While most parents can find it ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛ to take care of A LARGE family. But, Chloe who of-eight with twins and triplets has offered a glimpse into what the night-time routine looks like in her busy household. While most parents might struggle to get two or three kids ready for bed each night, this mum has to tackle eight, all wanting bedtime stories and cuddles.
Chloe Dunstan, 27 and her husband Rohan from Perth had three children by the time she turned 22 – Evan, 8, Otto, 7, and Felix, 6 – swiftly followed by triplets Rufus, Hank and Pearl, nearly 5. Two more babies joined Chloe’s family in late October. All of her children were born naturally. Two of the children were confused and asked their mum if it was a “food baby” in her belly. Chloe said : “We are thrilled to share with you all that we are welcoming two little beans to our family! We so very excited for this new chapter in our lives. Our hearts are so full. I think twins feels like perfect addition to our family and luckily the kids were delighted with the news, too. They love being part of a big family and can’t wait to have more siblings.”
With more children, comes a busier life and the Chloe are already pretty busy. A typical day for their family sees the mum get up, ensure the kids are getting ready before starting them on some work and sitting down to do her own work. Chloe and Rohan home school all six of their children and also run an online toy business from home. “The kids do a bit of school work, and then mostly focus on doing the things they enjoy like drawing, art projects, science projects, playing and spending lots of time outside,” she says. It can be a lot with a career, home schooling and homework, but we manage it well together and doing all of this means we can maximize family time, which is really important to us.”
The day goes on like this, at around 4:30pm, Chloe starts preparing dinner while the children help each other tidy the play areas – such as the LEGO room, playroom and drawing table. She said “The babies have a nap in their rockers, while the others do some tidying up. At the same time, I’ll cook the dinner for the kids. I cooked pasta for dinner using San Remo pasta, eggplant, zucchini, baby spinach, diced tomato, onion, pasta sauce and ᴛᴇxᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ ᴠᴇɢᴇᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇɪɴ as ᴀ ᴍᴇᴀᴛ ʀᴇᴘʟᴀᴄᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ. Because, I favours quick and easy meal solutions that are simple to make, but also nutritious for my big family. At 6pm, the kids sit down for their dinner.”
Once dinner is finished, the children take turns having baths and put their pyjamas on while Chloe bathes and feeds the newborn twins. The kids like watching Sylvie and Cosmo having their baths, and they then brush their hair and teeth in preparation for bed. She said: “We read a night time story before bed. Over the years I has collected more than 1,000 books for my family, which are colour coordinated on the shelf. The children’s favourite at the moment is The Gingerbead Man. Finally, I tucks the children into their beds at 8pm and says goodnight before relaxing for an hour watching television with her husband. It’s definitely gotten easier over the years with the night-time routine as all bar the twins can now dress themselves. With the triplets there for a bit when they were young, it was a lot of work. But I think with big families you have to do whatever works for you.”
How do you think about the way this mother cope with such many kids?
