"If it's twins, then you'll be okay to get your tubes tied."

[Father_of_10]

I have to remember that one.

 

[ela2]

You could imagine the comments we get…In my less charitable moments I have said these:

Q. “Are they all yours?”
A “No we stole a few along the way”

Q. “Is this your 2nd marriage?”
A. “Well the first 4 are from my first wife, my wife had 4 with her first husband, and we had the last 2 together” (pause…wait for the odd facial expression, then say) “Oh, by the way, my wife and I have only been married once.” (see real look of confusion)

Q. “You have 10 kids?”
A. " Yes, how many do you have?"
Q. " I have X kids" (usually 1-3)
A. “Hey isn’t that a bit of a slow start? Are your man bits working correctly?”

Q. “How do you afford all those kids?”
A. “Well the younger ones we drop off at the doors of the local mall with dark glasses, a white tipped cane and a tin cup and have them pretend to be blind and beg for money. The middle age ones we have taught to pick pocket, just like out of Oliver Twist. We sent the older ones off to work at the local factory that produces lead and asbestos pipes, and collect their pay checks each week.”

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Hmm, one time I did answer ‘No, I’m Catholic’ to group of (Catholic) women that were asking if we were going to stop since we had one of each (after a daily Mass)… but volunteering that you can get sterilized if you have twins or more is quite bizarre to me… Why would 2 more be the magic number? Anyways, it may be a good time to charitably let them know what the Church really teaches. I have said in the past, when people ask about stopping, that we would use NFP if we found we needed to avoid children, but we are open to more.

We have five now. I can’t understand why one more would mean we could still be open to another (in their eyes), while two or more would mean we had to call it quits. We’ve listened to all the questions like, Where will you put them?, How will you afford it?, etc. While I’ll admit we’d be a little more cramped, other than paying for delivery the money’s not a big issue. And if we get 2-3 for the price of one, even the delivery won’t be such a big deal.

We’ve been hearing complaints about us having “too many” since our third was born and it caused quite a scandal when we started taking NFP courses since that showed just how insane we were for apparently abandoning tried and true methods for something so unreliable. Multiple births run in both our families and since we’re the only ones having kids with any sort of regularity, everyone’s assumed we’re going to hit the jackpot at some point. We and our kids are all for it, but that’s apparently irrelevant if it’s going to ruffle someone else’s feathers.

 

[Dorothy]

Hmm, one time I did answer ‘No, I’m Catholic’ to group of (Catholic) women that were asking if we were going to stop since we had one of each (after a daily Mass)… but volunteering that you can get sterilized if you have twins or more is quite bizarre to me… Why would 2 more be the magic number? Anyways, it may be a good time to charitably let them know what the Church really teaches. I have said in the past, when people ask about stopping, that we would use NFP if we found we needed to avoid children, but we are open to more.

Yesterday after Mass one of the guys giving out the bulletins said to me: “Congratulations on your beautiful family” I smiled and said thank you, and then he added “It’s time to stop now, huh?” and I kept smiling and walked away without saying anything to him. I had my kiddos around me… ugh… I really think he was trying to be nice, but I don’t want strangers telling me their opinions on whether we should stop or not, and much less in front of my kiddos!

I think that Catholics say things like that because so many of them use ABC and they are fishing for support by making such comments and expecting you to agree. It must be a surprise (and a good witness!) when you react in favor of the authentic teaching of the Church.

 

[ExGratia]

I only have 2 children, and have gotten strange comments! They are twin boys, and strangers have given me permission to “stop now”. The silliest, though, was a woman (older…came of age when the Pill first became available, I’d say) who came up to me AFTER MASS to comment on how sweet my babies are. She added, “Too bad one wasn’t a girl. Then you could be done!”. I mentioned this to my mom later, and the woman in question has 2 children: 1 son and 1 daughter.

I never think of good responses in the moment, but while reading this thread, I thought of one:
My husband and I prayed for a large family, and God gave us a great start!

God bless you, OP, and your lovely family. You could always look disappointed and say you are praying for triplets!

 

[agnes_therese]

“But after how many ignorant remarks do you consider having your tongue tied?”

I am constantly amazed at people who think things like this – how many children other people have – is ANY of their business.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

Q. “How do you afford all those kids?”
A. “Well the younger ones we drop off at the doors of the local mall with dark glasses, a white tipped cane and a tin cup and have them pretend to be blind and beg for money. The middle age ones we have taught to pick pocket, just like out of Oliver Twist. We sent the older ones off to work at the local factory that produces lead and asbestos pipes, and collect their pay checks each week.”

This one made me LOL

 

[Xantippe]

How about, “We have a hospital loyalty card and we get every 10th delivery free.”

That sounds almost plausible, actually.

 

[3DOCTORS]

You could also say, “Someday these kids will be working and paying into your Social Security - you’re welcome!”

 

[Cariethra]

I was told that after my second miscarriage. I told them off. No, we are still going to try for another. They still pushed it even as I was pregnant with my son. So I simply told them how my mother regretted getting her tubes tied.

Vasectomies are really bad for men. It can increase the likelihood of prostate cancer.

That ended the discussion, and it hasn’t been brought up since.

 

[Cojuanco]

Proposal:

Q: Are you done after this?
A: No, we’re trying for enough so they can be their own soccer team.

or

A: No. We want you to get you money’s worth - with the whole retiring thing, after all.