Why I am always late. Part I

 I do acknowledge that I have more children than the average family.  That can be a challenge and does leave room for more error than average.  But I should clarify 2 points:

1. Having more children does not make someone a "better" parent than those with less children.

2. Having 4 children is not twice as hard as having 2 children.

On the first point: I have heard parents of 1 child referred to as "barely" mothers.  Mothers come in all shapes and sizes.  There are people with no children who are mothers to individuals and benefit those individuals in ways only a mother can.  The best example is Big Brother Big Sister Foundation.  If one has felt the pull at the heart that comes with the well-being of another, then parenthood has been experienced. 

I've also personally met parents of many children who have amazed me, and others who have frightened me.  We have read the tales of bad moms in the news, some have 1 child, some are octo-weirdoes.  But there are bad mothers right alongside us at the playgrounds right here in our own community.  (I'm talking to you, parents at Gates Lane Elementary, who do not put your kids in a car seat or even make them wear a seatbelt.  Your kids are hopping around the car like monkeys.  Even my own children are amazed at your bad parenting skills.  This is the 21st century, stupid injuries can be avoided).  Luckily, the good parents vastly outnumber the bad.  I think that this is due to human nature.  It is not relevant to the number of children they have. 

On to the second point: A respected friend, who is also a parent of 5 children, and an accountant, once simply stated that having more children follows the law of diminishing returns.  Once a family has already devoted its resources to rearing a child (investment in vast amounts of baby gear, for example), those same resources do not need to be repeated with each child.  Eventually, buying all new gear for each child becomes a detriment. 

If one is invested in a community, the process becomes even easier.  We are currently preparing for the birth of our 5th child.  We had to buy new pacifiers.  It cost about $10.  I am borrowing a car seat from my brother.  We have everything else.  I am already staying home with my 2 year-old, so there is no loss of income. 

I do acknowledge I have more experience than an average mother and can somehow answer many child-rearing questions I didn't even know I had stored in my memory.  I once received a call at around 11pm, asking how to tell if an umbilical stump on a newborn is infected.  I recalled with textbook perfection what the worried Dad had read online.  He said, "Really, it's ok if it smells bad?"  I knew with certainty that smelly umbilical stumps were ok.  And that's enough about smelly stumps (that's what she said).