Chain ReactionOpen a store . . . open a store . . .and so on . . . and so on . . . and so on . . .

Fortunately for most people, a big family usually doesn'tmaterialize overnight the way it did not so long ago for theMcCaugheys of Iowa who one day had just one child--and the next hadseven more. Big families generally develop over a period of years,with each new addition joining the bunch after the older ones arewell on their feet and somewhat self-sufficient.

While it's never easy to juggle the needs of severalchildren all at once, most parents eventually figure out how tomanage. Some even find advantages to having a larger brood:Siblings can be each other's playmates, role models and evenbaby-sitters, lightening their parents' load.