less need for parent to play with them. Is that better or worse? It's very subjective really.

oliveoil99

I can only go on my own view of coming from a large family 9 of us. My father was widowed in 1955 with he was 30 my mother was 27 when she died there was then 4 children under 7 as there was no family to care for us mother and father both only children and an aged granma with no welfare system we were all put in a childrens home. My dad worked and paid for us in the home we knew he was (looking for a wife) to get us out the home, he did eventially marry and from the day the stepmother brought the first baby home from hospital and I was told to change and rock the baby I knew any childhood I was going to have was behind me.

I was the youngest of my late mothers children 2 at the time she died and 6 when my stepmother had first of my 5 younger siblings, I never resented looking after all the children at time you just got on with it, we brought each other up that's how it was then. It was only as I got older and could not remember any childhood memories. I only have 1 photo of myself as a child and look like raggy Annie with all the worries of the world on my shoulders. Obviously there is alot more to my childhood which I'm sure would make a best seller I have thought of writing it down but there would be so much hurt to people that are still with us that I love.