Below I’ll be examining the Hann from the TV Show 16kidsandcounting Shown on Channel 4 9th April 2013 9pm, quotes mentioned below are as mentioned in the series on Channel 4 should you wish to watch this yourself. Those in italics are exclusively from Emma Hann herself. All non specific opinions given are my own.
Tantrums and tiaras
First we see the Hann family at their weekly family singing sessions. They feel strongly about getting the family together to do things, to be a group.
This family unity continues as they all help prepare for the big occasion, oldest daughter, University student, Rachel’s wedding. Things do not always go according to plan, and sibling fighting is rife, but the Hanns remain calm and patient. Not once do we see Roy and Emma Hann snap, shout or smack their children.
After eight girls the noise and boisterousness of boys must have come as a bit of a shock to the Hanns. Jonas (7) and Enos (5), full of high spirits are trying to see who can shout the loudest. They say it’s never quiet, and worry about how to keep the kids from quarrelling during the ceremony.
Roy is always thinking of new tricks to stop them bickering. We see an example of Roy handing out 14 pencils – one to each person. He tells them to break the pencil, and see how easy it s. Then he shows how 14 pencils are strong together – like the 14 of them, they are not easily broken.
The night before the wedding the children are excited. It’s passed their bedtimes and they will not sleep. Despite this the family get ready for the wedding in 2 hours and 15 minutes, to me demonstrating what well-behaved children they are. Emma told me that they all helped each other. Rachel’s two friends, one who was taking photos and the other a bridesmaid, pitched in and helped with hair and make-up.
They needn’t have worried either, because even the youngest Hanns were on their best behaviour for their big sister’s wedding.
The family is so close and loving. Some touching moments when Rachel talks about Charles, an only child, and how nice it is to feel that someone feels so strongly about you: That they got engaged after dating for 4 weeks. How Emma thinks that Rachel will be a great wife and mother. How Roy feels that Rachel will always be his daughter, but now she’s Charles wife. How Emma scoops up her daughter Eva into her arms when she fell over and hurt her knee. Even after the wedding Rachel comes home to visit almost every day, she says that the flat is too quiet, and it’s nice that everyone wants to speak to her.
Roy jokes about how he has 9 other daughters thinking of weddings and how it would kill him if there were four girls wanting to marry in one year; Rachel had 300 guests enjoying the reception. In fact Emma told me that not only did they pay for all of the wedding (apart from a contribution from the happy could for the food) but they would expect to do the same for their boys too.
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