The Mystery of Socks

Welcome to our practical Saturday post of large family living.  

This is where and when we will address some of the helpful things 

that have helped us along the way to raising a large family, things I wish I would have known years ago, when I was struggling to adjust to a bigger family, like around child # 5.

When Grace came to live with us, one of the first things she noticed about living with a large family, 

is that socks disappear into some black hole vacuum and are never found again. 

 I think this happens in most families, but is double trouble for a large family, 

who has a difficult time keeping everyone’s socks straight anyway.

We have pondered the reason for this, and came up empty handed.  

We do know for certain that the more people in the family,

 the worse the problem.

  Perhaps there is some underworld where the creatures eat socks, 

so they nab them from us, unseen.

  Or, more likely, small furry creatures of our own  making 

[Read: "Miracle Max" (below)] 

have a great fondness for stealing them off the clothes line.

The little children who wear their socks outside with no shoes 

and then take them off when they get wet, 

leaving them there in the tall grass, 

 then have the worst time of all finding socks to wear to church on Sunday morning. 

 But that does not explain how Daddy’s socks come up missing.

I was talking with another mom of many about this dilemma, and she looked at me incredulously, 

“You mean, you guys HAVE socks?”  

She was serious.

 We try to have socks, especially in the fall and winter.  

By spring they have wandered off and found other homes, 

so we go sockless through the summer, and when fall comes, everyone gets new socks.  

The best solution we have come up with thus far, is to alternate types of socks each person has, 

which works well for the girls, who have vast selections when it comes to purchasing "original" socks. 

 I should add that it is far easier for each person to just have one type (

i.e. one color, one style, etc.) of sock. 

Grace just purchased socks that are dark with wild colors, in hopes that she will be able to find them again. Rose has light colored socks.

 Anna has white,.

Mine are wool, (I only wear socks in the winter). 

Bethany has white and pink.

  Boys sock solutions are much more difficult, 

since their options are usually white, blue, black, and sometimes you can find gray. 

 But when you have more males than those few selections, things get tricky.   

 Once I happened upon 4 pairs of monkey socks at a thrift store that I snatched up for Ben. 

 Our excitement was immense.  

What could be more suitable to a little boy than monkeys on his socks?

 He wore them until they rotted right off his feet, and then, what was I to do?  

Don’t you think that all 5 and 6 yr olds should have monkey socks? 

  I spent all day in town looking for patterned little boy socks. 

 Only toddlers seem to be able to buy such items.  

Imagine his supreme disappointment when I came home from town with blue socks instead.

  I have tried the dot system,

where you add dots with a permanent pen on the toe of socks to keep who's who straight.  

It works well with underwear and shirts, but still, 

we have sock issues. 

 I have thought long and hard about just transitioning into moccasins for everyone 

and avoiding socks altogether, which has it’s advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, 

we are keeping the system that has worked the best for us so far, in hopes that one day, 

we will have successful sock order in our home. 

 If only we could get Rhinohide for the kids feet, then, life would be so much simpler.