I thought I'd share a small incident I noticed in the Salt Lake City airport last Thursday as I sat in a coffee shop, waiting for my connecting flight and working on some writing.
The stretch of airport where I sat had one of those moving sidewalks to assist passengers in traversing the long distance. A family came by, with young children who were taking great delight in the moving sidewalk. Three kids were giggling and exclaiming over this exotic form of transportation.
And then I saw four kids. And then five. And then six, as Dad helped along a toddler barely walking. And then seven. And then I saw the mother, pushing a tiny baby in a stroller.
My
goodness, eight children, all seemingly under the age of ten. But more than that, eight happy children. Eight well-behaved children. Eight children who were shepherded and corralled by
parents through a large airport with nary a tear, tantrum, or even a stern
word. The parents were even smiling and not looking stressed.
Some
people, it seems, “do” large families very well. This appeared to be one of
them. It was just a small, brief incident, but it left me smiling.
I have also had the pleasure of seeing a family with seven young children in church that are well-behaved, quiet and respectful to their parents. Not something seen often anymore.
ReplyDeleteMy granddaughter has 9 children and is expecting her 10th! They are all very well behaved and courteous. A testament to their parents.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but I don't want to be a Mormon. Ick.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you feel that way. But if you can't say something nice, maybe you shouldn't say anything at all. By the way, we prefer to be called Christians (believers and followers of Jesus Christ), or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
DeleteI, very humbly don't mean to be rude, but you're not a Christian. You don't believe in the Trinity. That is the foundation of Christianity. Please, accept Jesus. Don't blindly follow a church, follow Jesus. I tell that to even my Christian brothers and sisters. It's never about church, it's about Christ.
DeleteApology accepted. But please don't tell me I'm not
Deletea Christian. Who made you the judge of a person's heart? And the trinity was a belief of compromise adopted at the Nicene Council; it was never taught by Jesus Christ or His original twelve apostles. I DO accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and do my best to keep His commandments and follow His example. I know that I am saved by His grace, mercy and love alone. I will be judged by my works, did I follow Him in deed or word only.
1Jn 5:7 "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." The Trinty is very much in Scripture. It is not a man made concept. It is what separates Christianity from cults.
Delete1Jn 5:7 "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." John was a disciple and it was very much taught by him and the early church. It was taught to them by Jesus Himself. It's not in the Mormon Bible tho because cults brainwash you into believing a lie.
DeleteAs long as we're quoting scripture: When Jesus was baptized, Matthew records that a voice was heard from heaven, "saying, This is my beloved son in whom I an well pleased." (Matt 3:17 KJV) I guess Jesus was a ventriloquist to project His voice like that. And in the great intercessory prayer John recorded that Jesus said: "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. and all mine are thine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee [wait, who is He going to? Himself?] Holy Father [oh, right, they are separate people!] keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one [are we supposed to become a great big amorphous lump?], as we are." (John 17:9-11 KJV) Maybe they and we are supposed to be one in mind, heart and purpose, instead of one in body and spirit. Think about it.
DeleteI won't bother you anymore because a person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still. Blessings to you in your search for truth and oneness with God, the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
Man, you really are brainwashed! You are taking the scriptures out of context and twisting the meaning. That's exactly what cults do. Thanks for proving the point!
DeleteI have ... well, more kids than ten. I hope we're all well-behaved together, and as unobtrusive as that many people can be. Once in the middle of moving, we realized none of us had pillows, so we went shopping to fix that problem. I hope I'll never forget the funny looks we got as our giant family threaded its way through Walmart in mostly single file, each of us clutching his or her brand new pillow.
ReplyDeleteI have seven kids! The youngest is 13 now so it is easier than it used to be. We’ve traveled a good bit (mostly to visit family) and always got comments on having a big family or about how well behaved our kids were. Back in the day I used to have them all wear matching shirts or at least the same color shirt. It helped me keep track of everyone but it also got us some attention. People ask the funniest questions: Are they all yours? Don’t you know what causes that? Are you a school group? It was fun and I would do it all again in a heartbeat!
ReplyDeleteI have ten children (via both birth and adoption) and we get many remarks from older people about the big families they grew up in and how sad it is that big families have been much less common over the years. I lived in a different part of the country as a young mom and was told again and again by the mostly elderly people who lived in that area that their one regret in life was that they didn’t have more children (this was the case regardless of how many kids they had). They supported their assertions with the remark that as you age your joy and delight in life comes from watching/being part of life with your children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteI have 4 kids... all 2 years apart. They learned from the get-go how to behave appropriately (minus the rare toddler melt-down...). I can't count how many times we would show up to a restaurant and be on the receiving end of stares and glares, only to inevitably have at least one other patron stop by our table and commend us on well-behaved children.
ReplyDeleteEven with 4, I frequently got "all they all yours?" as the poster above (LOL). And I would do it all again as well, maybe with a couple more!
I once read a statement, "you're raising adults, not raising children" ... if you take that to heart and don't relegate kids to "the kids' table" and baby talk... I feel it encourages a different outcome!
My father and stepmother had 10 children and while there were those wonderful, calm beautiful moments like you witnessed at SLC- they really did such a great job with those little ones especially in public- it was not always like that. Oh, it was not. I truly wonder how this couple in your post managed their bunch on the plane? Having flown >million miles in my life I am absolutely tolerant of children on planes, but also know the reality of how kids act on planes. Wow!
ReplyDeleteI once flew with my firstborn to London. He was 22 months and had his own seat. He would not, just would not, stop kicking the seat in front of him. Using my own arms to keep his legs immobile for too long gave me cramps. I kept apologizing to the man in front, a very nice German, and sent him several beers. These days I always get complimented on how beautifully polite my kids are.
DeleteSpouse has 9 grandkids from his son, 4 w/first wife, 5 with current. The first 4 are so misbehaved due to lack of parenting they are no longer allowed on our property. Disrespectful, theives and destructive. Thank God they live 2 days drive away. The next 5, youngest ones, we were hopeful but at least they're only half as bad. We blame the son as being a child himself.
ReplyDeleteI lived in a small town, predominantly LDS community for a few years, and they raise wonderful, large families. Great people, excellent neighbors, but somewhat insular when they find out you're not of their denomination. Makes it tough for non-LDS kids to find close friends...
ReplyDeleteI worked retail for 10 years over the last 20, predominately in areas with high Mennonite and LDS populations, both of which have large families. Almost 100% of the Mennonite children were well behaved in public, very polite and well mannered. About 90% of the LDS families were awful, letting their kids run around, damage things, just not caring at all. Parents busy on their phones not caring about their little brats annoying other people, being rude, or destroying stuff. We also have a fairly big FLDS population here, which their women and children are very well behaved to the point they do not talk or associate with anyone at all. Your fanatical christians as we would call them in retail, who have really large families, always had super well behaved kids, although both the kids and parents tend to preach their religion on both customers and employees, which to me is just rude; I cannot stand people who preach religion on others, I feel that drives off far more people than it attracts. Most others with large families that didn't fit into any of the other groups just let their kids run rogue, not controlling them at all.
ReplyDeleteMy dad came from a very large farming family, my mom came from a family of 4. I grew up in a highly LDS area so everyone had big families. It seems like kids from larger families either love the fact they grew up with lots of siblings and want to have large families themselves, or were completely miserable growing up and either choose to not have children at all or just have 1 or 2.
In general though it all comes down to the parents, how they choose to raise their children. So many people have an entire herd of children and aren't good parents and don't spend enough time with their children in general. Others have just 1 or 2 children and take the time to really parent their kids and their kids are well behaved, but yet their are others with the same number of kids who just ignore them and created little monsters.
As when it comes to planes, having flown a fair number of times internationally, most of these super well behaved children in airports do not carry that behavior over onto airplanes, especially younger kids. My last international flight from Paris to the US had a family with 6 kids all under the age of 12 including a baby and a toddler, and those kids were angels in the airport, but screamed and terrorized the plane the entire flight. Luckily the plane was about 75% empty, so everyone moved far away from them, but if the plane would have been full, it would have been a horrible flight for anyone in their vicinity.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all perfect people with perfect lives and perfect children?
ReplyDeleteFor the time being I think we have to settle with the joy of glimpses into what can be, and enjoy sharing those moments with or through other lives.
The closer we each draw to the Lord, or at least the closer I draw, the more aware I am of the disparities in my own life that need corrections. Not disparity of big things done, but secret little places in my heart toward others. But He leads me to see, mostly through private time in His presence, and helps me make corrections.
Church is fine in many ways, and we can learn some there. However, most change in our hearts and lives comes from that daily walking together with Him.
Thank you Lord, for the blessings of witnessing happy families, no matter what size. Thank you for the love of every couple that shows through their children. Please protect and bless that love. And help us be patient when things don't seem so perfect in our own lives, and the lives of others. Lead us all in Your way, and help us grow in Your truths.
Jesus Christ is Lord.