Household tricks of a mother with many children (6 children). Never Deny Your Child Attention

Janet remembers that day with a smile. Things didn't go as smoothly as we would like. They got stuck in a traffic jam because of a truck, from which a poorly attached carpet fell out and crashed someone's car. How the spouses were afraid to be late for the hospital ...

30 years have passed and Janet has become a grandmother, it was so strange for her to see that her grandson weighs 3.3 kg and this is considered the norm, although he looks rather fragile in appearance.

But when Jannet herself gave birth, the weight of each baby hardly exceeded 1 kilogram!

Once the Walton family wanted to adopt children, because they could not conceive on their own. The doctors simply shrugged their shoulders and said that I could not help ... The prescribed funds did not help and the spouses almost despaired.

When Jannette found out that she was pregnant, the news of this simply shocked the spouses. The husband took a whole year off to help his beloved wife with the children, and Janet herself decided to devote her life entirely to children.

After birth due to significant underweight, all six girls spent the first six weeks of their lives in a neonatal intensive care unit. Only then were the parents allowed to take their girls and then it started.

Janet's daughter often complains to her mothers that because of the appearance of her daughter she does not get enough sleep at all, which is very difficult for her. To which Janet only smiled, because in two years she and her husband did not sleep as much as their daughter slept ... It's good that they coped together, but if not for her husband? ...

The couple were nostalgic for those times and decided to calculate how many diapers were bought in the first year of the girls' lives? 11 thousand! Then the whole house was buried in the smells of powder and washing powder ...

During the walks, each of the spouses had a double stroller for the twins and another baby in their arms. How the spouses were happy with the guests, because they could be given a third stroller and go for a walk together!

Less than a year later, Janet Gretham's husband has already returned to work, to continue his career as a decorator. And after a couple of years, Janet also broke her promise to live only for the sake of children and got a job in the neonatal unit of the maternity hospital, where she worked almost until her retirement.

In the same hospital, the granddaughter of the legendary grandmother appeared!

The little baby has such a big family, in which everyone wants to babysit with each other! And the spouses are so expecting grandchildren from their other daughters.

But the girls are not going to have their own children yet, it is not yet time. Maybe they are afraid that they will have to repeat the feat of their legendary mother? ...

We found a documentary about this wonderful family, be sure to see, a truly unique phenomenon!

And one more film, although it is in English, if you know English, be sure to watch it, you will not regret it.

These six twins became known to the whole world and their fate was more than successful! Of course, this is a test, to have so many children at once, but the Walton family overcame them with dignity, this even more rallied and strengthened their family.

Adoption history

I have 16 children in total. There are three blood children - the eldest daughter and the two youngest, twins. I have 5 of those who are in a foster family, and all the rest are adopted. According to the documents, I am not a mother to adopted children, but I am their legal representative, and some other woman is recorded on the birth certificate. During adoption, all documents are copied, I become, as it were, his blood mother, and the child has the same rights as those whom I gave birth to myself.

If someone described this picture to me 10 years ago, I would definitely laugh. I saw myself as a mother of two children, a boy and a girl, living in some kopeck piece, going to work - the most ordinary life, something else to dream of.

I had experience working as a teacher in an orphanage. Many people say that this is like a kindergarten, no big deal, but I know that they are beaten there, hurt, spanked. Our group had a huge, carpeted room with a small, bare floor to the side. On the carpet were expensive toys from sponsors - slides, dolls, strollers, cars. And the group, kids 3-4 years old, had to just sit on the bare floor all day and do nothing, and my task was not to let them play on the carpet, because it was for the commission. I brought everything that I had from home, collected a whole box of books and toys. Then the director came and exclaimed: “Oh, you gave them toys! It is impossible, otherwise they will get used to it, do not confuse us. " The children had nothing at all. I was in great pain, I came home and cried. In general, after two weeks I quit. Probably, this experience influenced my subsequent decisions.

When I divorced my first husband, I had one child. And I really wanted someone small, but there was no one to give birth to - a banal reason. Then the task was this: to take one child of two years old, healthy, without brothers and sisters. I was afraid of everything: genes, sores, unstable psyche. And I wanted a boy, because I already had a daughter.

I found my son, and while the documents were being processed, three weeks later, I found out that he has a sister. It took me another week to think about the fact that after years I will take it. And then I decided - why after years? She would have been in the orphanage all this time. And then a week later I went and took her too. I have three children.

Then there was another failure. My friend took two from the "train" - these are 6 children removed from the family, who were in an orphanage. She took two from there and invited me to go and visit others - these are relatives, it turns out, they are sitting in the orphanage. So we got to the point that we took all six of them for two - three for each. Well, how? Do not leave, these are our children. So I got 6 children.

All my children with Down syndrome have prosperous parents with good incomes, living conditions, and some even have new genetically healthy children. They just wanted a perfect family without any flaws.

5-6 years passed, and like a woman, I again wanted a baby, and at that moment there was no one to give birth to. Quite by accident, I have not even decided yet whether I really want to take the child, I came across a photo of Masha. Little Masha looked very much like little me - even the dress is the same in the picture. I found out that she has Down syndrome. It took me some more time to decide what is more important for me - Down syndrome or attitude towards this child, love from photography. And then I went after her, God knows where, got half a day on the checkpoints.

Masha learned every day: to sit, drink, eat, walk, talk. At first she was like a baby, although she was almost two. But it didn't matter to me, I knew that I wanted to get her out of the orphanage. At that time, I did not know of any cases when someone else took children with Down syndrome.

Masha changed me. She made the whole family more tolerant, kinder, more fun. She melted the hearts of everyone who entered our house. The attitude towards her, towards the syndrome gradually changed. And then I began to consciously look for children with the syndrome - those who are heavier, who are doomed to live in an orphanage.

Alexandra

And when I came to care, choosing Nastya, they offered me another rejected baby with the syndrome. And I took this couple - Nastya and little Anya. And the last two children, who are in a foster family, Yura and big Anya, we took at the request of guardianship. These are heavy children that no one in Russia took. Big Anya has Down syndrome, Yura has mental retardation.

Then we adopted Timur. It is a mosaic, not all of its cells are affected by Down's syndrome, so outwardly it is not similar. But it has other changes. For example, he looks 5 years old, although he is already 9.

By the way, all my children with Down syndrome have prosperous parents with good incomes, living conditions, some even have new genetically healthy children. They just wanted a perfect family without any flaws.

For many years I didn’t tell my children that they were adopted. I have such a policy - until they ask questions, there is no need to rush things. For a long time I was not asked about this by the very first children who got into the family.

Now all my children know their stories - some a lot, some a little, because I also do not know everything about their parents. Sometimes it is important for them to learn some little things, and I always answer. We talk about it, glue up the “Book of Life” albums, which contain memories, childhood photos - everything we know. Some children were interested in the name of their biological mother, and they rejoiced when they found information about where she lived. About someone we do not know anything at all - if it was a refusal in the hospital, for example. And children with Down syndrome have not asked anything at all.

I do not at all distinguish between blood, adopted and adopted children. They even get confused as to which of them is who - adopted or adopted - for them there is no difference.

About kids

When I took my first child, Seryozha, I was not afraid that I would harm my blood daughter. I never even thought that he was a stranger. Mine - that's all. I accept children with all their giblets, as if I gave birth to them myself. I didn't have a moment to overcome, everything was easy.

Seryozha wrote in the deprivation of his rights that he wandered alone for a year and a half. Can you imagine a one and a half year old vagrant? The document said that he was abandoned on the street, and his neighbors in the village fed him. Then he lived with his underage mother, she is also from an orphanage. After some time, she took up robbery, and she was imprisoned for 7 years for breaking the skull of some grandmother for 2,000 rubles.

Say out loud what you are afraid of, what is unacceptable for you, and all this will appear for you. What I was afraid of the first time, when I took Seryozha, I took in the form of Natasha, his sister.

She stayed with her dad, who took her to a new mistress. Dad and this mistress fermented from morning to evening without regaining consciousness, and the child lived under the table. They forgot to feed her, and she ate from the garbage can. After some time it was taken away, and there was such a picture: a completely wild four-year-old child with bald patches on his head, no teeth or nails at all, who also growls. When I took her, it was impossible to go out with her: she immediately grabbed chewed gum, garbage from the ground. It was scary.

Fortunately, she doesn't really remember what happened to her before she got into the family. Although she has a phenomenal memory. You will ask her what happened on November 12, 2007, and she will say. Perhaps she remembers everything, she just doesn't want to talk about it.

For a time we lived on enthusiasm. I was not afraid then - I thought that love would heal everything. Well, then I got used to it, I realized that you can't get away from this. Society did not accept her - this is the wild Mowgli, who howls, does not know how to speak, but at the same time begs and manipulates (by the way, she still has it). There were frequent tantrums - she howled for three hours every day in such a way that it seized the soul, it sounded like the most concentrated despair. And these screams could not be stopped. Now Natasha is 14 years old, and such tantrums still happen - not every day and not three hours, but they do happen. Other kids are used to it too. Nowadays, no one even quits their business when this happens.

Children with HIV are very beautiful. I don't know how to explain this, but when I looked at the questionnaires of HIV-infected children, I noticed that one is more beautiful there.

Sveta's all died. Unlike others, she had a family up to 5 years old. Still, it means a lot, she is very different from the orphanage children, because she knew what it was like when they carried it on their arms and talked. She constantly sings some children's songs - which means that they were clearly sung to her. Although her parents are drug addicts who chipped and died, they gave her a lot. Then her grandmother was with her - even if she is an alcoholic and a local ridicule, but this is Sveta's beloved grandmother. Yes, she was hanging around the yard unattended when she was taken away, but she still returned home. Sveta was almost 9 years old when we took her.

In general, it is magical. We had two Filipina nannies for five babies who quit one day without warning. We were left without help, and Svetonka alone replaced two nannies. And I did not ask her about it, but she approached the kids and quite naturally began to organize them into choirs, play concerts and performances with them. She's gorgeous, chorus girl. She has a huge pedagogical talent, natural.

Average Sasha

Sveta has HIV. I took her right after Masha - the first girl with Down syndrome who got into the family. Sveta together with Sasha were very good at PR back then. They were in a good family-type orphanage. I took the last two girls to close the group, because they were threatened with transfer to a regular orphanage, and the system cripples children.

Children with HIV are very beautiful. I don't know how to explain this, but when I looked at the questionnaires of HIV-infected children, I noticed that one is more beautiful there. When I was still taking Seryozha and saw these children for the first time, I thought: "What a pity that they have no future, because no one will ever take them." And then I began to communicate with people, to learn more about the world, I realized that they are not contagious, that they can live up to a hundred years. For me it was important, because most of all I am afraid of the death of a child, I am not ready to go through it. By the way, these are healthy children who never get sick in their life, even a cold - they take a powerful antiviral drug every day.

My two children do not live with me. This is a blood daughter, who, like me, is called Sasha, and an adopted son from that "train" named Sasha. By the way, when I was expecting twins, absolutely everyone offered to name the twins Sasha. The daughter is studying at the university as a veterinarian. She rescues animals, volunteers at shelters, walks other people's dogs for free. When I ask her why she is doing this, she replies: "Look at yourself." She wants to travel to distant cities to heal animals that are not being helped. And his son Sasha went to his blood brother, he is studying to be a locksmith. I come to them.

Timur, Artem, Seryozha

I visited Timur in the orphanage, where I went as a volunteer. Then he was taken under guardianship, I talked with his family, even became his godmother. And a couple of years later, his guardian called me and said: "That's it, I'm putting him in an orphanage, I don't need people with mental disabilities at home." He had to go to the orphanage. Then I came into custody and said: "I understand that I have many children, but I need to adopt this child."

Yura and big Anya have similar stories. They were offered to us when the law of Dima Yakovlev was released, and we decided not to refuse. Yura and Anya already had American mothers - they visited them, got used to each other. In general, there were 2-3 weeks left before they had to leave for good. But our country said that we would not give our gene pool to anyone and would distribute our children to Russian families. Some children were fictitiously registered with educators, and they did not even leave the orphanage. And last year, in September, Astakhov, apparently, gave some kind of stick - and they began to arrange the children for real. Two came to me, and before that for 5 years no one was interested in them at all.

Yurka was in the same house as Timur. And when I came to Timur, he followed me all the time. He was so sloppy, his face was covered with sand, snot was running. He also begged all the time. I remember what I thought then: "Oh, well, no one will take this boy for sure!"

Children with mental retardation, Down syndrome and other problems have a very good impact on healthy children in my family, because they all learn patience and kindness.

Big Anya has a common story - her parents refused because of Down syndrome. And in Yura, in general, everything is confusing: my mother, being married, met with another man from Azerbaijan, who was also married. They had two children from this relationship, and they passed them to an orphanage, because both one and the other have a family. Yura's brother is still in the orphanage, he is also from the list. We communicate with American mothers who were supposed to adopt Anya and Yura: we write letters to them, they send them photographs, tell how they were waiting for them, how they pray for them, how they prayed that they would be included in the family. Sometimes we send them crafts.

Sometimes children quarrel, sometimes they annoy each other - everything is like everyone else. But they are a mountain for each other. We don't have long fights. With affection, everything is generally easy. For example, small children do not get away with hands at all - one held them on handles, sang, took a tour of the house and passed them on to another elder. Not a single woman can play with a child for 24 hours without a break, but it turns out that every child has more affection, attention and love at times: it all pours on them by itself. Love is definitely in bulk.

I think that I am not depriving older children of their childhood, they have it all. All the guests are surprised at how caring and attentive children I have, probably for this reason. We do not have such that the elders put their lives on the altar. Often we go somewhere with them, and the little ones stay with the nanny. I think that children with mental retardation, Down's syndrome and other problems have a very good impact on healthy children in my family, because they all learn patience and kindness.

In general, children from an orphanage often lack motivation. The child can sit all day and look at one point, and I have to guide them. After all, in the orphanage, everything is decided for them - down to what clothes to wear and on which page to open the book. I struggle with this a lot.

Masha, Nastya, little Anya

1 of 8

2 of 8

3 out of 8

4 out of 8

5 out of 8

Artem and Masha

6 out of 8

7 out of 8

8 out of 8

About relationships with men

I get married all the time with a bunch of kids, they don't interfere with the relationship. For example, I scored six when I was in a civil marriage. Then I got married a second time with these six children, now I am married a third time, I got married with eight. A woman can marry any number of children, get acquainted, build her personal life.

My husband and I studied in the same class, we have been friends since elementary school. We liked each other all the time, but he was shy. Then we parted ways, I got married, gave birth at 18 years old. Sometimes we saw each other at classmates' meetings.

And when I had six children, he and I went to rest in Europe in the company of friends. We had a plan to travel around a bunch of countries - from Finland to Italy.

That trip was in the balance, because I was going to go alone, without children. Until recently, I could not tell my friends for sure whether I would go, because I had to attach everyone for this time. And only 5 hours before the trip, I got everyone. In fact, the magic happened.

Yura and Timur

We spent the night in tents. We had an interesting, romantic trip. And somewhere in Paris, under the moon, he told me: "Be my wife." And then I had a rare period when I was not in any relationship. I answered: “Well, what are you, I have 6 children, why do you need so many problems? Rest, apparently, it's not our destiny. "

And we again parted for two years. He had a new relationship, and I managed to get married and divorced. The next time we met, I already had 8 children. And he asked: "Well, now?" I replied: "Now come on, I've rethought everything."

Mother-in-law has always disliked me - I was unlucky somehow. Even at school, I looked at his mother and thought: "God, who will get such a mother-in-law, who will be so incredibly lucky?" I really liked her - kind, cheerful, understanding. And all the time, when asked about the number of children, I call different numbers so as not to scare anyone. Classic phrases: "depending on how you count", "no matter how many of them there are, all are mine", "but who can count them all." Usually the person falls behind. And the mother-in-law then demanded a specific number. I exhaled and said that 8. And she so happily replies: “Eight! How amazing! Just unbelieveble! There were eight of us in the family, too. " I expected any reaction, but not that.

And now all 16 children call my husband dad. It somehow happened by itself, he is a good dad.

How life works

We live in a large two-story house in the suburbs. We were specifically looking for a house with such a layout - so that the kitchen, living room and play area were combined. We have bedrooms on the second floor. In the morning we all get up and have a hearty breakfast, then do some business or travel. On weekdays, some children have a rehabilitation center, all have clubs. We go to the sports center 6-7 days a week: while I train in the gym, children swim, do karate, dance modern dances. Then the little ones have a dream, and the older ones have free time in quiet hours, and I can also do something. But this is in the days when we did not go anywhere.

In general, we do not have the same days, because I am spontaneous, and since I am like that, it means that we all do this. In general, we can completely spontaneously go to the park, on an excursion, to the sea. We all fit perfectly in two cars.

There is no such thing that I cook 4 times a day: I can do that, it does not bother me, but sometimes I do not have time or I come late, but I always have some kind of clinics and circles. If I am not cooking at this moment, then others are cooking, it is easy to replace me right there. All my older children know how to cook perfectly, this is an educational moment. In fact, it is much simpler itself, but then you will do it yourself all your life.

By the way, we are raising cooks from Yura, because he has ancestors from Azerbaijan, and for some reason it occurred to me that they all know how to cook well there. It is difficult to force him to do mathematics, but he is always happy to help cook soup, cook meat - the first one runs straight.

Older children help with younger ones. We also have a nanny who deals with them once or twice. He can not only feed, wash, put all the children, he also practices martial arts with them, teaches them to dance. He also cooks himself - he is from Uzbekistan and constantly makes manti, samsa, pilaf. And also all with children.

The nanny's name is Mahmud, this is a young 23-year-old guy who has been living with us for almost three years. Initially, he was recommended to us as a good, responsible builder. Even before becoming a nanny, he worked a lot with children, taught them construction, boxing, dancing. And when another nanny quit, we offered him to take care of children. But he's also doing renovations. Mahmud calls me sister, gives me some gifts. We have a family relationship.

We all sleep on the second floor, in each room we have 4 people, including me and my husband - the twins are sleeping in our room. Accordingly, 4 boys, 4 girls and babies. We have no problems - they are all very regime in themselves, although I am not regime at all. I do not know how to lay them during the day - either older children or nannies do it.

Children always have the opportunity to be alone with themselves - the rooms upstairs are empty during the day, there is no one there. But for some reason they all the same rush down, play with everyone. Either we are doing needlework or we are walking.

Recently we calculated how much money we spend only on food. We were horrified - 120 thousand a month

In the summer we had one very happy day. We went for a walk, it was hot, such a pleasant weather and puddles everywhere. I took them out and said: "You can run through the puddles." They didn’t believe: “What is it, Mom? Straight into a puddle? " At first, they went into a puddle so uncertainly, they were afraid to get dirty. And it ended with the fact that they were all covered in mud. But then they said that it was their best day.

What are the main conditions for the appointment of such a pension?

An old-age retirement pension is assigned before reaching the retirement age, that is, 55 years old, for a woman who has given birth to five or more children and raised them up to at least eight years, provided that she is 50 years old and if her insurance experience is at least 15 years.

And if for some reason she did not manage to raise one of the children before the age of eight?

Then the woman loses this right. The reasons why a mother with many children could not raise children up to the specified age do not matter. Despite the fact that they may be different, for example, deprivation of parental rights, the death of a child before the age of eight, if one of the five at the time of the woman's application for a pension is not yet eight years old, and so on.

How is the situation considered in the event of deprivation of parental rights?

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 71 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, parents deprived of parental rights lose all rights based on the fact of kinship with a child in relation to whom they have been deprived of parental rights, including benefits established for citizens with children. Thus, mothers with many children, deprived of parental rights, can no longer count on the early appointment of an old-age retirement pension. Even if the deprivation took place in relation to only one child. In this case, it does not matter whether the deprivation of parental rights took place before or after the child turned eight years old.

But if a woman was deprived of parental rights after she was given a pension, then there is no longer any reason to stop paying her.

Another case is also possible: a woman has, for example, 10 children, while she is deprived of parental rights in relation to several children, but with respect to five, whom she raised up to eight years, the rights were preserved. In this case, she will have the opportunity to retire early.

What if a woman is not deprived of parental rights, but the children do not live with her for some reason, for example, they live with their grandmother?

There may be more reasons when children do not live with their mother, they can study in any educational institutions (Suvorov, Nakhimov schools, cadet corps, various schools, including for gifted children, and so on), they can be even in orphanages. Moreover, in all these cases it does not matter whether they are fully or partially supported by the state, their mother can be given a pension.

Does the law take into account adopted children?

The upbringing of adopted children gives a woman the same rights as the upbringing of relatives. It also doesn't matter what period of time she raised them, the main thing is that the fact of adoption takes place before he turns eight.

The woman herself, who has adopted children, has the right not to disclose the secret of adoption to anyone, since in accordance with the Family Code of the Russian Federation she is entered in the book of birth records, she is issued a birth certificate in which she is recorded exactly as the mother of children, and not as the person who adopted them. At the same time, the secret of adoption is protected by law, and the perpetrators are responsible for its disclosure.

It happens that children from different parents live in a family. Will a woman be eligible for early retirement pension for raising her stepsons and stepdaughters?

There will be, but only if they are adopted.

Early pensions for parents of disabled children:

In addition, in accordance with Article 28 of the Federal Law "On Labor Pensions", an old-age labor pension is assigned before reaching the generally established retirement age to one of the parents (men at 55, women at 50) disabled since childhood, who raised them until they reach the age of eight ... An important condition is the presence of insurance experience, respectively, 20 and 15 years.

And also to guardians of invalids from childhood or to persons who were guardians of invalids from childhood and raised them until they turned eight years old.

So, on this basis, an early retirement pension can be assigned not only to the mother, but also to the father?

One of the parents. If, for example, a mother wants to switch from an early labor pension in connection with raising a disabled person from childhood to another pension (for example, an old-age pension upon reaching the age of 55), an early pension can be assigned to the father for the same child.

How should parents confirm the child's disability?

Documents confirming that the child is (or was) disabled are: if the child has not reached the age of 18 - a medical certificate, after 18 years - an extract from the certificate of examination. The documents are issued by the federal state institution of medical and social expertise.

When determining the right to an early retirement pension, it does not matter whether the child is disabled at the time the pension is established to his parent. That is, there may be cases when a disability from childhood is established after the child reaches 18 years of age, but this does not deprive his mother or father who raised this child, who was subsequently recognized as disabled from childhood, of the opportunity to receive an old-age pension ahead of schedule.

Yes, but only if a disabled child is adopted before the age of eight.

What if the mother or father were deprived of parental rights?

In this case, the right is lost.

A disabled person may have a guardian. Does their care work take into account pension laws?

Yes. Guardians of invalids from childhood, who are such at the time of applying for a pension, also have the right to an early retirement pension. As well as persons who were guardians, but at the time of the appointment of a pension, they are not.

Under what conditions are they entitled to an early pension?

For them, one of the main conditions is the upbringing of disabled people from childhood until they reach eight years of age.

When granting a pension to guardians, it does not matter whether the disability was established before or after the child turns eight, but it is necessary that guardianship has been established up to that point. At the same time, in order to reduce the retirement age, those periods are taken into account when the child was disabled from childhood (disabled child) with the simultaneous presence of the corresponding status with the guardian during these periods. Periods of care for a disabled child (according to general rules from 14 to 18 years old) are not taken into account.

In order to acquire the right to early retirement benefits in this case, in addition to special conditions, general conditions are required: the guardian reaches the appropriate age and the development of an insurance experience of a certain duration.

Thus, a labor pension for guardians is assigned with a decrease in age by one year for each year and six months of guardianship, but not more than five years in total, if they have an insurance record of at least 20 (men) and 15 years (women).

On November 18, 1983, an event took place in the lives of the Waltons, which soon became known to the whole world. It was then that Janet gave her husband six children at once. The Walton babies became the world's first six twin girlswho successfully survived childbirth.

Janet herself recalls today that on that unusually warm autumn day she was most afraid of being late for the hospital. The car where the spouses were traveling was stuck in a traffic jam caused by a loose carpet falling out of a truck in front!

Today, more than 30 years after birth, one of Janet's daughters finally gave her mother a granddaughter. To an elderly woman, the baby seemed very fragile and vulnerable.

It was hard for the newly-born grandmother to believe that her granddaughter weighs 3.3 kilograms - within normal limits. When Janet herself gave birth, the weight of each of her girls only slightly exceeded a kilogram!

Now it’s funny for the spouses to even think that a long time ago they were going to take the kids from the orphanage. Janet was not helped by any means, and the doctors told the spouses that both she and Graham were completely healthy.

That's why the news of the unusual pregnancy threw the Waltons into a stupor. Be that as it may, they did not intend to refuse such a gift of fate. Janet decided to devote herself entirely to children, and Graham took a year off to help her beloved manage the kids.

The girls spent the first six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. Then the parents were finally able to take them home and it all started.

Today, when her daughter complains that her granddaughter did not let her sleep all night, Janet only smiles. Having found themselves with six children in their arms, for two whole years the Waltons slept no more than a couple of hours a day.

They recently calculated that they bought at least 11,000 diapers for girls in their first year. Graham still remembers very well: the whole house then smelled of washing powder and baby powder.

While walking, each of the spouses rolled in a stroller for the twins, and carried another baby in his arms. But if a guest came to the house, Janet and her husband simply handed him a third stroller and went for a walk all together!

A year after the birth of his daughters, Graham returned to the career of a decorator. Several more years passed, and Janet also broke her promise. The woman got a job in the neonatal unit of the maternity hospital, where she worked until her retirement.

The most interesting thing is that just a few months after the mother of many children left for a well-deserved rest in the same hospital, her granddaughter was born!

From the first days of her life, the newborn baby became the center of attention, because the baby has not only parents and grandparents, but also five aunts. The family often gathers at Janet's with Graham, where women are eagerly eager to care for the baby. The Waltons look forward to hearing from their other daughters about their grandchildren.

Those, however, are not yet going to start families. However, women have nothing against children. But not one of them is going to repeat the feat of their own mother and have six crumbs at once!

If you have 45 minutes free and you understand English, you can watch a documentary about this unusual family.

I remember when my oldest daughter went to first grade, I sat in the lobby of a music school and told one pregnant mom about how hard it is to manage two children. One must be taken to the kindergarten in the morning, the other to school, then run to work, the pool, clubs, lessons in the evenings, and also household chores. I, as a mother of two children, shared my experience ... .. Mom sat in silence and in agreement only quietly nodded her head. Then I didn’t even know that in front of me was a mother with many children, expecting the birth of the fifth (!) Child…. She was so quiet, calm, pacified, and five children then simply did not fit in my mind….

But only some 9 years have passed, and now I am bringing the fourth of our six children to a music school. And I understand that then, with older children, it was really very difficult for me. Firstly, everything was for the first time, and secondly, I didn't have something that saves a mother with many children - there was no system.

Each mother with many children builds her own model over the years. A young mom is like a man lifting a barbell weighing 150 kg without preparation. - it can either overstrain or not pick it up. A mother of many children is an athlete with many years of training, she raises the apparatus in one jerk, keeps it at the maximum height and can do it repeatedly.

For 10 months now, we have become more than seven, now there are eight of us: me, my husband and children - Darina (16 years old), Fedor (13 years old), Georgy (8 years old), Ksenia (5 years old), Grigory 2 years and Bogdana 10 months.

I became a very good “athlete”, “master of sports”. And I got my own model of life for a large family. In fact, everything turned out to be very simple.

Here are my helpers:

1. Order, regime, minimum of things. And all this works only in conjunction with one another.

2. "Creative box", which is stored high-high, on the refrigerator. There is everything for needlework to keep a child of any age busy. Children know that all this can only be played in the kitchen under the supervision of their mother. The "box" does not fall into their hands, I take out and distribute everything myself.

3. Older children are very helpful and the phrase: "You help me, I help you."

4. My help items are a washing machine, a multicooker, a sling, a notebook and a magnetic board.

1. Toys.
All toys are in boxes. Children ask for a box, play, put everything back, remove the box. The boxes are all signed.

It turned out that the child should clean up the toys after him, you just have to do it yourself after each game - the baby quickly absorbs this and soon begins to repeat my actions.

It is a pity that I did not know this with the first two children, there were so many scandals about this ...

We don't have a lot of toys:
- high-quality LEGO (they started buying it for an older daughter, and now we continue, I myself can play with them);
- a couple of dolls, clothes for them, dishes, a stroller / trolley, a wooden bed;
- few cars;
- wooden "railway";
- and 2-3 soft toys each.

We have fewer toys now than when we had two children. Then our apartment looked like a branch of Detsky Mir.

It turns out that children don't need a lot of toys - they play great with some improvised means and at the same time develop their imaginations.

Children just had to be taught to play with what they have, and not buy more and more new toys in the hope that "well, this is what he will certainly play."

Boxes with puzzles, board games and a small LEGO are very high and are now given strictly by issue.

2. Also, at home there is a horizontal bar, an easel for drawing, a piano.
3. Clothes and footwear.
There are few of them - but everything is functional and of high quality. At school - uniform, in the garden the main convenience, at home again, convenience. Much is passed on by children to each other by inheritance.

Time distribution system.

1. Cooking.
On weekdays, everything is extremely simple:
The multicooker "cooks" porridge for breakfast for us.
I cook broth for soup and vegetables for salad or vinaigrette in the evening. The next day, all that remains is to season the broth and cut the vegetables for the salad.
I fry immediately for 5-6 servings, take the right amount, and freeze the rest for later.
For dinner we cook something simple like a salad (which kids cut with pleasure) plus potatoes.

2. Clinics, shops, social security.
Previously, we spent a lot of time on trips to clinics, social security, passport offices, shops.

I had to do everything myself, I thought that without my presence nothing would be done, or it would not be done as it should.

Now I realized that both my husband and older children do an excellent job with this. I just had to learn to trust them. ...

In addition, the trip of an older child to the store saves me from buying too much - he only buys what I indicated on the list. When I go to a store with the same list, every time I come back with a lot of things that I did not plan to buy, while sometimes forgetting about the planned purchase.

3. When children play around.
Even now I know for sure that if children are indulging, then there are two options:
or they have nothing to do,
or they are tired of themselves (and since in children the processes of excitement prevail over the processes of inhibition, there should be a measure in everything, then it is physically difficult for them to stop). My husband and I try not to let the children fool around, that is, indulge in nothing to do.

So tonight my six-year-old child started fooling around. I took him by the hand, took him to the easel, wrote examples according to his age and he began to solve them with pleasure (distracted, switched), and then drew the ornaments according to the sample. I sketched so that I liked it myself - at this moment I remind him that time is given to a person for business, and not for pampering.

4. Breastfeeding.
It can be perfectly combined with reading to yourself and children, with food, talking on the phone and writing letters on the Internet.

5. Walking.
Can be turned into educational lessons by studying the bark in the trees, observing the tracks of birds and seeing off the ice on the Neva.

Walking is generally a salvation:
firstly, this is communication, which our children sometimes lack,
and secondly, the longer we walk, the less clutter at home.

They came from the street, undressed, washed their hands, ate and - "Silent game": one in the bath to play boats, another in the room, build from LEGO, the third in the kitchen, draw or sculpt. And everything is in business.

Our typical day looks something like this.

Morning.
Get up, wake up the children. While the elders get together and have breakfast, the middle one and I do the speech therapy assignments that were set in the kindergarten. At the same time, I take off my dried laundry, hang up to dry what was washed during the night, iron something ...
Now we need to wake up and collect the smallest.

Everyone is ready - we go out. We put the elders on a bus (the gymnasium is far away, but it's worth it). For the first years, then dad, then I drove and took the children - now the time has come, and they go to school themselves, they know the route by heart.

We wave our arms to them and with the kids we continue our way to the kindergartens. On the way, we discuss plans for the evening, repeat speech therapy rhymes or given poems, together solve examples in our mind, sing songs. We hand over the first child to the kindergarten - I just look into the group to say that I am handing over the child to them (in the kindergarten everyone is surprised what kind of children we have independent). Then we lead the second to another, speech therapy garden.

That's it, the morning "delivery" is over, and you can take a walk with those who are still with mom.

We walk mainly where the baby’s feet go, we don’t stick around in playgrounds - this narrows the child’s horizons. We study the world around us: bugs, sand, pebbles, we stand and look at the tractor for a long time, at the cars, he asks something, I answer - just count and went to the "development" ....

After the walk we go to the store, buy food, sometimes we run into the library to exchange books.

At home - breakfast for kids.

Then, after a while, - home swimming in a large bath. Since swimming is an active process, during which the baby behaves violently, we moved it from evening to morning.

After swimming, the youngest daughter falls asleep easily.

At this time, I read something to my son or check my email.

Then we do household chores with him: my son needs to fix his cars and build garages, and I need to do my homework as much as possible.

Day.
When the students return from the gymnasium, we all have lunch together. At the table, everyone vied with each other to share their news of the day, I listen to them carefully, comment on something, make some remarks.

Then an hour for lessons.

And the beginning of the evening "delivery": we go to one kindergarten, then to another. On some days we go to the Children's Youth Theater for additional classes, on some days to a music school. The elders have music, drawing, a pool, the kids - music, drawing, play dance. An English tutor comes twice a week. Everything, everything is attached, and we are waiting for everyone, walking alongside in the park.

If we are lucky, and dad returned from work early, then we go back home by car. If not, then we go home in a cheerful crowd.

Once a week we have to go to Sadovaya to see a speech therapist. Therefore, we stop by school for our son, plunge into the subway, go to the center - this is a city tour for children.

Evening.
At home, while I warm up dinner, the younger children here are busy with me "creative box". At this time, dad communicates with the elders.

Family dinner, and again conversations, jokes, laughter .... After dinner, the older guys wash the dishes one by one, at this time I put the baby to bed, and dad bathes the entire younger group in the bathroom.

Then we finish the lessons, i.e. something that our schoolchildren did not cope with on their own.

Then - gathering from the evening just for tomorrow, and - the long-awaited evening reading. First I read about “turnip-koloboks” for the younger ones, then for the older ones. All children listen with interest.

Often in the evenings, the elders, if many lessons are not given, read to the kids themselves, put them to bed - which means that my husband and I can go for a walk before going to bed, have tea and coffee in a cafe, or we can just watch a movie together.

On weekends
We usually go to visit, to museums or for long walks.

On Sunday the seniors have Sunday school.

The eldest daughter (on her own initiative) is engaged with the kids in music, and at my request - helps the brothers with English.

We also cook together, bake pies….

But the main thing is not even in the mode and not in the system.
The most important thing that I understood already as a mother of many children: In this world you can live without soup, without lessons learned - but you cannot live without love. Everything that you do must be done with love - and then any task becomes easier.