Mom of 6 Faces Backlash After Telling Followers They Should 'Absolutely Not' Have 6 Kids
In a video posted to her Instagram, Sharon Johnson got candid about the toll that being a mother of six has taken on her
The video sparked an outpouring of comments, with viewers quick to weigh in with their thoughts on Sharon's post
Sharon also posted a follow-up to her original video, explaining her initial reasoning behind making the video and clarifying her commentsA mom influencer is facing backlash after posting a candid video explaining why she believes that people should "absolutely not" have six kids — despite being a mother to six of her own.Sharon Johnson, who regularly shares motherhood content with her nearly 350,000 Instagram followers, took to the platform to share why she wouldn't recommend others follow in her footsteps."I'm a mother of six," she prefaces the clip. "And here are a few reasons why you absolutely should not have six kids."Sharon goes on to list her reasons for the bold claim, starting with the fact that she has gotten "sick of stages.""I've already done the baby and the toddler thing, and I have to keep doing it," she says.Because she's still stuck in the early stages of childhood with her younger children, Sharon adds that she hasn't been able to enjoy the later phases with her now-teenage children.
"Nobody," she says of her third reason, "gets the best of me. Not me, not my husband, not my kids," perhaps a result of her fourth reason, which is that she is "so f------ tired."
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Sharon also calls attention to the financial strain of raising a large family in her fifth reason. "Think about it: you go to the story and your one kid wants an ice cream – okay, here you go one kid. No. Now we have six people that want ice cream. And that's the least of the costs," she explains, referencing larger expenses like air travel and vacations.Beyond just the tangible repercussions of having six children, she highlighted the mental burden of trying to keep things equal and fair across all of them."You need new rollerblades? Oh wait, what about the rest of your five siblings, or even down to like, 'Oh, you want 30 more minutes of tech time? Well, if you get 30 more minutes and that means everybody gets 30 more minutes and then it's just seven, eight, nine... what number are we on?"Despite the personal toll, Sharon believes that her kids are "actually pretty fine" because of the benefits of having so many siblings around all the time.
"Like it is chaotic and crazy, but it's so much fun and they love each other so much," Sharon gushes.Still, she emphasizes that there's not much time left "for me, for me to give to myself."She also doesn't foresee an end in sight, even when her children reach adulthood. "They're going to be adults with bigger problems, babies for me to help take care of, worries for me to help console and figure out.""I'm a mother to six forever," she concludes. "And while I absolutely just love them and in our circumstances wouldn't have had it any other way, it would be nice for there to be more of 'me' available in my life and not just have it all consumed with motherhood."
Viewers were quick to take to the comments to share their thoughts on her post, with one commenter disagreeing, "This post breaks my heart 💔 Children are a gift. It's the most wild, crazy, beautiful, fulfilling life."Another, identifying as a mother of eight, added: "As a mother of 8, I absolutely adore being a mom to all of them and they have the gift of each other! I really hope your kids never see this video."However, others were more sympathetic to Sharon's message, with one commenter writing: "I relate to this so much and I 'only' have 4. Although I had mine really close together, so that did eliminate some of those issues but I'm sure it created more. I have 4 teenagers now and I adore them. But yeah, it's expensive and it's a lot. The mental load of making sure everyone is ok and everything is "fair" etc. It's exhausting."Sharon posted a follow-up video addressing her comments and sharing her thoughts on what it is like to talk about motherhood in a "less than positive way."
"No one has even been able to be honest about what motherhood is," she said in the follow-up. "Because if we're not saying anything, that's just the most positive thing in the entire world... SHAME.""My kids know that it's hard to have a big family," she continued. "They know that it's hard on me. You think that they don't see it?"Talking about all sides of motherhood is intentional for Sharon, who wants her children to hear her honest thoughts about the experience."I'm glad they know," she explains in the follow-up video. "If they choose this life, I want them to choose it knowing exactly what they are choosing. I want them to know because I want them to know that they can do hard things, that they can create a big, beautiful, amazing life from a life that they didn't plan on. And I want them to know that I am a person. A real-life person has real feelings, real thoughts, real struggles, real hurts, and those things all matter."In April 2025, Sharon and her husband Kerry spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about their recent decision to flip traditional gender roles in their household after Kerry was laid off from his job.
Growing up in a Mormon community where it was common for women to stay at home, Sharon was determined to expose her children to the possibility of a different path. She pursued a career in social media, hoping to set an example for her children."Like, the first time my kids heard my voice on my podcast, they all cheered and clapped and I just sobbed,' Sharon tells PEOPLE exclusively. 'I always wanted my kids to have examples of women around them that had careers and that did something different than stay-at-home moms.'The shift brought a sense of relief for Sharon, who finally felt like she was not the sole carrier of the weight of managing a home and her children's schedules.'I think it's very enlightening to our marriage, to the different roles that we play in our marriage and our family, and that even if we did go back, is hugely beneficial,' she tells PEOPLE. 'I feel like I understand him so much more. I feel like he understands me so much more. And I think we're just able to be a better partnership because of that.'
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