what is with kids toys

[tortoise]

@NH Homesteader I have 2 boys and Lordy if that's just not okay with people. Apparently we have to have 1 girl and 1 boy. And if you get two of the same, then people start pressuring to "try again" to try to get the opposite gender. WTF people? Sad I didn't have a girl, but love my cuddly boys!

I'm busy teaching DS10 to cook, clean, sew, babysit, change diapers, do laundry. Heck, he's more familiar with laundry stain removers than I am! He can darn socks [poorly] and he has a new spontaneous interest in embroidery. He thinks he wants traditional wife and kids when he grows up so I'm raising him up to be a gift to my future DIL. She will be the luckiest girl ever. He'd better pick one that deserves him....

Hey, @NH Homesteader ... how 'bout an arranged marriage. J/k!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well we're teaching DD how to hunt and butcher pigs and chickens so... Might be a good arrangement! Lol!!

Ugh I hope people don't tell me to try again. I'm DONE!

 

[tortoise]

I can relate completely to being "DONE". 2 years later, I'm still DONE. uggh. I get physically sick thinking, reading about pregnancy. I'm getting tubes tied this week. Put an end to the stress and uncertainty. NEVER AGAIN.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well you've had rougher pregnancies than most! Can't blame you there!

I just really like sleeping, I'm going to miss it. That is seriously a very big reason for me to not have more, lol.

 

[Beekissed]

The thing is with just two children, that later in life it starts to show as to why it wasn't such a great idea. All my relatives that only had two kids are now starting to second guess that situation....less division of work when it comes to taking care of elderly parents, less cousins for their children to interact with, less family to help during a crisis, less places to land if one is in crisis, less grandchildren(in one case, no grandkids at all and now that's become a much wanted thing in this couple...sorry, you only had two and neither of them wanted to have any).

My uncle only had two and one died, the other had no children. Now he's elderly and needing care, but the one left is not willing to move in and help him in any way because his own wife is needy.

My sister only had two, but neither had grandchildren nor wanted any, so she has none at a time when all her peers have them and want to talk about them.

My sister stopped at two and one is dying, the other doesn't want to have much to do with her, so she will have no one to take care of her in her elderly years and she has little contact with the grandchildren.

My aunt only had two and neither one wants to take care of her in her elderly years, though they stand to inherit her millions.

I could go on for days and days on the shortcomings of only having one or two when a person could have chosen otherwise. I only had three, but looking back and if I could do it over, I wouldn't have stopped there but would have kept going. I think 6 would have been ideal, but no fewer than 4, for sure.

My son wanted to stop at 2 but I urged them to continue...they are now having their 3rd girl and insist they will stop at this one, but I'm going to keep urging them to go for a fourth. You wouldn't believe how many people were just downright rude about them having a third child!!! Like they were overpopulating the Earth or something!

I'm the youngest of 9 and my parents both came from families of 8, so a big family is my familiar and it's a good thing, compared to what I saw growing up around families of only 2 children.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree. My parents aren't a burden to me, but a blessing. Imagine if Mom hadn't went on to have me, the 9th? There would be no one of all the rest that felt like that, that's for sure....they lived selfish all their lives and will continue to do so as time goes along.

I don't find it a bad thing to expect my children to care for their family members when they can no longer care for themselves....that doesn't burden them, it gives them a chance to think about others than themselves and teaches their children that same caring. It's character building and they will receive blessings in return for it, though they may not realize it at the time.

I didn't have children with an eye towards that end either but it still remains a fact of life that we all age out of our own care abilities eventually and the more children to share in the eventuality, the better. Any given time the caregiver may get sick or need to attend to other things and another sibling to step into the breech is a nice thing to have.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

(I had to wait until I was tall enough.)

Gotta be able to reach those pedals for sure. Sometimes I still have to scoot forward on the seat to be able to push the clutch in all the way!

 

[NH Homesteader]

DH has been anxiously awaiting DD being old enough to learn how to weld, among other things. I'll have to ask him what age he thinks is appropriate. 9 seems young to me but he grew up fast on the farm as a kid, so maybe he thinks differently.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Me too... My kids lose me in a grocery store...

 

[Beekissed]

8 or 9 seems to be the golden age when most kids started tougher chores and skills here. I was mowing at 9 and 10, my boys the same, along with weedeating. I know I wouldn't have turned my boys loose with a welder at that age, simply because they are boys....a girl? Yep, she could weld, but boys are destructive and would want to be burning things with it behind my back. My boys were always looking for something to burn, cut, crush, shoot, break in various ways....still are, for that matter.