Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Cheaper by the Four-Pack?

I just can't stay away....

From Time online:
There's an odd phenomenon being reported in tony enclaves across the country: highly educated, highly compensated couples popping out four or more children--happily and by choice. In Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, four-packs of siblings rule the playgrounds. In New York City, real estate agents tell of families buying two or three adjacent apartments to create giant spaces for their giant broods. Oradell, N.J., is home to so many sprawling clans that residents call it Fouradell. In a suburb of Chicago, the sibling boomlet is called the Wheaton Four.

I found this amusing because although I went to college in Wheaton, have friends in Wheaton, and presently live not terribly far from Wheaton, I've never heard of the Wheaton Four!

Have any of my Wheaton-area readers?

And isn't it amusing to think of that fair city as a "tony enclave"? (I suppose it is, strictly speaking. But what does that make Glen Ellyn??)

The rest of the disappointingly brief article is here.

4 comments:

Deb said...

I stopped reading Time decades ago for similar journalistic atrocities.

At A Hen's Pace said...

Oh, it may be perfectly accurate in some circles--it's just new to me!

Jeanne

Erin said...

Although my family only has of two kids (me and my bro), it is actually common to have *more* than four kids among the families in my church. :)

At A Hen's Pace said...

Erin,

Yes--the article points out that conservative Christians are another group (besides the residents of "tony enclaves") where birth rates are rising.

And Wheaton is a hotbed for conservative Christianity, with a church on every corner and many Christian ministries based there.

I'm sure the "Wheaton Four" is more like the "Wheaton Four-Plus" in many Christian circles there!

Jeanne