Prioritizing
8 children in 14 years, and Madame Zurainee Osman and her husband, Mr Omar Abdul Rahman have no regrets. In an interview with The New Paper, Madame Osman shared that she initially only wanted 4 children, while her husband wanted 8 children. This shocked Madame Osman a little. However, after Madame Osman gave birth to the couple’s eighth child, it was ultimately Mr. Rahman who had his wish come true. Interestingly, none of the children they had were planned.
The greatest question one could have is, how do you manage all 8 children? Madame Osman says its all about priorities. “Cooking and taking care of the children come first, the rest comes later,” she said to DivaAsia. Even after hiring a maid once the sixth child was born in 2010, Madame Osman can’t get to bed before midnight.
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After putting all of the children to sleep, she starts with her household work. The four older children have grown to be independent and responsible and help out as much as their parents need. They are responsible for “coaching” the younger kids. Mr. Rahman says that once you know how to manage your time, its not that difficult.
Expenses
While Madame Osman is a housewife who takes care of the kids, Mr Rahman is an interior designer who works very hard to provide for his family. Their monthly expenses come to $7,700 a month, groceries alone come to $1,500 a month. The couple says that the kids eat everything given to them, they are never not hungry. So they really have to pay attention to food at home to know how much to buy in groceries. Mr. Rahman’s income depends on the projects he gets, however he said that he’s been in luck for the past few years. Every time a baby is born, he is blessed with a promotion or an increment.
The family lives in a five-room flat, one room is for the girls, one for the boys and the youngest one sleeps with them, and although they try to disperse all 8 children around the rooms when sleeping, they tend to stick together. Even though, it gets packed and squishy at times, the family has no plans to move to a bigger place. They believe education comes before moving to a new house, education cannot be jeopardized.
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A happy family
The family enjoys their size and the children are happy to have each other to play with. Madame Osman says that many people are shocked at the size of their family, but they are proud and happy to be the family that they are. Madame Osman usually gets comments on how intelligent the kids are, or how independent they are, and how smart she is for raising 8 children so wonderfully.
Would you have 8 kids? Tell us what you think about having a big family! Here is a family of 19, find out more about them with the following video