Emunah/Faith has seven children. And she doesn’t know how mothers with 12 manage. She is looking for laundry and cooking tips:

Laundry (quantity)
Main meals (specifically prep and clean up)
They both take up a lot of my time for my family of 9, and my kids do help. I wonder how a family, with say 12, manages. (i.e. if I do about 12 – 15 loads a wk, do they do the same proportionately or do they wash less clothes? Do their kids wear shirts more then once etc.)

Elana Sztokman’s response to Yael Mishali contains a beautiful description of motherhood.

Sztokman then reports on the Kolech discussion of birth control that offended Mishali:

Petrekovsky described severe mental and emotional anguish that results from all of this reproductive pressure. It should be obvious. The numbers are hard to come by, but it is clear that the system is going to eventually crash. Petrekovsky talked about her fear that many will leave religion. [MiI: Emphasis mine.] We have no statistics whatsoever on women leaving religion because all the studies on the “datlash” (formerly religious) phenomenon in Israel were done on men. Shraga Fisherman’s well-known Noar Ha-Kipot Hazrukot (Youth of the Strewn Skullcaps) research study about the 20-25% of religious youth leaving religion is all about men and not women (hence the title).

I know many women who have raised large families, and to me they seem as frum as ever if not more so. But I am intrigued. Is there anything to this concern? Do you know any mothers of many who have left yiddishkeit?

Read more on Are Mature Religious Women Leaving the Fold?…

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As my family grew from a small to a large one with six children, I developed efficient ways to save money. Some items that were small expenses with two small children became bigger as the family grew.

Read more on Frugal Strategies for Young Families that Pay Off as Your Children Grow…

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Ynet interviews Dr. Hanna Katan, religious Zionist mother of thirteen and gynecologist with a sub-specialty in fertility. Katan considers a large family to be the ideal and has served on a committe to encourage secular mothers to have more babies. Her own mother raised eight children and served as a role model for her.

Read more on Dr. Hanna Katan: Large Families,Yes. Demanding Careers for Mothers, No….

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On Orthonomics a guest post about Orthodox homeschooling generated the following comment by “l”:

One problem that parents encounter is that in families where there are both older and very young children, the toddlers and infants often require many hours a day of the parents’ care and leave little time left over to work with the older ones.

I think the comment reflects misconceptions both about homeschooling and large families.

Read more on How Do Parents of Large Families Manage? Meet Tal and Talia…

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Robin, this is for you. In my previous post I mentioned having brought one suitcase for our two-week trip to New York. It weighed 21 kg (about 45 lbs) and contained everything for the four of us, in addition to our hand luggage (also as light as possible).

I knew I would be staying at my sister’s and brother’s homes. They have washing machines, so pajamas, 3-4 days worth of lightweight clothes, and Shabbat outfits (two each), sufficed. I added bathing suits and swim floats, and a duffel bag for the return trip. I didn’t shlep toothpaste or shampoo, umbrellas or jackets. My daughter and I each took one additional pair of shoes; the younger children took none. In an emergency, we could easily buy something. And I didn’t even end up wearing everything. Two booster seats and a stroller were a royal pain but didn’t count in the weight.

Another reason to pack light is to save room for the return. Besides books for the children and the book club, the seats and the stroller, I’m taking a guitar for my son and an air mattress–we hope to try camping again.

Read more on Adventures in International Travel — Packing Light…

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According to news reports, a mother of twelve from Beit Shemesh was arrested for severely abusing her children, who were having incestuous relationships with one another in the home. The woman was covered in several layers of clothing and initially refused to reveal her face to the judge.

Trilcat wrote to me suggesting that this might be Rabbanit Keren herself, but there is a discrepancy regarding the number of children; previous news articles reported that she had ten.

Batya and Trilcat both emailed me the Jerusalem Post report:

Read more on Layered Beit Shemesh mother of 12 arrested for severe child abuse…

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When I had only two children, born eighteen months apart, I didn’t spend a lot of time on housework. My oldest enjoyed scattering toys around the house, crumpling any paper he could find, and biting his baby brother when I got distracted for a moment.

Read more on Fitting Housework into Life…

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Well, not really. But check out Frugal Journey’s interview with yours truly.

Interview: A Mother in Israel

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My friend called to ask about my 11yo son A. She says that she hears (or reads?) news about all of the others, but nothing about him. I have long felt that he is in a bit of a neglected position. The oldest is the oldest, the second makes sure to get attention, and #3 is the oldest girl. The youngest two, being small, demand a lot of my time and energy. I once asked A. whether he did indeed feel neglected and he said not at all. It just goes to show that you can’t make assumptions about how life in a large family affects children.

Yesterday he baked a birthday cake to bring to school; he’s on the class committee in charge of parties. We started to take some pictures to write a blog post for the KCC but got distracted. Here’s one anyway.
The cake came out great, and he even brought some home. We had a taste (Y., also pictured, said it was better than usual) and put the rest in the freezer for Shabbat. (My husband, reading this post over my shoulder, is happy to learn where the cake is hiding.)

A.’s school has been having a series of programs for parents, and most recently invited us to an evening where we choose one of four parenting sessions. All I can say is that my experience in that school does not inspire me to attend this particular event. A. noticed that one of his teachers is leading a session entitled “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen” (no apology to Faber and Mazlish; book titles aren’t copyrighted). I asked A. whether he thought I should sign up for that discussion; would his teacher help me improve my skills? “No,” he said decidedly. “You’re better than him.”

Read more on A Rare Compliment…

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