Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a big family?
Did you know that you wanted to have lots of kids?Karen:Yeah, we did.
Karen:He took care of that the first or second date.
Deon:First date.
Karen:The first date he really took care of that.
Girl, yes, for sure.
I wanted to feel raw.
I didn’t say I wanted children.
I didn’t say I didn’t want children.
I wanted the real raw answer.
Every woman prior to her would say, “I want one.
I don’t want any.”
I’m like, “Okay.
You’re not the one.”
Now, keep in mind, I didn’t have the magic
Karen:Number.
She comes and it’s like, “Oh, my God.”
Deon:Yes, absolutely.
Deon, you had a smaller family, isn’t that right?
I’m curious as to how you feel that different upbringing maybe affected your parenting styles?
Deon:In many ways…
Karen:In many ways, it definitely did.
For me, I have like 18 cousins.
This is all I know is to have a large family.
Not one friend can come over because there’s enough of you all itself."
We didn’t even necessarily want anybody else over, because there was so many of us.
Deon:That brings up … why opposites attract, right?
I bring the opposite side of it.
It was just my brother and I.
He was gone most of the time and so I felt like the only child.
In many cases, the single children are only children, right?
Growing up, I said, “I want a large family.
I don’t want my children to get a chance to be bored.
I had, I guess, the inverse of each other, but it wound up meshing so well.
Really, leading to the same result in the end.
How do the Derricos feel about having more children?
Karen:It is such a blessing.
It’s so humbling, is what I’m talking about.
It’s so humbling because we come from not knowing if we could have children together.
What’s going on with this?”
I feel like God opened up the baby gates and then I always go back to feeling like Oprah.
“You get a baby!
You get a baby!”
It’s like, “Wow.”
I feel that it’s never ever a dull moment.
When we go to our ultrasounds, you would think that we are first-time parents.
Yeah, so fun and my OB, he already got money on the line.
It is so funny.
It’s a blessing.
We’re just so thankful that we’re at this point where we can go inside and be grateful.
It’s just a blessed feeling and moment, honestly, to go through.
Having the twins, it shocked us.
Well, let me back up.
But, of course, each time it wasn’t.
Then, the quintuples came, we were just blown away.
Understand, they told us the first time that it was four.
That’s when we found out there was actually the fifth baby hiding behind mommy’s breastbone.
That shock … Yeah.
Getting past that shock.
I’m not as shocked.
What do you think about that?
Deon:I think we are very, very connected spiritually just with reading the signs of life.
I’m confident that we’ll know.
We will naturally know when it’s that time.
We can’t say one way or the other, but right now, we’ll naturally know.
I don’t feel that and I don’t think you feel it.
Karen:I don’t feel like we’ve reached a dead end on this road.
I feel as though this road is very clear and open.
Is there one thing that it always boils down to?
Deon:For me, it’s love and family.
Karen:I was about to say that.
Deon:That’s it.
1, is love and family.
That conquers so much.
Karen:I would say the same thing too, love and family.
You’re going to meet different people on this journey of life.
You’re going to go different places you all want them to explore.
You’re going to always need someone that I’m sure you’re going to love.
However, what is so important is your family is always there.
It’s no place like home.
Let’s be cognizant of mental health.
There are so many variables to maintaining that health, but the No.
We actually know someone that took their life as a result of that.
Very, very sad.
I wonder if your children’s upbringings will inspire them to have large families of their own.
Deon:So far, they all say they want a lot [of children].
Deon:If you think about it, if each child just had one, that would be what?
But can you imagine, we talk about it all the time, our house will be lit.
Our house will be turned up and lit.
That’s what we desire.
That sounds so fun to just never really have to think about being lonely.
You got those built-in friends.
We did the math one day and we were like, “We got 14 children.
In the same year.
When is my turn?”
How the pandemic affected the Derricos
I know you just spoke a bit about COVID.
When it comes to the buying and the supplies that we need, that has been majorly affected.
This is our family size.
We need that."
On a positive side, our children, we just saw even how much more entertaining they are.
They always give us a weekly show.
This time around, girl, we had matinees, encore presentations.
We had it all.
Karen:It definitely doesn’t discriminate.
We learned that, we definitely learned that.
We all have many challenges and struggles individually, collectively.
We purchase in large amounts because we use, we consume a large amount, right?
We really and truly enjoyed it.
It was a blessing.
… We made COVID a blessing in this house.
They’d be like, “Back by popular demand.”
You’ve raised some funny kids, some really funny kids.
Karen:Yeah, it’s fun.
What comes to mind about the challenges of having a big family?
Karen:I would say some of the challenges are they’re a different age range.
I’m making bottles.
She’s talking about, “Can I get the car and can I get a bottle?”
Like, “Girl.”
Deon:We have potty training and driver’s training.
What a juxtaposition of life events happening at once.
Oh, my God.
I’m looking for preschools for the 4-year-olds and high school for the oldest one.
I’m just so curious as well about the filming process of having a big family.
How’s that been?
Deon:Well, I’ll say that it’s been, believe it or not, very smooth.
Because when the cameras are here, they’re out of the way.
Of course, it is very complicated everyone [is] mic’d up.
That takes … That’s an hour.
Karen:Oh, we got to be ready at 9:00.
We’re up at 5:00.
I think that’s incredible.
It’s so cool watching the show and seeing how they just do it, they know.
Karen:You know when you were in school, you said get in line?
I want to be…" Guess what?
You’re in birth order.
You’re getting in the order you came in.
We have so many children that we practice a fire drill.
We actually have a fire drill in the house.
We have a fire drill plan.
We have to think ahead with everything.
It doesn’t seem in any way that they’re doing something they don’t want to do.
It seems like they enjoy the process just as much as you do.
That doesn’t seem like something it’s possible for you to teach.
That seems inherent to your family.
Karen:Thank you.
Deon:Thank you.
Karen:Thank you.
… One of the things that I’ve learned from [Deon] is that everything has a place.
Just like everything has a place, every person also has a place.
You have a place, you’re not just here.
You’re not just here.
You have to stop.
If you don’t clean up, then there’s time out.
There’s consequences for things that you don’t do correct.
This is our job right now of correcting you in these early stages.
Now what do I do?
Now where do I go?"
That’s not because they’re afraid that you’re going to get mad at them.
That’s them understandingfundamentally why it’s important to do this thing.
Deon:That’s absolutely right.
We’re the parents.
We’re always the parents.
We do not negotiate with them.
Karen:No debate.
We may not have the opportunity.
They need to know when we say it, it’s go.
But we also take the time like [Karen] just said, and we break it down.
Why we do birth order?
This is why we do birth order.
Because poppy and mommy want to check that you all are always protected and safe.
That’s our job.
We break it down to them on their level.
Deon:That’s very important.
How did you connect with them in the first place?
We love TLC and discovery+.
We had been on a couple of talk shows.
As a result of that, we were in the local newspaper here in Vegas.
Then, at that point, she came out.
They filmed what’s called a sizzle reel of our family.
Then they took that sizzle reel and they pitched us to various networks.
These are qualities that we were hoping to connect with considering we were thinking of doing a show.
We just wound up being like the perfect marriage, if you will.
Was there a point at which you woke up and said, “Our family is special.
We should get them on TV.
We had an array of things we’ve experienced at this point.
We didn’t have someone school us on having so many miscarriages and how to overcome those miscarriages.
We owe it as being our blessing.
We owe it to bless others.
Karen:Yes, absolutely.
You have such a positive effect on so many people that watch.
If that was your goal, I think you did it.
Deon:It is humbling.
At the end of the day, I think we show that we all have the same desires.
We have the same desires.
We want education for our children.
We want to have fun with our children.
We want to live long, healthy lives.
This is us.”
Deon:They’re watching themselves in us.
Is it different every day or do you stick to a routine so that everyone knows what’s happening?
Karen:A little rigorous school schedule.
I want to keep the summer school this summer.
Wake up to screaming out, “Poppy.”
Then, I get up …
I get up to them, changing them, getting the breakfast together.
The other one’s mosey up, start brushing up, getting ready, eat their breakfast.
I have their homeschool worksheets and things outlined for them.
They start on that.
He’s probably rolling over at this point.
This is all around 7:00 or 8:00.
By 10:30, first shift is over.
I’m like, “Look, we can all go back down to bed at this point.”
Deon:She needs a nap at that point.
Karen:By that time, park is already spread out.
Everyone has eaten breakfast.
Then, noon, babies, the last five go down.
Deon:Hold on.
Then, nap time flies.
Deon:Then, every part of the day just drags along.
Karen: By that time they’re napping, we’re trying to figure out who’s going first.
Dinner, he’s over dinner.
I don’t cook.
Cooking for me is a science, definitely.
We have our family time.
They’re in bed by 8:30, 9:00.
Our time, we sit and we take a stab at regroup for the next day.
When is your couple’s time or your alone time, if you do get it?
Deon:Every night.
Karen:Every night.
We really appreciate what we have.
Then, she’ll start planning out the next day’s curriculum.
What really stands out to you?
Deon:For me, I would say just the love, the camaraderie that they have.
Deon:Of course, she and I raise them that way, right?
But raising children, it could go either way.
You do one thing and something else happens.
She and I are envious.
We’re literally watching them, wishing we were their sibling also.
Deon:We have, honest to God, a ball.
I think that is a sign that you did it.
You did a great job raising your kids if you want to be friends with them.
Deon:I want to be their friend.
But we teach sharing.
You have no choice.
We also teach them that through sharing you actually have more fun.
It’s no fun if you have a toy to play by yourself.
It’s more fun when you’re sharing playing with that toy.
I think they got that concept.
That concept has basically transcended into their overall relationship with each other.
That’s the best quality that we see is that they really truly are family-oriented.
Deon:Or family.
This is coming from them.
Their actions are showing.
“Wow, mommy.
This is what we wanted.”
Is there anything you could tell me?
Karen:Oh, gosh.
We embrace it together.
No one wants to go through any bang out of different challenges and stuff constantly.
How are we going to take care of this?
How are we going to handle it?
You will see the challenges that we face in our family.
We’re just like you.
How we’re facing these things during a pandemic.
How do you do that?
Oh, my gosh.
She wants to date.
Deon:You’ll see the surgery that’s coming up that someone’s going to need.
You’ll get to see that roller coaster.
That’s just an emotional roller coaster ride, literally.
Deon:You’ll see that and see mommy is still battling with having a nanny.
Karen:Oh, yeah.
Deon:You’ll get a chance to see that, and get it figured out.
Karen:You’ll see a lot of growth.
You’d be amazed at how much bigger all the children have become.
We definitely bring that.
I promise it’s the last one.Any parenting advice that you want to leave our readers with?
I’m glad you asked.
I thought you’d never ask.
It’s [not] our right as being parents to allow our children to infringe on others.
I think that’s one of the biggest qualities and things that both Karen and I realized.
We never want our children to infringe on someone else.
These are things we’ve seen when we go out.
He’s cute, but get him."
We’re in this with other humans, that we have to respect them.
I’m going to do this today.
I’m going to go there.
Seriously, it will be okay.
Don’t beat yourself up.
Just give yourself time to breathe, relax, and have a self-care day.
That’s something that I am huge on now just going through my own personal struggles with it.
Just give yourself time to breathe and it’s okay.
It’s seriously going to be okay.
