Here’s another Parent Panel post by amazing mum of 5 Amy, author of and 1 more means 4..and 1 more

Parenting a large family? Organised chaos comes to mind.

Being part of a big family is something that I have always wanted to experience. I was an only child and I always wanted to know what it was like to do the whole massive family gathering thing at Christmas, birthdays etc.

So, we had our first daughter, then my second daughter a year and a day after her birth. 9months later I wasn’t feeling well at all and I found out I was nearly 3 months pregnant with our third daughter. My fourth daughter arrived 1 year and 4 months after my third daughter’s birth and my son was born in May this year.

To say that I am busy is a slight understatement but I do get lulls of calm where I can clean the house, check my emails, chat to friends and be with my hubby. To be honest, when my parents have the children now and again hubby and I often look at each other twiddling our thumbs because it can be so quiet when they aren’t around.

So to let you have an idea of my day to day life I thought I’d answer a few of the top questions I get fired to me:

1) How do you cope?
That is the number one top question that is fired at me, and do you want the honest answer? I don’t know.

It is a fine balance between organised chaos and going with the flow. In fact sometimes I don’t really think about it I just do what comes naturally to me. I get up like every other mum in the morning and do the whole child/parent routine 5 times over. I live by routine and I wouldn’t be even dressed without my routine. I have to have structure throughout the day, I have to know when breakfast, lunch, dinner will be etc and so do the children. Routine makes everyone more relaxed, everyone knows what is coming next and we all tick over quite nicely through the day.

2) What is day to day life like?

Every day is different, even with my routine of stone, because I have 5 children who have 5 very different personalities and 5 different views on life. Some days tick over nicely with not much effort but on other days it can be much harder.

One of the best thing about being a mum of many is that I get more laughs, more squeals and more giggles than most, there is always constant noise in my house. If it’s not a conversation it’s a role play game going on, or 5 Year Old talking to her toys, or 4 Year Old playing with her mermaids. It could be The Pud trying her talking skills out or it could be 2 Year Old trying her best to talk. Of course you add in Little F who now is cooing and gurgling and you have one lovely family noise wafting along in the breeze, a sound that is heard before you even open the front door.

I also love the cuddles that I get and I love being loved by them all: one glimpse of me and  I get 5 cheeky grins, and that is worth more than anything in the world. I feel so lucky to be blessed with my children and there isn’t a day that goes by that I wish I had done anything different.

3) How do you manage when they are ill? 

It can be quite stressful when more than one are ill. I do wish I had more arms when an illness crosses our doorway and it can be quite daunting when I’m going through a chemist sized bottle of calpol every few days. I once remember a particular throat infection that swept its way through the children last winter and I had 3 bottles of antibiotics in the fridge for my three eldest poorly girls, the fridge looked like a Boots chemist and I had industrial sized bags hanging under my eyes for the entire week. 

4) Do they all sleep through?

Night waking is hard but I have always been strict when it comes to bedtimes. I have always done the same routine with all the children and the girls all sleep through 80% of the time. Little F, being only 4 months old, sleeps from around 6pm till 2am then till 6am which I think is quite good.

I have gone through many sleeping issues from constant night waking to not going to bed at all, but that is a whole other post which I will share with you in the coming months.

 5) What makes you proud? 

I am so proud of them! Watching them play together and being close with each other is utterly fabulous. Watching my 5 year old come out of her pre school years and becoming a little lady and seeing her write and read is amazing. There is no feeling like the swell of pride that come with watching your children achieve their milestones and grow into little people.

And you know what? I’m proud of me and I’m proud of my husband.

We put in everything we have for our children. I was 19 when I had my first daughter and I’ve come so far as a parent since then. We’ve been on holiday with all 5, we’ve been on days out, we do everything a smaller family would do. Having 5 children doesn’t stop us from doing anything and I’m proud that we can take them anywhere without worrying. I’m proud I can get them all into bed for a reasonable hour and enjoy a few hours of just being me. We’ve achieved so much as parents and as a family and I’m sure we will keep moving forward as everyone grows and changes throughout the years.

I’m Amy, I’m a mum of a large family and I love it xxx

Contest: Leave a comment for Amy and you could win a BornFree Formula Dispenser (which also doubles as a very handy snack pot). We’ll be picking a winner at random on Fri 29th October.

UPDATE 01/11/10:  Thank you for leaving your comments. Our winner is Jo B, congratulations!

Share on Facebook