I have always asked my parents why they decided to have five children for many reasons. Kids are expensive, time consuming, and a considerable amount of work. However, what has mystified me about why my parents had five children is the fact that its such a bad number for everything. It doesn't divide evenly, and it creates the infamous and in my opinion, the dreaded middle child. In practical terms, five makes even the most simple things difficult. In the past it has created problems about who shares rooms, who sits where at the dinner table, and there are only four spots when it comes to sitting next to Mom or Dad in church. So inevitably someone becomes the lone man, which has led me to seriously question my parent's decision. The curse of five is most apparent though, when it comes to the car ride.
One of the perks of being in a large family is that we get to cruise around in a minivan. That being said, when all seven of us ride in the car, we take every spot up. I know at this point you may not see the problem, so I will make it easier for you. So obviously my parents get the two front seats, which leaves five other seats. There are the two front captains chairs (these are akin to first class), and then there are three seats in the back. The problem is that there is no fair way to rotate who sits in the front and back. The crux of the issue is that someone always get stuck in the back twice in a row. The best interpretation I can give is that sitting in the back is just a truly awful experience. Having to sit in the back twice in a row takes guts. On a long car ride such as our annual trip to the Outer Banks, the back seat can be a near death sentence. It has been the cause of many tears from both my siblings and myself. Many times, after the fights that the car rides cause, I am sure that my parents wonder why they had five kids too. Currently this issue has been resolved due to my absence, which I am constantly reminded of thanks to my little sisters.
Despite all of the problems involved in the lack of the ability for the number five to be divided, it works out. I have never been bored, and whenever I want to play a pickup game of 4-square or badminton, I have four others to play with. The benefits outweigh the cons involved, although there are many on both sides. Whenever I ask my parents why they had five kids, the first tell me because they didn't want to be rich, and second because they loved growing up in families of five.
I like the comparison you made of the two middle seats being the equivalent of first class compared to the back. I also like your hyperbole that the back is a near death experience. This made it funny and relatable, giving it a casual, friendly tone.
ReplyDeleteMy family and I also make an annual trip to the Outer Banks each year. Except there is only four of us total, so I can barely imagine seven. How do you even fit all those suitcases? There is a lot of humor in this post as well as good description!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite number is actually 5 :p I have two older siblings, so as the youngest I usually had to sit in the very back. Although it was more like "first class" to me because I could stretch out and sleep, I had pillows and blankets and everything! But I definitely understand the struggle of fitting seven people whenever we had friends coming anywhere with us, it's not the best experience riding for hours squeezed in between two people. Once again a descriptive and relatable post I look forward to reading every week!
ReplyDeleteBeing the oldest of 5 kids is probably very difficult, yet rewarding.There are 3 kids in my family, I am the "dreaded middle child", but since my oldest sibling is 8 years older than me, I would consider myself the oldest, since he's been at college and living out of state anyway. I remember the constant battles of who gets the from seat, or gets to sit closest to my mom. I think your blog brings light to sticky situations, and I can tell you really love your family.
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