Writing Workshop Piece Before Revisions:

I grew up in a family of ten. Let me just stop and let that sink in for you, a family of
TEN! Usually when I make that statement it’s followed by a lot of “Oh wows!” and “Dang” or
my personal favorite “Your poor mother.” Needless to say, like many families growing up in a
large family has its ups and downs. I don’t expect many of you to ever be in the position of being
in a family of ten but if you ever do I have some tips.
Find at least one sibling that you like more than the others. Hear me out I know that
sounds super terrible but let me just tell you something all those families that say they love each
other equally are full of crap. I have favorites! Jeez, I could rank my siblings if I had to. Having
one sibling that you like more than the others works well because you always have a buddy and
that also means hopefully you won’t ever be overlooked. Now if you have multiple favorite
siblings that’s even better because then when you and said favorite sibling fight you can go
complain to the sibling you ranked number two.
Second, large families like mine usually like to have large families get togethers. This
means that yes come Thanksgiving you will already be planning for Christmas. It also means that
every family outing is an event. Be prepared to be embarrassed in public because your brother
has spilt his smoothie all over the mall floor. In the same outing you will stand around for 30
minutes while your parents try to find your sister who’s wandered off trying to touch only the
tiles on the floor and no lines. Make sure you bring extra snacks to any movie because you won’t
be alone and your siblings will come looking for food like scavenging vultures looking for dead
meat.
Most importantly when you grow up in a large family you are never alone. This could
mean a lot of things. You should always be on guard because just when you least expect it your
brother will jump out from around the corner and trap you in a fitted sheet. All my fellow
introverts out there you should be aware that since you’re never alone you will share a room with
3 sisters who each have a different hobby and you will all end up hating each other for getting in
your space. If sharing a room becomes annoying, take a leaf out of my brother's book. He shared
a room with 5 other brothers so he decided to sleep in the closet for like 2 years before
converting the basement into a makeshift bedroom.
Obviously not everything in a large family doesn’t suck but I’m here to tell you that the
parts that do are things that you should just get used to. Even though it sucks a lot of the time it’s
also great a lot of the time. Games of basketball and the floor is lava are way more intense and
competitive. Things done in the moment end up turning into family traditions like searching for
any tree farm open on Thanksgiving day because you have to put the Christmas tree up that day.

Revised Writing Workshop Piece:

 I grew up in a family of ten. Let me just stop and let that sink in for you, a family of ten!
Usually, when I make that statement it’s followed by a lot of “Oh wows!” and “Dang” or my
personal favorite “Your poor mother.” Needless to say, like many families growing up in a large
family has its ups and downs. I don’t expect many of you to ever be in the position of being in a
family of ten but if you ever do I have some tips.
Find at least one sibling that you like more than the others. Hear me out! I know that
sounds super terrible but let me just tell you something all those families that say they love each
other equally are full of crap. I have favorites! Please, I could rank my siblings if I had to.
Having one sibling that you like more than the others works well because you always have a
buddy which means hopefully you won’t ever be overlooked. Now if you have multiple favorite
siblings that’s even better because then when you and said favorite sibling fight you can go
complain to the sibling you ranked number two.
Second, large families like mine usually like to have large families get togethers. This
means that yes come Thanksgiving you will already be planning for Christmas. It also means that
every family outing is an event. Be prepared to be embarrassed in public because your brother
has spilled his smoothie all over the mall floor. In the same outing, you will stand around for 30
minutes while your parents try to find your sister who’s wandered off trying to touch only the
tiles on the floor and no lines. Make sure you bring extra snacks to any movie because you won’t
be alone and your siblings will come looking for food like scavenging vultures looking for dead
meat.
Most importantly when you grow up in a large family you are never alone. This could
mean a lot of things. You should always be on guard because just when you least expect it your
brother will jump out from around the corner and trap you in a fitted sheet! All my fellow
introverts out there you should be aware that since you’re never alone you will share a room with
3 sisters who each have a different idea of what cleanliness is and you will all end up hating each
other for stealing each other's clothes. If sharing a room becomes annoying, take a leaf out of my
brother's book. He shared a room with 5 other brothers so he decided to sleep in the closet for
about 2 years before converting the basement into a makeshift bedroom (he just split the
basement in half by hanging a few sheets up).
Obviously, not everything in a large family doesn’t suck but I’m here to tell you that the
parts that do are things that you should just get used to. Even though it sucks a lot of the time it’s
also great a lot of the time. Games of basketball and the floor is lava are way more intense and
competitive. Things that are done in the moment end up turning into family traditions like
searching for any tree farm open on Thanksgiving day because you have to put the Christmas
tree up that day and no other. You will wake up with your youngest sister in your bed because
she had a nightmare and for some reason, it will be endearing instead of annoying. Every
Christmas Eve Eve you’ll sleep under the tree with your siblings because even though it’s a

 tradition you started back in elementary school some things never grow old. On birthdays you
and all of your siblings will scream happy birthday at the top of your lungs while the birthday
boy or girl looks extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed because even though you know it’s
annoying it’s still the funniest thing to embarrass your siblings.
All in all growing up in a family of ten can be one crazy ride, but it’s not so bad. Things
could be worse and things could be better some of the time. All good things come with strings
attached and so does a family so really I can’t complain. But what am I telling you for? It’s not
like you’ll ever have to be in a family of ten (I hope). Well if you ever are I guess you’ll be well
prepared now but even then I’d wish you luck because there’s no way your family would be as
great as mine!