When life is tantrums, tears and child’s play
Scotland’s Biggest Families BBC1, Mon
Having one child turns your life on its head, two and it can be challenging. Anything more and I can only imagine the chaos. So I’m intrigued by this show, which spends a year in two of the country’s busiest households just to see what happens when you venture past 2.4 children!
Emma and Roy Hann are parents to Scotland’s biggest family. With 13 children – eight still living at home as well as dog Buster – the couple, from Dundee, describe their six-bedroom semi as a “mad, busy house all the time”.
About 90 miles north, in Lossiemouth, lives the Sullivan family. Ben and Zoe have 11 children, including two sets of twins, and a 12th little bundle on the way.
From sinks blocked with hair to squabbling siblings and tears and tantrums, getting through day-to-day life is a minefield. And that’s before the cost-of-living crisis brought bigger bills.
These things aside, it’s lovely to see the benefits of a big family. When the kids aren’t fighting they’re the best of friends and, most importantly, they have fun.
And when little menacing Meg Hann leaves the bath running and it leaks into the kitchen and the new floor her dad just laid, she isn’t chastised. Instead, her parents burst out laughing.
I guess it all shows that bigger really is better. And sweating the small stuff only wastes time that could be better spent. I’m still stopping at two though. That’s enough chaos or me!