No Child Left Behind: Can Having a Big Family Harm Your Children?

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2.  Older children miss out on childhood since they have to share parenting responsibilities.

I was always raised that as a family we were expected to cooperate and maintain the home and look out for one another.  You didn’t wash dishes because it was your chore and you would get a new video game, you did it because you lived in the house.  If someone needed you to pitch in and help because another family member wouldn’t be able to, then you stepped up without expecting anything in return. Having your children hold some responsibility for one another’s safety and well-being should be a given in any family small or large.  It’s your duty as a brother or sister, but at the end of the day they should be reassured that they are children and not parents.

The Duggars raise their children using a buddy system: An older sibling is assigned to a younger sibling and assists in their primary care. According to Michelle, “they help them with their little phonics lessons and games during the day and help them practice their music lessons. They will play with them or help them pick out the color of their outfit that day and just all of those types of things.”

Whether you have ten kids or two, if your teen is babysitting and changing diapers to the point where they can’t enjoy their life socially or it’s interfering with schoolwork, then you need to step up as a parent.  YOU decided to have children, and it’s not fair to give any teen parental responsibilities prematurely, especially if you don’t want them to have adult privileges as well.

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