Large Family Living ~ The Buddy System

For my first post on "Large Family Living", I've decided to talk about our buddy system. This is not an original idea. I've heard of many other large families using some sort of similar system. I remember reading that the Duggars use a buddy system.

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I really didn't feel the need for a buddy system until I had 6 children. The younger 3 were 3 and under and I was feeling a little overwhelmed with getting them where we needed to go. Carseats especially were a real chore for me. I usually called on an older child to help, but I started to hear arguments between them. ("I did it last time, now it's your turn!") 

That's when I decided to pair them off for carseat duty. I put the youngest of the three "big" kids with the oldest of the three "little" kids. Then I worked my way out, so that my oldest child was paired with the baby. (He happens to be the only boy, so that works well for me with the heavy baby carrier!)

When the 7th child came along, I moved the buddies so that the oldest is still with the youngest and moved inward, leaving the middle child with no buddy. This works well since she is now old enough to buckle her own seat belt and put on her own coat, but not really old enough to be in charge of a younger buddy. 

So each big kid is in charge of getting his/her buddy to the van and buckled in if they need help. When we arrive at a destination, the big buddy is in charge of unbuckling the car seat for the ones who need help and getting that little buddy into the building or the shopping cart or the stroller. 

This has been such a BIG help for me! 

The buddy system also comes in handy when I need help with other tasks such as getting coats on children. 

Does your family  have a buddy system? I would love to hear more ideas for using this system to make life run more smoothly! :)

Large Family Living

I'm working on some posts with tips I've learned myself or learned from other Moms with lots o' little folks. I'm going to call them "Large Family Living". I plan to include all kinds of things I've found to be helpful in making life run just a little smoother with many children. (Many will probably be useful to moms with only a few children as well.)

I've created a cute little button for these useful ideas. Here it is:

Do you have some great tip that makes life just a little smoother in your home?