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Originally Posted by Jetstream
Only to comment on your quotations as such, I do not see how you can accurately assess that the parents are falling short of their responsibilities in any way other than by your misconceptions of what having a family of that size would affect you. Does the article state that the parents are failing their children in any way? Do any the children speak of negligence due to improper supervision? I only say this because it is a tad unfair to impose one's own opinions into a matter that, barring unseen consequences, merely portrays a family that is getting press for being none the more than what it is: a family.
It is not an institution of labor or an act to show off to the neighbors, but a household in which dominates a belief that the ties that bind are of flesh and blood, which are cared for with love.
An observation of a family should be just left at that. Admire it if you like, but there is certainly no need to become offset by them at all, regardless of what you may have to offer them because in all due respect, how can you suppose to break a family apart or moderate their actions?
A family of nineteen is most intriguing, and I would suppose in this society it would receive attenion because of how we are doctrined and predisposed to think; but "whatever ensures your happiness, seek it out to its extent".
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Jetstream, I never said the children were suffering from neglect or lack of supervision (that's what the older siblings are for!) or anything of that sort, just that they couldn't possibly get enough individual time with their parents due to the family's massive size. That, to me, is incredibly unfair to the kids and very irresponsible of the parents.
Children raised with only one parent often turn out just fine (my husband is a shining example), and there are many children who grow up without parents at all and go on to be well adjusted and productive members of society.
What I
am saying is that I don't think it's fair to the children to be so socially isolated and to have to raise each other while receiving minimal face time from the parents themselves. I think large families are great, but only to an extent. When you have so many kids that you have to delegate child-rearing responsibilities to your other children, then you might just have too many damn kids.
The kids aren't going to complain because they just don't know any different. This is how life is, and since they don't seem to have too many ties to life outside of the family, they just don't question it.