Single mother who’s had 10 children with four different fathers ‘out of habit’ insists she ‘doesn’t have babies to get benefits’ – and says her children’s idea of a treat is a new school uniform because she’s always scraping by
- Sonya lives in a four bed council flat in Southampton, with eight of ten children
- Busy mum says her children don’t miss out as they’ve ‘never had it to miss’
- Been having kids for 18 years and says only knows how to be ‘stay-at-home mum’
- Sonya and family will feature in tomorrow’s episode of 5Star’s Me & My 10 Kids
A single mother who has ten children with four different fathers has claimed she ‘doesn’t have babies to have benefits’ in Me & My 10 Kids.
Tomorrow’s episode of the 5Star show features single mum Sonya, who lives in a four bed council flat in Southampton, with eight of her ten children.
‘I go through one box of cereal in two days, so I get four boxes in a week,’ explains the busy mum. ‘It’s hard being on benefits, but my kids do deserve to have a bit more. But then I can’t expect to sit on my a*** and let the taxpayers pay for my children.’
‘My main priority is my rent and then food for the children, so out of £400-a-week I have £150 left to budget for the rest of the week – and that’s it.’
Sonya, who lives in a four bed council flat in Southampton, with eight of her ten children, will feature in tomorrow night’s episode of 5Star’s Me & My 10 Kids
The mother-of-ten (centre) insists she doesn’t ‘have babies to have benefits,’ but admits that being pregnant is a ‘habit.’ Pictured, the big brood
Sonya goes on to say how she doesn’t really get a chance to do much with her children.
‘I don’t really do anything with my kids,’ she explains. ‘I wouldn’t say they miss out as they’ve never had it to miss it, but it’d be nice to treat them once in a blue moon.’
‘They get excited by new school uniform – so how would they be if I took them to the zoo?’
She continues: ‘I’ve been having kids for 18 years, so all I know is how to be a stay-at-home mum. I could get a degree in giving birth. I should get a diploma at it – or they should give me a sticker at least!’
Luckily for Sonya, she gets a helping hand from right-hand woman and eldest daughter Shannon, who frequently cooks for the siblings and her mum.
‘I’ve learnt from my mum,’ says the teen. ‘I have friends and when I tell them I live in a family of ten, they’re like: “What really?” They seem really shocked.’
‘I just tell them how good my mum is and they tell me she does sound like a good mum. And I tell them, “yes she is.”‘
But while Shannon feels like she’s a great mum to ten, Sonya feels like she’s always been criticised for having so many children.
Sonya’s eldest daughter Shannon often gives her mother a helping hand in the kitchen. Pictured, cooking dinner for her mother and siblings
‘I’ve been judged for years for being a big family. I’ve gotten used to it,’ she says. ‘I get slammed quite a bit for being a mum to ten children.’
‘I get a lot of horrible comments, like “look at that single mum claiming all the benefits for all these children,” or “where’s the dads? How many dads are there to these kids?’
‘I’d like to clear it up, there’s actually four dads to ten children.’
She continues: ‘There’s a lot of negativity out there. I was married to their dad for 15 years, seven of the kids are to my ex-husband.
‘I was in a marriage where I thought we’d be together for ever, but obviously we weren’t. I’m not having babies for benefits.’
‘When I fell pregnant with any of them my first thought wasn’t: “I’m going to claim some benefits.” My first thought was: “I’ve got a beautiful baby here.”‘
During the show, Sonya grabs a rare opportunity to get out of the house and visit her pal, Claire – who she’s been friends with for ten years.
‘Working out how much each week I’m going to have to spend shopping,’ she explains. ‘Just to do a chunk of shopping for one month, that’s not going to happen. That’s probably the hardest part. I don’t want to keep living on benefits all the time.’
But Claire doesn’t think anything is going to change any time soon and jokes that ‘Sonya was born to have kids.’
‘When I first met Sonya she had six kids, and now she obviously has ten,’ she adds. ‘I’m trying to get her to stop, but she keeps going on and on and on.’
However, Sonya disagrees and insists she’s ‘done with having babies.’
‘I’m done with buying nappies,’ she continues. ‘I need a hobby that’s not having babies. Some people say I even get addicted to getting pregnant, but it’s a habit. It’s breaking a habit. I’ve done it for a long time.’
5Star Me and My 10 Kids, airs tomorrow night at 9pm
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