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This post was originally written in 2014, but I wanted to bring it back around today.  I think that it still holds true to why moms of more kids often less stressed?

Yep. I think we’ve figured it out.  More Kids = Less Stress.  What?  Really.  Well, it boils down to a few things that help you to be a stress-free mom.

Three boys jumping in a pool of water.

I think that often times, moms of multiple kids & large families are misunderstood.  We’re the crazy ones with the huge families, you know?  The ones hearing “Wow- are they all yours?” and “Trying for your own basketball team?”

Yep- that’s us.

If I can speak on behalf of other moms of many… we love it and everything that comes with it.

I’d even go so far as to say that having four kids is less stressful than having one, two, or three kids.    I have written several posts about why I think this is true, but it just seems to become truer as time goes by…

When I am out with the kids, I often hear people tell me “You are always so calm.”   The first time that I heard it, we all laughed because if I never considered myself to be a calm person… until I had my children.

I have so much MORE on my plate now than I did before I had kids.  Often times, I can’t even remember what is on my plate, because there is so much.  I’m sure you can relate!  You are probably doing the same thing at your house!    So why is it that we feel less stressed with more kids?

why it's great to be a boy mom

According to the Today Show, I’m not the only one who feels this way: “Mothers of three children stress more than moms of one or two, while mothers of four or more children actually report lower stress levels, according to an exclusive TODAYMoms.com survey of more than 7,000 U.S. mothers released Monday.  Once you get a certain critical mass of kids, life seems to get a bit easier.”

“More stress nuggets from the online survey of 7,164 U.S. mothers, conducted the week of April 17 by TODAY.com and Insight Express:

  • 46 percent of moms say their husbands/partners cause them more stress than their kids do.
  • 72 percent of moms stress about how stressed they are.
  • Biggest cause of stress: 60 percent say it’s lack of time to do everything that needs to get done.
  • 60 percent of moms say raising girls is more stressful than raising boys.
  • Nine out of 10 moms stress about staying fit and attractive.”    ~statistics from TODAY.com

IT’S NOT THE NUMBER OF KIDS…  It’s the attitude.

joy

Yes, there is more to worry about.  Yes, there is less time.  Yes, there is more to do.  Yes, there is less energy.   However.. I know that I can’t do it all, so I just enjoy it.

biking

Here are the reasons why moms of more kids are less stressed. 

1- LET GO OF PERFECTION. 

Dr. Janet Taylor, a psychiatrist in New York, mom of four told the TODAY show:  “There’s just not enough space in your head” for perfectionism when you get to four or more kids.”
I completely agree.  I can’t make the perfect meal every night, so I don’t.  I don’t worry about it and I don’t stress about it.  Most meals are made in the crockpot, served with a veggie tray that I picked up from the grocery store (pre-ordered online to save time).  Dinner is done.

I can’t do it all… so I let go of that need for perfection.  I will fail if I try to be perfect.  I’m OK with that.


2. WE PLAN… BUT DON’T OVER-PLAN

I know things will go wrong.  I know that if I plan to have the perfect picnic lunch, someone will spill something, someone else will get hurt and I will most certainly forget the main meal component.  I’m OK with that and I plan on it.  I plan on things going wrong.   When I say that I plan on it, I don’t mean that I pack extra or that I bring the appropriate things… I mean that I have a mindset of “Things will go wrong.  It is going to be OK.”   Then, with a smile on my face, we just make the best of it…


family

3- PLAY.

Sometimes playing is more important than cleaning or cooking dinner.   Sometimes messy play is more important than a clean kitchen table (it can be cleaned after).  When you have four kids, you can’t have perfection at the same time.    Plus, each child has someone to play with at all times, and when they all come together to play – it’s a party at our kitchen table.

MESSY PLAY


4- SLOWING DOWN

I have seen how fast our oldest has grown and it makes me want to slow time.   Since I can’t, I just enjoy it.  I take those moments that I may have missed if I were always wanting to be doing more & more.   I can’t do more with four kids because there isn’t enough of me to go around, so I take these moments when I get them and I enjoy them.  A ten minute snuggle in their bed with them while they tell you about their day is more important than making sure that they fall asleep on time.

5-  SAY NO TO OVERSCHEDULING.

We’ve had to say “no” to a lot of things, including some of the activities that our kids want to join.   It is for our own sanity.  We can’t do everything, so we let the kids pick and choose.  One activity per child.  Gymnastics? Baseball? Lacrosse? Wrestling? Scouts?  Whatever they choose- they can only choose one activity per season, per child.    That was the way that it was when I grew up and it’s the way that it is for my family.

We also have to say no to travel teams.   We will join the ones that travel up to an hour away, but once they talk about traveling for the weekend for an event or game, we’re out.   We just can’t, so we don’t.   Our kids haven’t had an issue with it yet and they all still play the activities that they want to play.

A group of children  posing for a picture in a tree.

6- FAMILY COMES FIRST.
If you’ve ever been around me, you’ve heard me say it again and again: “Family comes first”.   I remind our kids that if they treat each other right, they will have friends for life.   God picked them to be siblings for a reason… they need to nurture that relationship.
Having four kids lends itself to being friends with one another.   They have a built-in playmate constantly.  There are always two that pair up and play together… and it might not be the same two tomorrow.  No one is ever left out and they always have someone around.

7- IT’S ALWAYS A PARTY. 
There is always a party when there are 6 of us around!  Someone is always doing something fun or exploring something new.  When friends come over, it’s like they just joined in on a party or celebration because there are so many of us.   Our backyard is where friends gather.   Our cul-de-sac, in front of the house, is where kids meet with their bikes. Our driveway is where the basketball game happens after school.   They know that when they come here, someone is always ready to play.

A group of kids standing by bicycles.
Here are our 4 kids & their 2 cousins (these 6 are always together)  🙂

I’m sure that you get the idea…  If you can have a more laid-back attitude, for the most part, you will feel less stressed & happier, too.    That joy will spread to your children.

8-  When you understand that you can’t control it all, you stop trying to control it all.

Instead, you start teaching your children to love life and you start enjoying this life with them… and these moments as a family.     You learn that your children will mimic your attitude and your actions.  You learn that your voice becomes their inner voice.  Being relaxed and happy seems so much healthier than being stressed and angry.

Plus- did you know that the #1 thing that kids want from their parents is for their parents to be less stressed? (It’s proven)

family-pic-1

9- FORGET THE DETAILS AND FOCUS ON THE PERSON

I can’t tell you the last time that I planned a birthday party that was more than a text saying “Can ____ come to ___’s Birthday party next weekend?  We’re taking five kids to the trampoline park.  If he can come, I’ll pick him up at 1:00 and bring him home afterward.”   Then we put our family (cousins included) in one car… friends in another & head to the party.  Most of the time, we’ll head to a little bakery right after & order doughnuts or cupcakes for the kids then head home.  Birthday…  done.

Do you know what our kids get out of that?   A MOM & DAD WHO ARE HAVING AS MUCH FUN AS THEM!

We aren’t stressed about the party… because it is ALL ABOUT OUR CHILD and not at all about the details.  Not at all about the stress.   I can’t tell you how much our kids love these little parties.   They love how we focus on THEM.  They pick the time, the place, the date, the snacks, the friends… we just pick to focus on them.

And when we forget something (like buying candles at the store), we still roll with it.   We make it work with a smile.  Here’s a great example from last year, after his birthday dinner:

Caption–>>  When your sons turns 8, but you only have # 5 & 6 candles… You rely on your husband to figure out that he is 56 in dog years 😉 #thisishowweroll #dontsweatthesmallstuff #happybirthdaybeau. #thirdcaketoday!!!!

10- SPEND TIME WITH THEM.

Stop worrying about everyone else and everything else and just spend time with your kids.  Everyone wins. Embrace how wonderful you already are and stop trying to be more & do more.   We can’t be everything to everyone, but you can be something really wonderful to your family.  Runoff to play with your kids every chance that you get. Read your child’s favorite book to him.  Bake cookies just because you want to.   Be happy and calm.  Spread those feelings to your kids.  It is contagious.

Join the one-on-one time challenge (30 days) for FREE. 
A close up of a calendar on a white background.

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Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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45 Comments

  1. Great post! You are better than I mam! I don’t think I could have four children! Haha.. I really think I would lose it! So my hat is off to you. Great read thanks for sharing ~Leah~

  2. We are soul sisters!! I have four kids ages 5 and under, and I love it! I’ve always wanted a big family, and I can totally relate to you asking your husband “so what?” I do it daily with my own. I wish you were my neighbor because we’d have a blast together with our big families. I love your positive attitude, and I am always working to keep one myself! Great post!

    1. Thanks, Lacy!! I’ve wanted a big family for as long as I can remember, too! 🙂

    2. Thank you so much for this post. As I have been worried about how I will handle four (pregnant with number 4 now), I instantly felt calmer reading this. And you are completely right. The Bible has a verse I can’t remember off the top of my head that actually backs that as well, that it isn’t your circumstances but your mindset. Thank you again. I needed to read this today.

  3. SO TIMELY to have found this. I’m expecting my 4th in January and had a momentary slight mental anxiety breakdown thinking “oh my goodness, what will I do with 4?” But you are so right. Even with 3 it seemed easier than with 2. It’s like with 1 and then 2 you hold on to the idea that things can be perfect. With 3 and then, I’m assuming even more so with 4, you just have to let it go. I read an article to that effect sometime saying when you have 4 you simply must calm down and stop sweating the small stuff. Plus, they can entertain themselves with each other 🙂

    GREAT POST!

    1. Yes- exactly!! you’ll love having four- just remember not to worry about little things & you’ll be great! 🙂
      CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

  4. I felt exactly like this when I had 4, 5 and under. It was number five that sent me to the looney bin. Si, you kniw, beware:) still worth it, but SO MUCH HARDER for some reason

  5. I try not to stress most things. I am with you about having fun with my kids. But I do still stress about getting places on time but that is because we are always late! I need to work on it 🙂 I only have two kids but we are trying for four 😉

    1. 🙂 haha! We are always late, too… I’ve started setting our clock a few minutes fast & it really works. 🙂

      1. I have 3 kids and with twins on the way so that will make 5! And I noticed that with the more kids I have the less time I have to be stressed out because things do not go by way most of the time and I’ve learned to be on with that.

  6. It’s a quote from Trading Places with Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. Jaime Lee Curtis says it. I love quoting movies also and that I too am calmer after having kids. Great post! Couldn’t agree more!

  7. Yeah- it boils down to this: the change that has to happen is with the parent. You have to learn to let go… that’s what having 4 kids taught me. It wasn’t the number as much as the attitude change. With 2, I was stressed trying to do it all- with 4, I just couldn’t… so I learned to let-go to be stress-free. It was an internal change… my eyes were opened by having 4 and realizing it was either be stressed all the time or learn to let go. 🙂

    1. I agree with your assessment. I only have two but I am the oldest of eight . While that fact didn’t help much when I brought my first newborn home, I think my attitude while raising them was less anxious. I was in a unique position to see how my mother’s parenting style relaxed over the years with my younger siblings. I figured out which battles were worth fighting.

  8. Great Post!!! It makes sense and I’m slowly learning to let things go. Is that a park in NC, the pic with your dog? I’m planning my week because the kids are on spring break.

  9. Great post! I’m a mom of your children, two girls & two boys, today they’re adults and a very good persons, thanks to our LORD JESUCHRIST and my teaching, play with they and pray with each at the bed time. Today I have nine grandchildren. If GOD give me the opportunity to born again in this planet, I had chosen my four kids again, but without stresses, more calm, with or without help of their father. My children are great parents right now, and I now better than me! Thanks and GLORY to our LORD!!!

      1. I Have 3 kids. A little girl almost 3 years old, a baby boy almost 1 year old, I am having my third baby girl on August 2016. I really want to have 4 kids but my husband said we are done with the third baby. But my husband doesn’t avoid any pregnancy, not take any method to avoid contraception, I decided to do exactly what I did last I did not take any birth control pills since I delivered my baby boy last year, and right now I am 6 months pregnant with baby #3. I will go head do the same thing this year too and probably I will be typing again to let you all know I am expecting baby #4 next year, Allah Willing.

          1. I love your post I think that is very interesting for many desperate mothers out there. I have read and heard a lot of women after having 1,2,3, kids decided to not have any kids permanently and after years they wanted 1 more kid or etc. But our society is being programmed about having 3 kids the maximun and that is so wrong concept people should have as many as kids they want don’t matter class, money, space, etc.

  10. I love your post because it is very interesting and educational for a lot of desperate mothers out there. I have read and heard of many womens that took the decision of sterilization permanent after having 1,2,3, kids. And after years later they wanted to have 1 or more kids. It is a shame how our society is being programmed about having 3 kids the maximum. People should have as many kids they desired. It really does not matter money, what class you belongs, etc.

  11. I needed this today. I am a new blogger,new mom, and extreme people person adjusting to being a SAHM. Since I started blogging, I have put way to much pressure on myself and worry about timeframes. Thank you for this piece. 🙂

  12. I read a number of your articles although I’ve never commented before but I have to say I have enjoyed reading them. With a bunch of children you certainly take a different attitude than when you only have one or two. I found three the most challenging, expectations changed after that and now we have 10. I can’t say our children don’t have chores as we have a farm but even working together builds bonds. Keep up the great work!

  13. Hello, Beck, I just had my third baby last week, I am so happy that she is here as one more member of my own family. I just want to recover as soon as possible and lose weight that I gained during my pregnancy and finally after that to get pregnant again with baby #4 as soon as possible I decided to run through fire than walk through it.

  14. Love, love, love this! I was just thinking of writing a similar post the other day 😄 I have 3 kids right now and people look at me like I’m crazy when I say I want another one! But it’s true that it gets easier because you learn to let go of the little things and enjoy each moment. Before we know it, they’ll be all grown up!