How Did Our Ancestors Raise So Many Kids?

Lots of us come from large families a few generations ago.

Families of 10, 12, even 14. How did they raise all those kids without going bonkers? And how can we adapt some of these skills to life now. I need to know!!!

I don’t know about you, but some days I feel like things are just groovin right along, things are getting done, I haven’t forgotten anything colossal. Supper gets on the table hot and all children are relatively happy, showered and fed.

Other days the wheels fall off this bus the minute I get out of bed. Nothing falls into place, I have ruined the lives of several family members by not signing some permission slip in time, or not having their favorite pair of pants laundered for that morning. All day long it’s a constant struggle from trying to get kids to pick up their toys to potty training to trying desperately at 4pm to thaw out some meat of some sort to make into a dinner people will eat.

There must be a better way, I say!

Is it distraction from all these technologies?

Is it overloaded plates, with too much to get done and not enough time to do it?

Or is it that we’re too insistent on trying to be perfect parents?

One thing I know for sure, is that everyone in the house all those decades ago, pulled their own weight. I totally agree with getting kids to pitch in (as my kids will attest), but you know, sometimes I’m just too tired to go through the fight with them to get it done. I try my hardest not to be a ‘lazy’ parent, but honestly, sometimes I just don’t have it in me.

Where did our ancestors draw all their extra patience and/or energy from to deal with it all?

I have a big family for nowadays standards. 6 kids. Some older, some still in grade school and one only 3. So some days, I think it’s my own craziness that I’ve given to myself for having such a big family.

But I know families with only a couple kids, and those parents feel the same way. Constantly exhausted, our spirit is under nurtured.

Where can we ‘trim the fat’ as my Grandma would say? Without compromising on the sweet, precious moments with our kiddies that make parenthood the amazing journey it is.

✨ I’m starting on a journey. I’m calling it ‘back to basics’. I’m going to try prioritizing what’s really important as a parent, and what’s just ‘the fat’. I have no doubt for a people pleaser like myself, this will be quite a difficult task to take on, but I feel like it’s necessary.

I need to be the happy parent on rough days and not just on smoothly running days.

💕 I think part of that happy is bucket filling (fill your internal bucket with things that make you so happy, and lift you up) for yourself, and feeling like you’ve done a great job as a parent every day.

🙏 I think another part may be taking some time during the day to be present in the moment. Whatever that takes. Meditation, reflection, observation or daydreaming. I feel so much better when I give ‘ego’ a break and let my real self just exist. Just to be. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.

There is a something really amazing that happens to us when we give ourselves permission to just be who we are. A sort of personal enlightenment.

Here’s to a fresh journey, to find a better way! 💫