Before "Reality"

I was remembering back to before "reality" tv.  People still had sextuplets, they just weren't televised every moment of their days.  Their parents were normal people, not people who became celebrities and used the children as weapons against each other or to get what they wanted.  I was watching a show on TLC the other night about a family that has many, many children.  I remember when families of 5 or 6 children used to be considered a large family and then even 4 children comprised a large family, and most people had 2-3 children in their families.  But this particular family has 6 times that.  It made me sad to watch this family.  No one loves babies more than I do, and I should have really liked this family-they share similar values and beliefs that I do.  But as I chanced a glimpse into their home and  life, it was just sad:  their home, though very nicely appointed, almost as if they had come into much wealth of late, seemed like an institution.  The kitchen looked like the waitress center of Golden Corral:  drink fountains, salad bar, holders of flatware, stacks of dishes and cups.  Now with this many children, I could imagine as a mother of merely 3-how many dance classes, volleyball practices, basketball games, concerts, piano lessons, craft times, swimming lessons, recitals, youth group outings, church trips, cheerleading camps and practices, softball games, birthday parties, bowling games, sleepovers and tennis matches that these people must have to attend and shuttle children to, since they have 6 times more children than I do.  You know how many of these activities I saw?  Zero.  Maybe they save all these activities for when they are not on camera?  You will surely want to know what  18 or 19 children in the family were doing?  Well, one boy of about 6 was gathering all the laundry into baskets.  Another boy about 8 or 9 was folding laundry.  Two girls of about 14-16 were scouring recipes and preparing the evening meal. Some were doing outside work.  Several of the older girls were diapering and caring for infants & toddlers. The children all seemed happy and uncomplaining-of course, they possibly don't know that they could be having fun practicing with their friends and peers doing cheers, playing in a marching band, being part of a volleyball or basketball team; but the parents should know that.  The sadddest part of the whole program?  The 19th child was born with health problems and mom and dad left everything to go spend months with the child-and now they say they are "ready for more."  Wow!  It will be quite interesting to see how many children these children will have of their own.  I have done an informal research on this phenomenon.  All of the kids I know from super large families end up wanting/having one, maybe two children in their own families. Perhaps of what has been modeled for them?  I love kids, I love large families, but shouldn't parents be responsible for the children they have, and doesn't this mean not indenturing them to your household duties, but allowing them to branch out into their interests?