Australian family, the Bonells never thought they’d have enough kids for three five-a-side football teams AND a sub on the bench, but that is exactly what’s happened.
“That was never my secret fantasy!” mum-of-16, Jeni Bonell told KidSpot Australia.
“God has a funny sense of humour. When I was a teenager, I was like, ‘No, not interested’. I didn’t particularly like kids, and they didn’t like me.”
Even when Jeni met her husband Ray, who’s the eldest of six, she was pretty up front about her ambivalence towards a big family. “No way, not going to happen,” said Jeni, cut to present day and Jeni and Ray, who are now 47 and 48 respectively, are now parents to 16 kids and wouldn’t be adverse to having more.
The family live in Toowoomba, Queensland and have kids ranging from 2 years to twenty-six years.
The Bonell brood is as follows:
Jesse, 26, Brooke, 25, Claire, 23, Natalie, 21, Karl, 19, Samuel, 18, Cameron, 16, Sabrina, 15, Timothy, 13, Brandon, 11, Eve, 10, Nate, 9, Rachel, 8, Eric, 6, Damian, 5, and Katelyn, 2.
Jeni and Ray run a regimented household to keep what must be a pretty chaotic routine ticking over.
“We have lists on the wall detailing morning and evening routines.”
“As a mum, you just want to give, give, give, but I soon realised that a big part of my job was teaching them, not just doing everything for them,” says Jeni on her ingenious idea to keep a roster to ensure that the chores get done.
“We have a job roster. That helps the kids take responsibility for themselves, as well as helping their reading.”
So the deal is a bit of a buddy system when one of the older kids is rostered on for a job they buddy up with one of the younger kids, helping them to learn to be more responsible and participate in the running of the household.
The food bill is actually not as terrifying as we would’ve thought either, Jeni says that she spends about $600 (just over €400) per week.
“A 10-year-old in our house can prepare a meal for 20 people with almost no supervision.”
Impressive stuff. Despite the clever outsourcing of manual labour, Ray and Jeni certainly are very hands when it comes to discipline:
“We’re very definite that we’re the parents and we do the parenting. If there are issues or consequences to be settled, it’s up to us.”
“To anyone umming and ahhing about whether to have a big family,” she says, “I’d say this: your heart can always expand to love as many children as you have. You’ll never regret having a child, but you might regret not having one.”
Incredibly the Bonells say they’d love to have even more children. The couple have suffered the agony of seven losses, the last less than a year ago.
“The odds aren’t in our favour but we pray very hard that we’ll have a rainbow baby in our arms.”
“Nothing would make us happier than triplets!”
Images via Facebook
