Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small-Family World (Paperback)

by Meagan Francis (Author) "When you were a kid, did you ever look forward to adulthood with some very specific plans about how your life would play out?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Working It Out, Piece of the Pie, Give Me Shelter (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Smart strategies for the larger-than-average family.

Despite the growing number of large blended families and a rise in multiple births, contemporary cultural expectations—as evidenced by housing and transportation sizes—are geared toward two-child families. In Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family, Meagan Francis—extremely proud mother of four sons—offers advice, encouragement, and tips for living that work in the real (small) world, including:
—Determining how big a house a family really needs
—Running the house effectively, efficiently, and peacefully
—Methods for ensuring all the kids get the attention they deserve
—Smart-money tactics


About the Author
Meagan Francis is the mother of four and a full-time professional writer. Her articles have appeared in such publications as Literary Mama, Salon, Brain, Child, Parenting, and Baby Talk. She is the writer of “Mama-Rama,” a weekly syndicated column that takes a fresh look at modern motherhood, and her essays have been reprinted in the anthologies Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined and The Best of Brain Child.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Alpha (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592576737
• ISBN-13: 978-1592576739
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #513,841 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Needed, but Pretty Negative , December 31, 2007

By	Kelly "kelly-lcce" (Kennesaw, GA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I really hate to not give this book 5 stars - I really WANTED to love it. There is such a need for books like this.

But this book wasn't as great as it could have been.

First, I expected with a title like this that it would be about families with 6 or more kids [I have five, and was looking for advice from those "experts" with more than I have!]. The author has 4 children, and many of the mothers she quotes through the book have 4 [or even 3 children - which might seem humorous to those with mega families to think of a family with 3 kids as "large"]. She did have some mothers of larger families contributing in some places, but their advice was fewer and farther between.

Second, I felt like the book had a negative tone. Like "yeah, having a bunch of kids is exhausting, noisy, hard...but you CAN live through it" [which it certainly is like that some days :) ]. But there was not much counterbalance - having a bunch of kids is also FUN, exciting, entertaining, and wonderful in a way that is totally unique. There are GREAT reasons some of us choose to have a lot of kids. I didn't get any sense of that reading this book. In fact, if I read this book when I only had 2 kids, I might just stop there! I would be afraid to add more children!

The author has an awkward chapter in the beginning of the book about "how big families happen" and she goes into an explanation of her own big family that seemed kind of defensive - according to her, she didn't "plan" to have all those children, they just sort of kept happening by accident. Which is just fine - many of life's greatest blessings are "surprises" from God. :) But I also had the feeling that maybe on some level she didn't necessarily WANT a large family and that she tended to see the negative side of it a lot more than the positive.

Third, I found most of the advice in the book to be pretty much "common sense" stuff that most moms of more than a handful of kids have probably already figured out on their own. Maybe my expectations were just too high, but I found very little in this book that was new or helpful to me in managing my crowd. She covers a lot of different topics but covers them all very superficially. So, I'm not sure how useful this book will be to most moms of bigger families in general.

But I WANT to like this book - it isn't a bad book by any means, don't get me wrong. It is well written, easy to read, and it does have some interesting and helpful parts. I found the section on vacationing with a large family to be particularly helpful. I just would have liked to see the *great* aspects of having a large family covered a bit more and I would have liked to see more in-depth coverage of the challenges we face with a bunch of kiddos.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!, October 13, 2007

By	Elizabeth Baer "phathui5" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really can't say enough good things about this book. The author offers a good look at what different kinds of large families are like and gives loads and loads of practical advice on organizing and raising a large family. I have four kids myself and found good advice in this book. I also liked that she links you to other resources (books and websites) for larger families.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, February 2, 2008

By	AM Coleman "Anne" (Bethlehem, Pa) - See all my reviews

I recently received a copy of Table for Eight, Raising a large family in a small family world by Meagan Francis, and I have come to one single conclusion after reading it and that would be that anyone who has or is thinking of having a large family should have a copy of this book. Kids are great, but even one or two can be challenging, and once you get up to four and beyond, it's a whole new ball of wax.

Oh, I know, many moms, especially those of us with lots of kids, know it all and don't need any advice, but my take on life is that until you cease to exist, you're learning.

Of course, I headed straight for the food chapter: Feeding Your Flock, and all I have to say about this is that the advice there is sound, sound, sound. There's info there (and all over the book) from real moms with many children who have been there, done that. There are also menu planning and pantry charts (click here for more of that type) to help keep your food stores and tummies full. The only thing I would add at all would be ALDI.

I really like the chapter Having Fun, since we tend NOT to have enough of this. We did go camping a few years ago and had a blast for very little cash, but that's been it. This chapter has websites and ideas I never thought of.

I also like Keeping the Household Running, not just for the great tips, but also for the fact that one of the Additional Resources is the URL to Lots of Kids, where I am on staff.