My Choice Of Family Size
Family plays a crucial role in the life of an individual. It's the place of making, the kind of family one comes from sometimes determines the attributes of that individual.
I came from a polygamous family, I have about thirteen siblings. Growing up, life was a mixture of both good and bad. If I remember how life was while we were all together in one house, I just smile and appreciate God.
My father was a man who didn't like division in the family, as such he did all he could to unite his children. We didn't have the liberty to eat alone, all the children apart from my elder sisters always dine together according to our age ranges.
One of the things I enjoyed was the division of labor. Unlike monogamous homes where there are only a few hands to carry out a task, in my house, if it's work, it's something we don't panic about because we were many.
But it was not all rosy, sometimes, we had to struggle and strive to eat because of the large population. There were days, we had to eat just once a day and imagine eating with others. We were forced to develop survival skills just like it is in the jungle.
Life in that kind of family was a mixture of both good and bad. It's just like life on the street. One has to fight his way out to survive and to succeed.
One of the things that made me become who I am today is my mother. I am so lucky to have a good one otherwise my life would have been a waste by now.
In Spite of the challenges, the lack of resources, the everyday fight between the wives, my Mom was insistent on ensuring that her children don't go wayward and have the best in terms of education and that's was what salvaged me.
In a large home, if one doesn't have one of the parents to give them proper attention, that individual is in trouble. Many people are surprised how I grew from my family and yet behave differently, the secret was my mother.
Having a large family isn't a bad idea, but one needs to take many things into consideration before embarking on such a journey. It's even safe when it's with just a wife, there might be challenges but it will be easy to handle compared to when it's two or more wives.
Every child needs attention and financial assistance from the parent to grow in a decent and proper way, in the case where those things are not in the picture, the child might suffer harm.
In large families, most times either of the two is missing, sometimes you see attention but the finance won't be enough, other times finance will be there but there won't be time for the children.
This is why I prefer having a small family where I will be able to cater for my children even with the little resources.
A small family with just two or three kids with my wife will be enough. I want a family that I can hold together and not a multitude that I can't account for.
Even if I have the resources to handle a large family, I will still go for a small family because I don't want a situation where I will have children that I can't give my time properly to as a father.
It's good to have many children if you can pay the price to groom them all in the right way, but in the case where you just give birth and don't do your fatherly duty, even if you have all the money in the world, trust me you will only bring trouble to the world.
