"My, do you have your hands full!"

Ever since the birth of my fifth daughter in April, any outing upon which I embark in the public arena with all 5 children is met by a myriad of comments.  I feel that I am the resident oddity and spectacle, and am attempting to come to terms with this new role in life.  I'm still trying to figure out when it became socially acceptable for everyone and anyone to comment on one's personal choices while out in public.  

The most frequent comment I receive (and, consequently, the one I've come to most dread hearing) is, "Wow!  You really have your hands full!  Don't you?".  Why it seems necessary to state this when I am marching around the grocery store like a mother duck with a 7, 51/2, and 4 year-old in tow and a toddler and infant in the grocery cart is beyond me.  Yes, it is obvious that I have quite the entourage, but do these observers think that somehow I have failed to observe my own situation in life?  Far from it.  I am quite aware of the intricacies of the full-blown public outing with my children and all the possible minor disasters that could possibly ensue while out and about.  I hardly think it is necessary for a complete stranger to comment on my obvious state in life. 

I am quite perplexed, in fact, at the need by those of the older generations to comment on my family.  I was, I suppose, under some false presumption that these individuals of my grandparents and parents generation had grown up learning to "bite their tongues" and restrain themselves from rude and inappropriate comments and looks while in public.  But, as it turns out from my own experience, I was completely wrong on this point.  And what I find even more annoying than a mere remark on me and my children is the frequency at which I am the recipient of glares and rude looks by older men and women; they fix a stare upon me and the girls as we pass through public spaces as if to say, "How dare you step in my way, inconvenience me by taking up an extra few seconds of my time, block the isle accidentally, and even assault my eyes with the view of your exceedingly large family".  

Alas, it seems that this pattern of behavior that I so frequently am observing will continue to be directed toward my family.  It gets to be tiring, answering the many public inquiries on these occasions when, in fact, I only want to accomplish my errands as quickly as possible and be on my merry way.  But, although many a pithy and smart remark come frequently to mind, I've found that for me, personally, it is really not worth the time or effort to verbally combat these tactless strangers in public.  Instead, I give them a smile, an understanding look, and reply, "Yes, they certainly are a hand-full and a blessing!"  And then, I proceed along the way, on to the next of many tasks that a Mom of 5 needs to accomplish in her day.