I must say that having 7 kids has been really rough on my wife and I, especially since we have at least two children that fall under the Autism spectrum and until we knew what we were dealing with it was a serious challenge to keep ourselves in control. It’s also been difficult to help another one of our children because she is so gloomy all the time and she kinda reminds us of Eeyore.
Don’t get us wrong we wouldn’t trade our kids for anything in the world and we’re glad to be chosen as their parents. We just think it would’ve been a little more helpful if we would’ve been given a parenting guide when they were born to explain what to expect. However that would’ve been too easy and learning how to be a good parents is just like anything else in our lives; we have to make a decision that we think is right and if it ends in disaster we need to keep trying until we find something that works.
Being near nature away from the daily grind calms the nerves and helps with inner peace.
Having been parents for over a quarter century now we’ve learned a lot about what to do and what not to do and unfortunately what works for one child may not necessarily work for the others. So it’s necessary to find out what drives them as an individual, in order to determine what kind of tools they need to succeed in life. It’s not always easy and just like with anything else, mistakes will be made but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying.
Relationships are like the sky; at times it’s sunny and bright and other times cloudy and tumultuous.
After all we as parents should strive to improve our relationships with our own parents and our children. I would like to finish of this rambling blog by leaving a few links to some parenting resources for those who may be struggling with ideas of how to engage their children in age appropriate activities.
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. –Albert Einstein
In the summer 1988 two teenagers decided to start going steady and just over three years later they married. In their mind it was the right thing to do even though neither one knew how the world really worked and after only being married for four months they found out they were going to have a baby.
In December of 1992 about a week before their wedding anniversary they had their first little girl and the whirlwind that was going to become their life began. Over the next nine years they had four more girls and life became a lot more complicated for them. Here they were in their late twenties, having five kids to care for and were still trying to figure out what they wanted out of life.
Because they hadn’t taken the time to “grow up”, it started taking it’s toll on the marriage and they started arguing all the time causing a tense environment for their five young children. As with most marriages the main topic of contention was money issues and because it seemed like they were always strapped for cash, the husband wasting money on alcohol didn’t help.
Hoping to supplement their income the husband started “drawing” pictures for what he thought would be “cool” t-shirts that people would want to purchase. Unfortunately he couldn’t figure out how to drive traffic to his online t-shirt shop, but he kept trying to make “cool” designs for the t-shirts.
The husband hoped this picture on the front of a shirt would entice people to buy one.
Fast forward to the summer of 2008 when the couple learn they are going to be bringing another child into their already busy lives. However by this time they have “grown” into their roles as parents and are looking forward to this new addition. As with all of the pregnancies they waited until the baby was born to learn what they were gonna have and to their surprise they were finally blessed with a boy.
This picture being the back of the shirt just seemed like a “cool” thing at the time.
Thinking their life couldn’t possibly be any more chaotic than it already was the couple were surprised to learn in the summer of 2011 they were going to be bringing another bundle of joy into the world. Being excited about the future they were on cloud nine when they were blindsided by the husbands arrest. Then just a week shy of their wedding anniversary their sixth daughter was born, luckily the husband was out on bail and was able to be there for the miracle.
Since the husband was so blind to the severity of his crime he was sentenced to jail time and had to spend time at a halfway house. So now the wife was alone in the house with seven kids and no way of supporting them, because in the early part of 2012 she was struck by a car while attempting to fix a windshield wiper. The accident took it’s toll on the wife, but it took a bigger toll on the oldest children because they found themselves taking care of the younger ones quite often.
This isn’t the actual photo of her being hit. This photo is taken from a video shot by the dash cam in a police officers car and is part of a story on the USA Today web site.
Being apart from his family tore the husband up inside and he was determined to do whatever was necessary to get back to his family. It took a lot of therapy hours and learning new ways to think about the world, but after being apart for four years the husband and wife were able to sleep under the same roof again.
At first it was hard for the family to get used to each other again, but over time things have returned to a sense of normalcy. Although they have had their share of ups and downs the husband and wife still love each other and their children very much.
Being such loving parents they want to give their children a wonderful life, but unfortunately they are struggling to make ends meet and so the husband has turned his attention to writing this blog and hoping to gain some traffic to his online t-shirt shop.
Wick's Attic 