The bigger the better.

A large family teaches you values. It teaches you how to share, especially when you don't want to. It teaches you loyalty to one another and the group. It teaches you how to learn how to duck and move quickly. It teaches you that you are not the most important person in the world, other people have needs too. It teaches you that no matter how good you may be at lying to your parents somebody in family will surely snitch you out sooner or later. It teaches you how to run an effective blackmail operation against your siblings. It teaches you that no matter how wrong you may be there is always somebody there that will back you up in a street fight. It teaches you rudimentary first aid, both for yourself and other family members. It teaches you that just because you are bleeding profusely it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to die. It teaches you that only the lowest of the low takes the last cookie out of the cookie jar. It teaches you that there is always enough food for everybody no matter how little food you have. It teaches you that no matter how stupid you may think you are there is always somebody else in the family dumber than you. It teaches you accountability because somebody in the family will hold you accountable for your actions. It teaches you that you can fail and get back up and try again.

Take a trip back to the days of yesteryear.

Remember when (you gotta be old to relate to this) a family consisted of mom, dad, four to six children or more and at least one set of grandparents all living in the same house. Wasn't it great! If you couldn't get sympathy from mom and dad then you could always get it from grandma or grandpa. Plus grandma would always bake ya some cookies. Grandma and Gramps would always try to cover for you. They would also snitch you out and discipline you when you needed it too. Why was it that they seemed to have higher standards than anyone else including mom and dad? But you loved them and you listened to them and you never, ever disrespected them. How many times have you sat at their knee and listened to their stories of their youth, their lives, loves and disappointments. How many times did you realize that if they got through what they went through that you could too. How much did you learn from them that you never realized until you became an adult. Grandma and grandpa are "the missing link" in American families today. They are the institutional memory of the family. Too many grandmas and grandpas are in nursing homes today instead of home with the family where they belong and they are desperately needed. So many grandchildren don't know their grandparents and never had the opportunity to interact with them. Just being with grandma and grandpa teaches the child respect, but it has to be on a daily basis to have a lasting effect. Grandma and grandpa teach you character and responsibility and what love really is.

Yeah, large families are best. You learn things about yourself, about others and how to adapt to things you don't like sometimes. It gives you a good foundation to build on. It helps build character and discipline.

AND, last but not least it gives you people you can go to to borrow money when no else would be stupid enough to give you credit.

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