photo courtesy of Danee Davis
There are amazing, devoted, wonderful, deliberate mothers out there, and each week we’ll spotlight one of them here at The Power of Moms. Do you know a mom who deserves a little time in the spotlight? Email rachelle.price (at) powerofmoms.com. We can’t wait to meet her.
Introducing Danee Davis
How many children do you have and what are their ages?
We have six children (ranging from 14 years to 11 months) and one on the way, due in August.
What are some unique and interesting aspects of your family or your approach to mothering?
We have a running joke in our family. When my husband and I first were married he said that he wanted to have ten kids. I told him that I would do the first five and he would need to figure out how to get the other five here. Just weeks after having my fifth child, my husband gave me an early birthday present. It was a license plate frame that read, “Half time score Boys-3 Girls-2” After the flood of tears he kindly and gently reminded me that you don’t always score the same in both halves. We got a good laugh out of it and we got some great looks from passing cars.
Raising a large family (there will soon be nine of us) has brought many blessing and challenges to our family. From the outside you might look and think that having children for us is easy and that is why we keep doing it over and over and over again.
Rewarding, yes; easy, not so much. We have chosen this route for our family because it is what is right for us. It is certainly not the most popular, cost effective, or space saving idea to date. Some of our children have arrived in our home quite easily while others have had us on our knees praying for their swift and safe arrival.
Our kids all share two rooms: one girls room, one boys room. They all share one bathroom. Space is tight. There are a lot of hand-me-downs. There are not a lot of fancy vacations being taken. The “playroom” is called the great outdoors. Old fashion Legos, blocks and forts reign supreme over the latest electronic handheld device. The cars we drive are older but paid for. We make a lot of food from scratch. My kids are required to be helpers but there is a fine balance between expecting help and abdicating my parental duty to them. It was our choice to have a large family, not theirs. They will get their own chance to parent, hopefully, someday. We do get funny looks from people and the typical question, “Are they all yours?”
We love having a big family, with all of its blessings and challenges.
What have been the hardest parts of motherhood for you?
One of the challenges that I have faced lately is being a parent to kids of so many different ages, at the same time. Luckily, being a mom of a newborn came pretty easily to me. Then there came the toddler years, where there is so much exploration and fun. (Luckily soon after comes age four, or four and three quarters to be exact, which is probably one of my favorite ages ever.) That part didn’t seem so hard but somehow I forgot that they do get older. As I parent babies, toddlers, preschoolers, elementary kids, junior highers and an almost high schooler, all at the same time, I find myself stretched. I want my daughter to have the fun experiences that high school can offer and at the same time I have to make sure the baby is getting in her nap times. So my solution for now is this: Simplify.
I choose not to do all the playgroups for my little ones, I am careful about what extra activities we add to our schedule, I am not involved with the PTC other than supporting their activities with our attendance and sending in needed supplies, and I have to be ok with that. My kids don’t each do sports year round. There will be time that I can do more but right now my place is at home and I am perfectly content with just that.
What have been your favorite parts of motherhood?
I love having someone that wants to me to read and sing to them. I love teaching new skills to my kids that have been handed down to me (cooking, sewing, party planning).
I love when I find all my kids laid out on couches and floors engrossed in their own books.
I LOVE being in the kitchen and cooking with my kids: baking cookies, rolling out cinnamon rolls, chopping vegetables. I am really rarely in the kitchen without a helper. I love being home with them.
Danee, you are an awesome mom and an impressive person. You are truly inspiring!
What a great new feature! It is wonderful to read about other mothers and learn from them. The paragraph about having a large family had me with tears in my eyes–even though I ‘only have’ five, I can relate. I’m excited to see more spotlights. Great work Rachelle!
I can totally relate! I have 8 children from 16 yrs down to 14 mos.. I have had to simplify also and it is still pretty crazy at times and hard to please both teenagers and babies, but overall we love it. Good job, mom!
Your family is beautiful! Thank you for sharing your experience. I can relate to having kids at all different stages, since my eight range from 12 down to 1. I love your positive attitude!
Love this article! So often when I tell people I have six children, their response is, “Oh, you’re busy!” And I wonder if they really have any idea. It is CRAZY! But I do love it when we are all together and I look in their faces and I am so grateful that they are mine. I love having a spotlight on a mom who is spectacular because she is a mom, not because she is a mother AND something else. Thank you for sharing, Danee and Rachelle.
Danee, wow! Time has flown since we moved from California! What an awesome article to read! I always knew you were an amazing lady and I wish we could have chatted more when I lived there. Your article spoke to my heart, our oldest is 17 and our youngest just turned 2 with 3 others in between. I have felt the exact same way on parenting children at different phases of life. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, it is exactly what I needed to hear! Your family is beautiful and I hope all went well with your baby on the way. All the best to you and yours! :), Emily Allen