New mega-family show on Nat Geo

[IReallyAmHopewell]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... globe.html

[pixydust]

I think that I saw the family from California on Kids By The Dozen a while back, they had 13 and pregnant with 14 then, I think.

[keen23]

Interesting in that Ziona Chana's family is very large, but he doesn't have a ton of kids by any one of his wives- 33(?) wives and 94(?) children is less than 3 kids per wife. He's also the head of his own religion, so there's that too.

[Mela99]

I'd like to see more families from that documentary that was posted on here a while back... I don't remember the name, but there was a Muslim family and the dad creeped me out because apparently he was too sexy for his wife to resist and ignored her pleas for no more kids. I don't think he had a job. . .

[BlackHawk]

Interesting in that Ziona Chana's family is very large, but he doesn't have a ton of kids by any one of his wives- 33(?) wives and 94(?) children is less than 3 kids per wife. He's also the head of his own religion, so there's that too.

Nat Geo has a video up that explains him... He has 39 wives, 32 sons, 19 daughters. So he only has 51 children. The 161 that makes up his "magafamily" for the show includes those members plus 12 daughters in law, 26 grandsons, 28 granddaughters, 3 granddaughters in law, and one cousin. (source: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... -one-roof/)

Here's my thing.. if you poke around on nat geo you can find a video of the mother of 18 from California buying from sams club. I don't understand, when you have that many mouths to feed, why would you buy simple things like bread already made up? I know for a fact, at least here in KY, you can buy the flour and sugar/honey in bulk for MUCH cheaper and can make 5 to 10 times the amount of loafs that you can buy... for the same price. They talk about not having money, and yet they are buying expensive things like prepackaged cereal such. I understand living poor, and all that bs, and when I Was poor my breakfast was a thing of oatmeal, bought in bulk, cooked in powdered milk reconstituted... cheap, healthyish, quick... I will never understand people like this family, who claim to be poor, yet continue to have child after child, and buy expensive cereal like Kashi... It just baffles me!

[YPestis]

Here's my thing.. if you poke around on nat geo you can find a video of the mother of 18 from California buying from sams club. I don't understand, when you have that many mouths to feed, why would you buy simple things like bread already made up? I know for a fact, at least here in KY, you can buy the flour and sugar/honey in bulk for MUCH cheaper and can make 5 to 10 times the amount of loafs that you can buy... for the same price. They talk about not having money, and yet they are buying expensive things like prepackaged cereal such. I understand living poor, and all that bs, and when I Was poor my breakfast was a thing of oatmeal, bought in bulk, cooked in powdered milk reconstituted... cheap, healthyish, quick... I will never understand people like this family, who claim to be poor, yet continue to have child after child, and buy expensive cereal like Kashi... It just baffles me!

Poor is relative. If could be that the mother grew up in a well off household and think that buying at Sam's Club is the extent of saving money? Plus, she may be used to getting expensive, prepacked meals as a child and can't imagine getting cheap, off-brand stuff, or having to make one's own bread.

Alot of mega-families have parents who grew up in much smaller households so many may not know how to run a large household. I know if I was dumped with a lot of kids, while I'd avoid buying many things, baking my own bread would probably not be on the list because it was never done to save money, it was for health reasons, plus it was tasty.

[FaeT]

Nat Geo has a video up that explains him... He has 39 wives, 32 sons, 19 daughters. So he only has 51 children. The 161 that makes up his "magafamily" for the show includes those members plus 12 daughters in law, 26 grandsons, 28 granddaughters, 3 granddaughters in law, and one cousin. (source: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... -one-roof/)

Here's my thing.. if you poke around on nat geo you can find a video of the mother of 18 from California buying from sams club. I don't understand, when you have that many mouths to feed, why would you buy simple things like bread already made up? I know for a fact, at least here in KY, you can buy the flour and sugar/honey in bulk for MUCH cheaper and can make 5 to 10 times the amount of loafs that you can buy... for the same price. They talk about not having money, and yet they are buying expensive things like prepackaged cereal such. I understand living poor, and all that bs, and when I Was poor my breakfast was a thing of oatmeal, bought in bulk, cooked in powdered milk reconstituted... cheap, healthyish, quick... I will never understand people like this family, who claim to be poor, yet continue to have child after child, and buy expensive cereal like Kashi... It just baffles me!

I buy bread when its bogo at the store in bulk and freeze it. (Because it's so damn expensive and since we don't eat HFCS, that sarah lee bread she is buying is the exact kind I get) The only reason I don't make my own bread is because I just don't have the kitchen space to make it. And I don't have a fenced in yard so if I'm making bread I have toddlers tugging on me and wanting to help and just making a bigger mess. So it's not worth it. Now if I had more counter space (and truth be told, I could just put a table up for day and make bread there) and either a fenced in yard so the kids could go out there and leave me alone to bake or older children who could watch them outside, I would definitely make my own bread. Take a day and do nothing but bake, bake, bake. Then freeze it all. Not that difficult. I suspect she doesn't make her own bread because she's either too tired, too lazy, or just not aware of the fact that it can actually be done.

[purpleeee]

How much bread can you make in a day? And do you have a giant freezer? With the amount she needs maybe she just doesn't have the time to keep up with it. I haven't tried baking bread for years (I had so much trouble getting it to rise nicely, advice welcome) but when I did I could bake 2 loaves at a time in the oven. Overlapping batches so that you always have another two ready to go when the first two come out - really gonna be an all-day job.

[TXDuck]

Now if I had more counter space (and truth be told, I could just put a table up for day and make bread there) and either a fenced in yard so the kids could go out there and leave me alone to bake or older children who could watch them outside, I would definitely make my own bread. Take a day and do nothing but bake, bake, bake. Then freeze it all. Not that difficult. I suspect she doesn't make her own bread because she's either too tired, too lazy, or just not aware of the fact that it can actually be done.

She has 4 too young for preschool and the other kids are in school/working. So there isn't really any help when they're gone. I suspect that bread baking may not be do-able from a time constraint consideration.

[salsa]

How much bread can you make in a day? And do you have a giant freezer? With the amount she needs maybe she just doesn't have the time to keep up with it. I haven't tried baking bread for years (I had so much trouble getting it to rise nicely, advice welcome) but when I did I could bake 2 loaves at a time in the oven. Overlapping batches so that you always have another two ready to go when the first two come out - really gonna be an all-day job.

Purchasing a few bread machines and getting them going first thing in the morning would work! It would save in the long run - and it does all the kneading and mixing and baking and - voila!

[lilwriter85]

I think that I saw the family from California on Kids By The Dozen a while back, they had 13 and pregnant with 14 then, I think.

Yup that was them. I think that family met the Duggars at some event.

[BlackHawk]

Purchasing a few bread machines and getting them going first thing in the morning would work! It would save in the long run - and it does all the kneading and mixing and baking and - voila!

2 loaves really? At the height of my bread making (when I had two boys I was privately sitting for during the day ages 3 and 4) I pumped out 4-6 loaves at a time. Sit the boys down to a school task in the kitchen, mix the dough, let it rise while I checked their first set of work and we did group fun, after that hour was up I would sit them down with some type of art craft while I shaped loaves and got them set for their second rise. That was done and typically they were still at their craft (took 30-45 min for the second rise) then I would pop it in the oven while they did whatever it was they wanted to at that point (mostly still arts and crafts.. those boys were craft-a-holics!). By mid morning I had several loaves of bread... several went in to the freezer for the rest of the week while at least one loaf was cut in to immediately (despite that being a bad idea for the loaf!) for an afternoon snack with a little butter or jam.

We would go through that 4-6 loaves in about 4 days... we are bread people in this house. Sandwich is my lunch of choice... always a couple slices of toast with breakfast.. and possibly with supper. Even with just two of us in the house right now we still go through 3 loaves a week.. we just love bread! I would think a person with a lot of kids could set aside a saturday and bake up to 6 loaves at a time while always having a circular and make enough bread for their week or longer. I don't have 16 kids, so I honestly don't know if that is doable, but I would imagine it would be with a little planning.

Either way, even without baking their own bread I find their shopping trip odd with the things you could make out in their cart.

[FaeT]

She has 4 too young for preschool and the other kids are in school/working. So there isn't really any help when they're gone. I suspect that bread baking may not be do-able from a time constraint consideration.

If she can't make bread, so be it. If the older kids are all in school/working then I suspect she doesn't homeschool? That's certainly odd for mega families. Are they (gasp) not religious???

[TXDuck]

If she can't make bread, so be it. If the older kids are all in school/working then I suspect she doesn't homeschool? That's certainly odd for mega families. Are they (gasp) not religious???

They're clearly not Vision Forum types. But I'm not sure what they are. Other than overrun with too many kids. ;)

[lexiloumarie]

If she can't make bread, so be it. If the older kids are all in school/working then I suspect she doesn't homeschool? That's certainly odd for mega families. Are they (gasp) not religious???

They're mainstreamish Christians I believe. My cousin used to be on the same mommy board as her, and when I was describing them from that TLC Kids by the Dozen she a was like "oh yeah Christi! Her daughter was pretty goth looking for a while, they're not like the Duggars or anything."

[Alecto]

Christi used to be really active on the TWoP Kids by the Dozen board. They are mainstream Christian and just love having a large family.

As far as the buying namebrand stuff at Sam's, it's entirely possible that she got comped for buying specific brands.

[chaotic life]

Absolutely no way would it be worth cranking out bread for a family that large in breadmakers. You can buy a bosch or a KitchenAide, both of which will crank it out 4 loaves at a time, only requiring you to put them in the oven. If you spent an ENTIRE day working at it, you could have enough bread to get a week's worth of consumption IF you don't have the common side effect that more bread is eaten as a treat instead of a utilitarian tool when it's homemade.

It's a market economy. You might save a small amount of dollars, but you have to invest in a very expensive kitchen appliance first. You then have to forfeit mom's time that is at a premium with a family that large.

I only have nine. I do not make my own bread. I did for about a year after I bought my bosch. It was not worth the time drain for the pocket change it saved me compared to just buying my bread at Sam's. With my nine and my nanny's three kids, we go through 10 loaves of bread per week. I would except a family that size at least 1/3 more consumption if it's just average bread eating habits. When my teens get on a PBJ kick, I can end up going through 14-16 loaves of bread a week.

[BlackHawk]

Christi used to be really active on the TWoP Kids by the Dozen board. They are mainstream Christian and just love having a large family.

As far as the buying namebrand stuff at Sam's, it's entirely possible that she got comped for buying specific brands.

Very true, and I did not think of that. I agree, that is a very real possibility

[0 kids n not countin]

While the Cason family is "totally" mainstream Christian compared to other fundy families snarked on here, I still find her and her husband's attitude a bit annoying. Okay they like having a big family, fine, but then don't complain about your house (or former house I suppose) being so small and only having 3 bedrooms etc. When you were busy making all those babies you surely realized how "small" your house is and how much more cramped it would be with the addition of each new blessing. Yes, things are tough these days, even for those raising 1-2 kids, so why should we feel more sympathy for those who choose to have more kids and have a tough time of it? Maybe some families with only one or two kids would also like to have a big family but are more realistic about it so choose not to.

Also, was wondering why the older ones are still living at home, are they not able to get work? I remember seeing them in the Kids by the Dozen series, at that time the oldest daughter was thinking about college, wonder if she eventually went or not?

[lilwriter85]

While the Cason family is "totally" mainstream Christian compared to other fundy families snarked on here, I still find her and her husband's attitude a bit annoying. Okay they like having a big family, fine, but then don't complain about your house (or former house I suppose) being so small and only having 3 bedrooms etc. When you were busy making all those babies you surely realized how "small" your house is and how much more cramped it would be with the addition of each new blessing. Yes, things are tough these days, even for those raising 1-2 kids, so why should we feel more sympathy for those who choose to have more kids and have a tough time of it? Maybe some families with only one or two kids would also like to have a big family but are more realistic about it so choose not to.

Also, was wondering why the older ones are still living at home, are they not able to get work? I remember seeing them in the Kids by the Dozen series, at that time the oldest daughter was thinking about college, wonder if she eventually went or not?

I haven't looked at the Cason blog in awhile. I tried to find info on older girl possibly going to college and I didn't find anything. The reason for the older kids living at home could be because of the economy.

[Coconut Flan]

At one point a half-dozen or so kids ago, the Casons lived less than five miles away from where we lived and we'd see them out at various places. In fact if we saw them at one of the local restaurants, we'd usually go somewhere else.

[pixydust]

At one point a half-dozen or so kids ago, the Casons lived less than five miles away from where we lived and we'd see them out at various places. In fact if we saw them at one of the local restaurants, we'd usually go somewhere else.

Ok, you gotta talk! Why? Unruly kids? Cray cray parents? What's up?

[Witsec7]

At one point a half-dozen or so kids ago, the Casons lived less than five miles away from where we lived and we'd see them out at various places. In fact if we saw them at one of the local restaurants, we'd usually go somewhere else.

Why?

[LilMissMetaphor]

I'm curious too. The Casons were the topic of one of my first posts on FJ:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=174

[NJMom]

Christi Cason is on Facebook , and usually when she does a status update everyone thinks that she's pregnant again. She had her 2 oldest before she met Dave , and she was pretty young when they got married...maybe 20? Anyway, her oldest daughter has worked as a model, the next 2 sons are in college...I think the one who just graduated will be living away from home, and the son after that might be joining the Marines when he graduates. From her daughters FB page, it doesn't look as if she is living at home, I wonder if maybe that was temporary...but anyway, it didn't look like much fun for 3 teenage boys to be sleeping in the living room, and for 18 people to be sharing one bathroom! Good thing that the got the new house :) One of her younger sons, the 7 or 8 year old, is deaf , he's the one that was going to school by himself. I did wonder why she had to drive all the kids to high school and middle school..there is no bus? And the oldest one, at 17, didn't yet drive? They seems to be overall a pretty normal family (I guess as normal as you can be with that many children), but I think Christi is addicted to babies the way Michelle Duggar is, she just comes across as more into parenting than Michelle does. Her husband must have a pretty good job to support them all (though I think the oldest 2 do have part time jobs)...here in NJ, we'd never be able to support a family of that size on my husband's salary, and he's got a pretty good position with the federal government, and I work part time. Christi doesn't work, I really have to wonder how they can afford all of those kids.