Random, Random 2.0

[Suliso]

Including how many off-branches? That is indeed insane if they are first cousins. But if he is counting the 23&ME ones, may be more sensible.

First cousins only! Also 7 siblings and I forgot how many nieces and nephews.

[meganfernandez]

Including how many off-branches? That is indeed insane if they are first cousins. But if he is counting the 23&ME ones, may be more sensible.

First cousins only! Also 7 siblings and I forgot how many nieces and nephews.

It's a lot but not crazy-big. My husband is one of 6 and I am one of 7. If we all had 3-4 kids, it would be about the same. I love the large family except I can't remember who's getting along at any given point.

[JazzNU]

Work friend just mentioned that he has 39 cousins. Crazy...

Doesn't seem crazy to me. I'm guessing you're not used to big families.

I've never counted how many first cousins my dad has, it's not remotely common in black families to do the first, second, third cousin thing. But it's more than 39. It happens when your dad is one of 12.

[sokol]

Work friend just mentioned that he has 39 cousins. Crazy...

My kids have 35 first cousins

[meganfernandez]

Work friend just mentioned that he has 39 cousins. Crazy...

My kids have 35 first cousins

So you and your partner come from big families?

[sokol]

So you and your partner come from big families?

My husband comes from a big family , they have only 2 from my side

[ti-amie]

Profanity warning.

[ponchi101]

Ok, I know that was staged but still

[ti-amie]

[eusebius]

My ex’s dad is the oldest of 21 children. My ex has first cousins in the three digits...

[JazzNU]

[ti-amie]

What a joke.

[mmmm8]

One of the small culture shocks I experienced moving to America is the number of families with 3+ children.

Growing up in the USSR, there was only one family I knew with 3 children except some mixed families (i.e. second marriages with two kids from each first marriage or where later marriage/relationship resulted in small kids once first marriage kids were teens/adults).

I have 3 first cousins. There is only one person within my extended family with more than 2 kids (they have 3). You have to go back to my oldest uncle's generation to find another example (he's the youngest of his 3 siblings at 76).

I think the key factors are:
1. Women's rights - women went to work and had access to relatively decent quality OB/GYN care earlier in the USSR than certainly in the US + women not seen as baby machines;
2. Lack of religion - marriage not seen as just a vehicle for procreation
3. WWII - in those generations where numerous children were common, some of the parents and the children were wiped out. So, it just wasn't common to see families with many kids, or they were struggling to survive with a single mother - little incentive to follow such examples.
4. Wealth and real estate - I'm sure there's going to be correlation between number of children and whether one lives in an urban environment vs suburban/rural. Most American cities have a suburban lifestyle even within the city limits. Most of the Russian population live an urban lifestyle even in the city suburbs. That means smaller apartments vs larger houses, no/fewer/smaller cars, etc.

I'm sure this applies to most of Europe.

[Suliso]

One of the small culture shocks I experienced moving to America is the number of families with 3+ children.

Growing up in the USSR, there was only one family I knew with 3 children except some mixed families (i.e. second marriages with two kids from each first marriage or where later marriage/relationship resulted in small kids once first marriage kids were teens/adults).

I have 3 first cousins. There is only one person within my extended family with more than 2 kids (they have 3). You have to go back to my oldest uncle's generation to find another example (he's the youngest of his 3 siblings at 76).

I think the key factors are:
1. Women's rights - women went to work and had access to relatively decent quality OB/GYN care earlier in the USSR than certainly in the US + women not seen as baby machines;
2. Lack of religion - marriage not seen as just a vehicle for procreation
3. WWII - in those generations where numerous children were common, some of the parents and the children were wiped out. So, it just wasn't common to see families with many kids, or they were struggling to survive with a single mother - little incentive to follow such examples.
4. Wealth and real estate - I'm sure there's going to be correlation between number of children and whether one lives in an urban environment vs suburban/rural. Most American cities have a suburban lifestyle even within the city limits. Most of the Russian population live an urban lifestyle even in the city suburbs. That means smaller apartments vs larger houses, no/fewer/smaller cars, etc.

I'm sure this applies to most of Europe.

It does, but nevertheless I have nine first cousins without anyone having more than 3 kids in my parents or grandparents generation. The next generation is less "productive" though. Those nine cousins together have only 16 kids of their own, with maybe 1-2 extra still possible in the future.

[ponchi101]

Cosmic coincidence.
Just finished reading an article about how the population in Russia is declining. It is down to 146MM, with some models even saying it will be down into the 135MM range in about 20 years.
I have also read (forgot were) that in the USA the population growth is fueled solely by immigration and immigrants having children. The reason is simple: finances. As we said further above, having a child nowadays involves a complex and expensive financial situation. For the vast majority, it means two incomes as the older model of working-dad/stay-at-home-mom seldom works (ignoring here the social issues of working women and equal salaries). So in Russia (this article says), the same situation is showing up. Fewer and fewer jobs, state-run companies that are collapsing with the consequential unemployment and therefore more couples deciding that no children is the way.
Add that Russia is not a friendly place for immigration (I can assume the language barrier is a tough one to hurdle over to begin with) and yes, families with more than 2 children are not in vogue right now.
It will be a very different world in 50 years. And I am not sure if I would even want to be around to see it (I won't).