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I was surprised when I found out a woman in California gave birth to Octuplets or eight babies. Imagine my shock when I found out she has SIX more children in her care, all under the age of  eight.

This news has sparked a lot of angry comments from CNN readers. You can find the whole article here. I’m posting a sample of some of the comments I’ve read at CNN:

I can understand why some would feel shocked by this and call the mother irresponsible,they probably had a difficult time raising their own children. But for someone who likes a large family,who are we to say if this is wrong or right.

We as parents have a duty to raise our children to be productive citizens. For our generation, they taught us family planning, and programmed us to have just one, two, or three kids: the better to feed them and provide their needs. However I noticed that with small families, those who only have one or two kids in the family, most grow apart. They move away once they are old enough to fend for their own, raise families of their own, and only see each other on holidays, or not at all.

But with families who have three or more children, there are bonds formed, most especially if the children realize the hardship their parents took to raise all of them. The eldest brother or sister acts as surrogate parents and watch over their siblings, and this bond continues even after they are old enough and have families of their own.

Now that I am old, I wish there was more than just my sister and me. We fought a lot because of the 4 year age gap, and though we have a better relationship now because we both have kids, we are still different as night and day. It would have been nice if there was a big brother or sister to talk to, a younger sibling to pamper or hang out with, or play music just like the Jonas Brothers, or Hanson.

Is it really that bad to want a big family?