No kids allowed

The article on yahoo really concerns me. It was written by Piper Weis on Shine (wed 27 July 2011)- NO-KIDS-ALLOWED MOVEMENT IS SPREADING.

My argument is that there are few fast food restaurants that cater to my six member family. Oh yes, there are six seaters at Ruby Tuesday and TGI Fridays, but the KFC, Burger King, Rituals coffee shops, etc don't accomodate. While I think people without kids should have their space. I think it is sad that there are more and more places in the US that are being "child free" areas. Piper Weis identifies the cause of the movement:

When did kids become the equivalent of second-hand smoke? Blame a wave of childless adults with money to spare. "Empty nesters continue to wield a huge swath of discretionary spending dollars, and population dips in first-world countries mean more childless couples than ever," writes AdWeek's Klara.

and it is becoming more popular (again Piper Weis):

Earlier this month, McDain's, a Pittsburgh area restaurant that banned kids under 6 became a mascot for the no-kids-zone movement. According to a Pittsburgh local news poll, more than half of area residents were in favor of the ban. And now big business is paying attention.

Now compared to past generations my family is not large. Of the 8 grandparents of my wife and I, 5 were from families of 8 or more kids. My wifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife is one of 4 and I am 1 of 6. So, how do we class the size of our family? Are families with over four no considered large as they are more rare? BabyCenter.com in a 2006 article says that big families never went out of style in the US:

Steve Martin, a sociologist at the University of Maryland crunched the numbers from a 2004 US government survey — the most recent available — he found that 28 percent of women age 35 to 44, who are winding up their childbearing years, have three kids or more. Ten years ago, it was 29 percent. The numbers for younger women haven't budged much, either.

Martin says it's not so much that big families are back, that they never disappeared in the first place. "Large families have consistently been common," he points out. "Two is the norm, but for every 34 mothers who stop at two, there are 28 who have three, four, or more."

I would think that religious people or people without much education would be having larger families, but it is not necessarily so. Again Babycenter.com:

While the percentage of moms having Brady Bunch-sized broods has held steady, the women who make up their ranks have changed somewhat. These days, professional and wealthy moms are having bigger families — traditionally more common among certain religious groups and poorer women with less education, according to government surveys.

Professional moms have twice as many kids at home, on average, than their high-powered counterparts did back in 1977, according to a 2002 report from the Families and Work Institute. And in a 2000 study, sociologist Martin found that college-educated women who put off motherhood until their 30s are suddenly having families almost as big as everyone else's. "That's historically unprecedented," he says.

So I've decided that having four kids is not having a large family. Despite the comments of people who think that it is. I've decided to call my family size "LARGER THAN SMALL" since I cannot find any organization that gives family sizes.

Despite the woes of having a larger than small family, I still love being a father and parent, and we parents will find place for our kids and ourselves. No matter what. Annie from SIX RING CIRCUS relates her crossing the street with just three kids. It's funny, and it's true, and it's a blessing:

Pay attention! Look for cars, did you see that car? You need to stay with me. Hurry up. Come on. Grab your brother, let’s GOOOO. Hustle, hustle, hustle! Move it! Geesh. Stay by mommy…car’s can’t see your short little body. Did you hear me? Are you listening to Mommy? Can’t you walk faster? You don’t need to jump in every puddle. Now your socks are soaked. Get in the van. You two older ones could be more helpful.