How It's Used

“Large families were once the norm in America. At the beginning of the 19th century, the average woman had seven children; today, the number is down to 2.1. The circumstances under which I grew up are now extraordinarily rare, with only 1.6 percent of all families having seven or more people (including adults), according to the US Census Bureau. Many say that it's for the best. Psychologists warn about the stress of growing up where there's no privacy. They fret about the fierce competition for attention. Some even argue that kids from bigger families have lower IQs and achieve less. Yet judging by books such as Cheaper by the Dozen, I am hardly alone in remembering my big-family childhood as a time in which love, humor, and never-ending activity more than made up for its shortcomings.”

—Tom Keane, “Living Large: Big families today are rare. But they’re also priceless. Just ask my father—or my 10 siblings,” The Boston Globe, June 15, 2008.

“So here we were, with four kids under the age of 4 and three of them had Down syndrome…Then in 2000, Catholic Charities called and asked, ‘Would you maybe be willing to adopt another baby?’ I said, ‘No way. I'm exhausted, I'm 52 years old and I'm sorry.’ I got off the phone, and my daughter Sophia, who was 12 at the time, had heard me. She said, ‘Mom, I can't believe that you would ever say no. That's not who I thought you were. And besides, we can adopt. Then we can be dirtier by the dozen.’ She was mixing up ‘Dirty Dozen’ and ‘Cheaper by the Dozen.’”

—Barbara Curtis, “Full-Time Writer, Overtime Mom,” The Washington Post, July 31, 2008, p. T03.

“Now her family, like other larger families, as they call themselves, is facing endless news coverage of the octuplets born in California and a new round of scorn, slack jaws and stupid jokes. Back when the average woman had more than three children, big families were the Kennedys of Hickory Hill and Hyannis Port, 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' the Cosbys or 'Eight is Enough'—lovable tumbles of offspring as all-American in their scrapes as in their smiles.”

—Kate Zernike, “And Baby Makes How Many?” The New York Times, February 8, 2009.

“[Michael] Pietsch [James Patterson’s editor and the publisher of Little, Brown] and [Megan] Tingley [the publisher of Little, Brown’s young-readers books] showed mock-ups of covers and presented ideas they had been working on. From the plush, caramel-colored couch facing them, Patterson, who is a trim 62 with a habitual slouch and laconic manner well suited to his dry sense of humor, acted as creative director, a familiar role from his years in advertising. At one point, the conversation turned to the next installment in Patterson’s Michael Bennett series, which revolves around a Manhattan homicide detective and widower with 10 multiracial adopted children (‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ meets ‘Die Hard,’ as Patterson describes it). Pietsch mentioned a possible promotional line, ‘New York Has a New Hero.’ Patterson instantly amended it: ‘Finally, New York Has a Hero.’”

—Jonathan Mahler, “James Patterson Inc.,” The New York Times, January 24, 2010.

Links

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on "Cheaper by the Dozen" (book)
IMDB entry on "Cheaper by the Dozen" (1950)

Product Links
"Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
"Belles on Their Toes" by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey