I recently had a conversation with an Italian woman who lives here in Tartu. She has two children in Marta's class. I have noticed that the children have younger siblings as well. I asked her how many children she had:Q: Cuanto figlie hai?Sette! Seven! And here I was worrying about having a third child. Seven is three times the number of children I currently have, plus one more. That's three Annas, three Martas, and a Maria for good measure. Could you imagine?
A: Sette
How does one manage a brood that big? Or do you just not care if you lose a kid in the restaurant because, hey, you've got seven, and there's always more where he or she came from? I have no idea how they do it and, forgive me, but the Italians don't strike me as the bell and whistle Von Trapp family type.
But now, I feel less anxiety about eventually producing a third. If someone else can have seven children and still function, then I must also contain the ability to cope ... somewhere.
5 comments:
As the eldest of 5 I would say that what is eliminated when you have a large brood of children is time for personal interaction, other then instruction & correction.
The children become more of "livestock" (ouch!)and have more interaction with one another then with their parents.
With each additional child the slice of the emotional pie gets smaller..
It is why there is always one child in a large family that has some huge emotional problem.
The child who needed more and got less...
I think four is a good number. That way you never have the dreaded "middle child". Or maybe you have two middle children then??
Tiia
I think a "middle child" can be any child in a family.
Ah, well, that's true.
"quanto". It depends also what is the age difference with those seven children.
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