August 2, 2009

Wak Attack

There was an article in the paper today about Cassandra Parker, a mother of seven kids between the ages of 10 and two months, who home schools her entire clan.

Cassandra freaks me out. And her story reminds me of another family who freak me out - Haya and Zephaniah Waks, featured in a TV documentary a few years back.

The Waks, an orthodox Jewish couple from Melbourne, have raised 17 children. Both parents stay utterly serene at all times, and still manage to pray three times a day.

Compare them to me, who struggles with just three children, experiences motherhood as a constant, barely restrained state of crisis, and barely finds time to wash my face in the morning.

So what’s going on? Are orthodox children far easier to raise than other children (and I do suspect my son generates as much work as a dozen or so orthodox kids), or am I just hopelessly inadequate?

Haya, in between growing an entire community of people in her womb, also works as a wigmaker, and effortlessly prepares meals for 300 guests every time there’s a birthday or festival.

I, on the other hand, am still recuperating from giving birth 20 months ago (at least that’s what I tell my husband), get exhausted just thinking about what to wear to go shopping, and as for cooking, well, let’s just say that if the frankfurt hadn’t been invented, my kids would surely have starved.

Haya Waks looks impeccably groomed and attractive at all times. Now this really bewilders me. Firstly, how does she find the time to dress in the morning (I, mother of three, have been known to leave the house in my slippers)? Secondly, why have her kids left her looking so youthful and vibrant, when my three kids have stamped lines on my face and bags under my eyes (although that’s possibly just because I haven’t had time to wash my face in a decade)?

Thirdly, and most importantly, why does Haya allow herself to look so attractive all the time? If I was a mother of 17, I’d be doing my best to be as physically repugnant as possible – anything to keep my husband at bay and save myself from another pregnancy.

The Waks family can’t afford a nanny, but this doesn't pose a problem. They simply employ their own children, with each older child being responsible for a younger sibling.

Well, I tried that with my kids and it failed dismally. The only thing my son took responsibility for was to pinch his sister when I wasn’t looking, teach her to say ‘smelly bum bum’, and cut out big chunks of her hair with a pair of kitchen scissors.

Haya Waks believes that the role of the Jewish mother is to bring more Jewish souls into the world. (I agree with her. It's just that in my case, the souls have been brought into the world to test me.) And she is inspiring. So much so that when the documentary was over, my sixty-something mother sent me a text message announcing that she'd decided to have 15 more children.

I’m delighted. Truly. Better my mum than me. For one thing, I can’t be sure that my next children will eat frankfurts. For another thing, I’m still tired from giving birth.

33 comments:

  1. Wow Chaya has my admiration (and if she wants she can have a go at raising my child for a while).

    Seriously I often see orthodox women looking serenely calm, young and beautiful even though they have more children than some people have socks. I think in some part it is due to the sheitel. Imagine being able to wake up and don beautifully styled hair every morning? (Also maybe something to do with taking one day off a week to completely rest - although how you do this with 17 children is beyond me.)

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  2. I laughed so hard at your son cutting your daughter's hair with kitchen scissors. It's actually something I did to my sister when we were little.... Mum was not impressed. I just figured she didn't mind if I did it to the barbie dolls, what's the difference??

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  3. I read that article today too! Oh god I break out in hives at the thought of having the kids home with me all day and not only having to look after them but teach them!

    Surely it must be drugs or some kind of artifical stimulant right? I want some as I only have two and they kick my butt most days.

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  4. I love the commitment and focus on family practiced within Judaism.

    Haya has been able to mould her brood without the interference of the 'outside world' - ie: TV or school. It is her goal in life to raise her family in the Jewish way, unrestricted by any personal interests of her own, she has surrendered to motherhood completely, which is what I think the idea was way back when, and it seems to work.

    I wish I had the guts to live a little like this…in a lot of ways I think it would be easier.

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  5. Kayla - SO glad to hear my kids aren't the only amateur hairdressers. And you turned out normal, right? RIGHT?????

    And Aneets - Seriously, I agree with you, it just horrifies me to imagine her day, her week, her LIFE - never, ever ending. They are a different breed of mother, surely. Or different from us!

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  6. And Amy, I agree, I think in many ways it would be easier to live with such a firm structure and purpose in life.
    But it would be SUCH intensely hard work. I am astonished that anyone can work so hard. But what an achievement, huh. x

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  7. Even thinking about that amount of children makes me so tired my eyes want to bleed.

    I've only got 2 and I haven't brushed my hair or showered in ... um ... a few days. I don't remember exactly. Maybe I should be showering instead of commenting.

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  8. Amy : chaya's kids go to school. It was lady in paper today who home schools.
    Sharpest pencil: day of rest? Ha! Not restful at all. Damn stressful not having luxury of electricity!! Not to mention the planning each week that goes into it. but is nice to spend time together (and by that I mean nice to have husband take kids to park while I read paper and drink yesterday's coffee that I have skillfully reheated using urn hot water so as not to succumb to instant. But u r onto something with sheitel. I haven't had my actual hair cut since October but everyday strangers ask me if I've just been to hair dresser. Brilliant!

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  9. LJ,
    SO nice to have comment from an orthodox woman! Thank you! I have always suspected Shabbat would not be particularly restful for the woman of the house (especially when it's her turn to host dinner on Friday), though the family time would be lovely.
    The hair thing, though... well, having just looked in the mirror, I reckon I'd give anything for a sheitel...

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  10. LJ, yup I can well imagine that the planning for Shabbas is enormous, not to mention the catering without electricity. But I truly believe family time is what makes religious families so special. That connection and that time spent together (even if it is dad at the park while mum regains her sanity) is an ideal way to be. I know some really religious people and I am truly envious of their family connections and their outlook on life.

    Recently I went to the wedding of my Rabbi's daughter. Every woman there (aside from us secular folk) looked amazing. Genuinely happy, radiating peace and with hair to die for!!!!!And boy could these girls dance. No-one to perform to just filled with happiness - never have I seen a more beautiful wedding and expression of love and happiness.

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  11. Dear Kerri. Don't you realise there's such thing as a critical mass of children? My mother, thanks to some spacing out of her childbearing years, managed to hit critical mass when I was born, as by then, my sister was sufficiently old enough to raise me. And she raised my little brother too.

    I jest. To an extent.

    My sister in law is the second-last of eight, and she literally was raised by her big sister, they even shared a room. She also says that, because there were so many kids and such a range of ages, she doesn't know some of her siblings as well as she would like.

    That's how big families do it!

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  12. Little Miss Moi - LOL, & I'm sure you're right.
    But at what age are older siblings old enough to raise the younger ones?
    My son is 8.5 years older than toddler, & daughter 6.5 years older, but whilst they dance with her, pep her up, feed her forbidden foods & dress her in funny hats, when it comes to actually raising her... well... let's just say for some unknown reason they still think it's my job. Not fair at all.

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  13. i got to this amusing blog cos i have a google alert for "waks", since the days of the film, & to keep tabs on some of the overseas & interstate kids. if i may, some comments:
    ks: haya's attractiveness is part genetic, part lifestyle (observant jews), & part attitude (what amy said: "surrendered to motherhood completely"; i believe that certain brands of feminism have a lot to answer for, having made a few generations of mothers feel unfulfilled).
    ks:"I reckon I'd give anything for a sheitel": people coming into the wig salon cannot believe haya is wearing a wig, & often think she must be our eldest daughter.
    Little Miss Moi:"she doesn't know some of her siblings as well as she would like":the age diff. between our oldest & youngest is 20 years. some of the kids left home at 16, 17 etc to go overseas. i have a friend in a similar sit. when they had a wedding for a daughter, & 1 of these oseas kids came back for the wedding, 1 of the young kids came crying to the parents that "there's a stranger downstairs in the house".
    enjoy changing the nappies etc: remember, this is the easy stuff compared with some teenagers!
    cheers

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  14. Zephaniah I am thrilled you responded, thank you so much!
    You are an amazing family and we all have a lot to learn from you.
    I actually had the pleasure of meeting one of your daughters a couple of years back when I was taking my older two kids to swimming lessons. I was there, struggling with my two, and she was gorgeous, poised and in utter control with FIVE kids in tow. And she works as a dentist part time too! I have never been so awed by anyone in my life.
    Thanks again, fabulous to hear from you.

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  15. I do admire the efforts of parents with lots of kids. Every day must be an exhaustion exercise in logistics.

    I watched the Waks documentary too, and I recall Haya commenting at he end that with such a large number of children, it's not really possible to have special, quiet moments with each child. They were all about providing comfort and practical support, but did not have loads of time for emotional support.

    So, I don't feel too bad about my parenting efforts. I might not have an army of kids to look after, but the two I do have get lots of cuddles!

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  16. Mel, I agree 100%. When I see how the 'quality time' I have with my older two kids has been reduced since Toddler came along, I can't even imagine what it would be like having 17.
    Not for me!
    And home schooling... my god... I have NO idea how they do it.

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  17. How cool of Zephaniah to respond!

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  18. kerri: am with you on the quality time and number of kids. my kids are almost 6, almost 4 and 15months. and yep, since #3 arrived i find it really hard to give the older kids quality time. i would like to have one more in a few years but that's it. so, many kids do not always come with the orthodox tag :) but i think it's to do with how u mother aswell. i am very...mmm...."involved". i think you have to let go to a certain extent if you have lots of children and i just don't think i could emotionally stretch (let alone physically!) to 17 kids. Or 10 for that matter. Or 6 even.
    shabbat comes round way too quickly in some ways. It sort of dominates half the week in preparation and in post shabbat clean up. sometimes i resent it (oooh, confession). but then i think about what it provides for our family. my husband works ridiculous hours and he would barely see the kids if it weren't for shabbat. like everyone, our lives are crazy and it could well be the thread that holds it all together.....
    could probably discuss all these issues all night but i haven't even cleared the sink yet :(

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  19. LJ thank you SO much for the insight. I have so often wondered about the personal lives of the very orthodox, but have never felt free to enquire. I really appreciate your honesty and I have great admiration for the way you're running your family, despite the incredibly hard work it entails.
    Hope to see you round here a lot! xx

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  20. I can't believe my father responded & didn't give a plug to my mother's wig shop:-)! For all those interested, you can find more information on www.wakswigs.com. It's never too late to don a wig - for religious purposes or for fashion (just for the record, my wife doesn't wear one and nor do I). By the way, my mother is both an amazing mother & a recently proven entrepreneur!

    Manny Waks

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  21. when we made the film (we received no money for it), 1 of the main reasons was to correct stereotypes about large families. the producer of the film, b4 she met the kids, had also assumed they would be bland, carbon copies of each other. she was shocked when she found the opposite: strong, individual, likeable personalities.
    nothing i say below is a criticism of any1, & i definitely agree that having a very large family would be felt as emotionally &/or financially problematical by many people. however, we believe that a lot is in the perception. 2 anecdotes.
    round 30 years ago, when we just had the 1st couple of kids, living in israel, we had as shabbos guests a secular israeli couple with 1 kid. the man, a workmate of mine, told me they wouldn't have more than 1 kid cos it was impossible to give the emotional & educational attention to more than 1.
    fast forward 15 years to melbourne: an immigrant couple, here several years already, both professionals with good jobs, told me, after eating the last meal before yom kippur with us, that they would not be having more than 1 kid because it was impossible financially (they perhaps didn't realise the irony of what they were saying as we had about 13 kids at the time).
    so even tho the consensus on this blog seems to be that 2-3 is ok & manageable, others, even outside china, think that 1 is enough! i am certain that there are neglected children even in 1 child families, & large families with no negelected children. remember, the often emotionally & spitually deficient baby-boomers in the USA (& also here), who became the hippies of the '60s, were largely the product of SMALL families.
    we have great admiration for families that have a kid with a major disability but continue to function properly: we think that's very hard.

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  22. Kerri - happy to be your orthodox correspondant, lol :) and btw, if we're talking admiration....I love your writing. It crosses the religious barrier and totally resonates with me (and of course utterly amuses!)
    Zephaniah: I have to state that i am in no way implying that any of your kids are neglected. I feel that I personally could not mother in the way I would (ideally) like to with a huge family. But you make a great point in that we all deal with what we are presented with and can always imagine another situation which we would find "impossible". In reality, you would just get on with doing whatever I took. I hope I am making sense - am refereeing a game of junior monopoly and cooking dinner simultaneously :)

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  23. Thanks for the further comments - I am finding this fascinating.
    I also have the utmost respect for parents of kids with disabilities - I know two such families intimately and I believe there is no greater burden that a family can sustain.
    Thanks LJ for the lovely comments, and Manny - I'm delighted to hear you don't wear a wig!!!

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  24. ok lj, i'm glad u don't imply that noone can give the "required" amount of "quality time" with a large family. however, the stereotype does say something like that, & i thought i picked up a whiff of it on the blog; i'm sorry if i misunderstood.
    in the anecdotes i related, the people concerned were not saying that THEY couldn't manage more than 1 kid for the respective reasons they gave: they were saying it couldn't be done (certainly in the case of the israelis)!
    it's true that it requires a different lifestyle (i don't mean observant), eg haya & i did not go away together ALONE on a holiday for the 1st 20 something years, we didn't eat out etc etc!

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  25. No Zephaniah, I certainly didn't mean to imply that it CAN'T be done (and I don't believe LJ did either) - I just meant that I couldn't do it. I know my limitations!!!
    It's like home schooling - I know that many people do it, but there is NO way I could even try, I'd be an utterly disastrous teacher and an even worse mother.
    In fact, this is what gives me some small comfort. You and Haya raised 17 kids, but you didn't home school them. If you'd done THAT, then I would have had to assume you were completely meshugena....
    :-)

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  26. My uncle made that doco about the Waks family. The wig buisness! Loved it.

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  27. loving this blog. It is fascinating. I also saw the Waks doco. I was so inspired and mesmerised to see how the Waks family were able to raise 17 wonderful chn, when YES i have difficulty raising 3. I guess yr whole mindset would be different and yr lifes expectations would be different to those of us who want less than a handful of children.Though I can't imagine having 20yrs without going away with my husband even for a day.It's those little breaks that give me a chance to regroup, breathe, rejoice my life and think about my beautiful children.
    Zephaniah, you & yr family should be so proud of what you have achieved. Hopefully Now that most of yr kids have grown up and many have moved out of home you and yr wife can enjoy some time together.....with yr grandkids. have you got any yet?

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  28. just noticed my comment came up anonymous. It's me Kerri...Lisa

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  29. Kerri - happy to be your orthodox correspondant, lol :) and btw, if we're talking admiration....I love your writing. It crosses the religious barrier and totally resonates with me (and of course utterly amuses!)
    Zephaniah: I have to state that i am in no way implying that any of your kids are neglected. I feel that I personally could not mother in the way I would (ideally) like to with a huge family. But you make a great point in that we all deal with what we are presented with and can always imagine another situation which we would find "impossible". In reality, you would just get on with doing whatever I took. I hope I am making sense - am refereeing a game of junior monopoly and cooking dinner simultaneously :)

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  30. kerri: am with you on the quality time and number of kids. my kids are almost 6, almost 4 and 15months. and yep, since #3 arrived i find it really hard to give the older kids quality time. i would like to have one more in a few years but that's it. so, many kids do not always come with the orthodox tag :) but i think it's to do with how u mother aswell. i am very...mmm...."involved". i think you have to let go to a certain extent if you have lots of children and i just don't think i could emotionally stretch (let alone physically!) to 17 kids. Or 10 for that matter. Or 6 even.
    shabbat comes round way too quickly in some ways. It sort of dominates half the week in preparation and in post shabbat clean up. sometimes i resent it (oooh, confession). but then i think about what it provides for our family. my husband works ridiculous hours and he would barely see the kids if it weren't for shabbat. like everyone, our lives are crazy and it could well be the thread that holds it all together.....
    could probably discuss all these issues all night but i haven't even cleared the sink yet :(

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  31. i got to this amusing blog cos i have a google alert for "waks", since the days of the film, & to keep tabs on some of the overseas & interstate kids. if i may, some comments:
    ks: haya's attractiveness is part genetic, part lifestyle (observant jews), & part attitude (what amy said: "surrendered to motherhood completely"; i believe that certain brands of feminism have a lot to answer for, having made a few generations of mothers feel unfulfilled).
    ks:"I reckon I'd give anything for a sheitel": people coming into the wig salon cannot believe haya is wearing a wig, & often think she must be our eldest daughter.
    Little Miss Moi:"she doesn't know some of her siblings as well as she would like":the age diff. between our oldest & youngest is 20 years. some of the kids left home at 16, 17 etc to go overseas. i have a friend in a similar sit. when they had a wedding for a daughter, & 1 of these oseas kids came back for the wedding, 1 of the young kids came crying to the parents that "there's a stranger downstairs in the house".
    enjoy changing the nappies etc: remember, this is the easy stuff compared with some teenagers!
    cheers

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