A MUM-of-11 has revealed how she colour-codes her children and dresses them all in their own hue.
Veronica Merritt, 36, from New York, is mum to Victoria, 21, Andrew, 16, Adam, 15, Mara, 13, Dash, 12, Darla, 10, Marvelous, eight, Martalya, six, Amelia, four, Delilah, three, and Donovan, one.
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Speaking of why she dresses her kids in their own colour, Veronica said to Fabulous: “I don’t know why I do it, but I grew up watching Care Bears, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, etc.
“Characters are always colour-coded.”
While many people on Instagram love her idea, but others are not as convinced.
One said: “Do your kids like being color coded? I’m sure I’d love it, but maybe not all kids would.”
Another added: “I don’t see why they can’t just like whatever colours they want, sucks they can only have ‘one’ honestly I’ve never seen something so weird and pointless in my life lol I don’t get it.”
However Veronica said the kids love having their own shade and it makes life easier.
Apart from her eldest Victoria, Veronica still has all her kids living at home in a nine-bedroom pad which she bought with her husband Marty, 37, for just $20k (£14k) in July 2020.
She said: “It can be exhausting.
“I colour code the kids most of the time when we leave the house although sometimes I’ll opt for matching clothes instead.
“The colour coding system is incorporated into everything – their clothes and rooms.”
Veronica described her home life as being like The Lost Boys – a 1987 vampire film which takes its name from Peter Pan’s ‘lost boys’ who never grew up – adding she was not very strict.
I don’t know why I do it [colour-coding kids], but I grew up watching Care Bears, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, etc.
Veronica Merritt
“It’s a very loud house,” she says. “We want to get on the same schedule but it’s hard.
“I’m not very strict, I guess. I have rules when it’s important, like, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, no dating until 18, come home before dark …but for the most part I’m just really chill.
“And we have loads of fun. My kids and I have been working on making our own mini horror movies.
“Holidays here are pretty big, and sometimes I buy gifts years in advance, because I hate to pass up the perfect thing! Gifting things the kids will truly enjoy is very important to me, I want them to know I listen to and value their wants and needs.”
Veronica admitted life “escalated quickly” after she accidentally fell pregnant with Victoria when she was 14 while at school.
The mum told how she unexpectedly fell pregnant in school, subsequently marrying and divorcing her then-boyfriend – the father of her oldest two children.
She explained: “I graduated high school with honors, I attempted college but got sick both times – I have kidney disease and lost my kidney last year.”
The oldest two are from her first husband while the youngest seven are from her second husband – who sleeps in the basement so the kids have more space.
Veronica, who shares details of her massive family on Instagram and TikTok, says she never uses contraception.
“Some of the children were planned,” she told Fabulous. “But I can’t take hormonal birth control because my illness means I am prone to blood clots.
“I haven’t ruled out more children.
“I would like to have six more. I have spent eight-and-a-half years pregnant.”
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With so many children it is hard to get about, so recently she bought an old school bus for $3k (£2.5k), also via auction, which she transported into a family vehicle.
“We don’t have many expenses,” she says. “We own our nine-bedroom house and there is no mortgage.
“I own my bus with no payments.’
“I receive a lot of negative comments,” she said. “I get asked, ‘do they all have the same dad?
“Do you own a TV? I want to hand [people who ask me things like that] a mirror so they can look at themselves.”
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We shared how Veronica bought a 9 bedroom house for $20k and a BUS to drive them around.
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