Helped spouses Lirina and Alexander Nezhevets from Pruzhan to prepare lunch for a family of 18 people

Cooking soup with meatballs and baking mannic with cottage cheese is a simple task at first glance. Unless it's about lunch for a family of 16 kids. Visiting Lirina and Alexander Nezhevets, the correspondents of the SB tried on the role of assistants in the kitchen, were surprised by the scale of the usual household chores and learned how the spouses manage to surround each child with care.

In a large three-storey house in Pruzhany we are met by the head of the family Alexander Nezhevets. And Lyra, along with the younger children in the kitchen, prepares lunch. However, it is almost impossible to find all 16 sons and daughters at home at once on a weekday: someone is at school, the elders have left to study, and someone is already working. At the end of the day, everyone goes back to their parents’ house, where mom and dad are always waiting.

We postpone the tour around the house - the soup in the pot will not wait. The first order of the hostess sounds:

- Wash your hands and get to work!

Today on the menu soup with meatballs and mannic with cottage cheese. The dishes are familiar and simple, but the volumes are impressive - you can not do with small pots here. Of course, soup is needed, and pie should be enough for everyone.

We start with vegetables. I get carrots. It is not long to work alone - four-year-old Mark is in a hurry to help. He closely observes each movement with the explicit intention of becoming a full participant in the process. Soon six-year-old Angelica joins us. Potatoes and onions are already being cooked together, and four-year-old Angelina makes sure everything goes according to plan.

Children are not just close to their mother, everyone wants to participate in the common cause. Lira patiently distributes small errands and does not skimp on praise:

- I couldn't have done it without you! You're my assistant. Well done, you're doing the right thing!

Mark, Angelina and Angelica usually go to kindergarten, but today they stayed home and are happy to help. Of course, the speed of working with three small assistants is different from the usual, says Lyra, but the kitchen is filled with fun conversations and multilevel movement: Even the youngest have small responsibilities, they can already perform a simple task: something to submit, clean up after themselves, fold in the right order. So children gradually get used to helping us and being responsible for what they do. The mistress prepared the meatballs in advance. It remains to get them out of the freezer and send them to the pan after potatoes, onions and carrots. I am entrusted with the responsible part - salt the soup and add spices. Let it cook.

Children do not leave their mother and father for a minute, no matter what they do. One runs to show something, the other to ask a question, and someone wanted a hug. And each child receives a parental response - a smile, an affectionate word or a hug. Lyra manages to follow the pan, maintain a conversation and encourage the kids with praise for their efforts. Alexander, meanwhile, reasoned:

- It is often asked how to give enough love to so many children. But they don’t all come together at the same time. Again, someone wants to talk, and someone just sit next to you. The main thing is to pay attention to them, to notice the need of everyone.

The history of this large family began with a serious life test. Having lost their first child and almost lost hope of becoming parents, Lira and Sasha decided to raise children left without parental care. First, three children appeared at once, and in 2018 the couple became parents-educators of a family-type orphanage. Later they had their own children.

For Lyra, caring for a large family is a continuation of tradition. Representatives of several generations in her family accepted children left without parental care into their families. He says that they have many children as if they were inherited

- No one divides children into their own and strangers. And if the child appeared in our family, he remains a part of it after adulthood. A parent does not cease to be a parent just because a son or daughter is 18 years old. Life without pathos and productions While the soup is prepared, we are taken for dessert. This time, the hostess has no advantage in experience: the recipe for mannica with cottage cheese Lyra found on the Internet and today tries for the first time.

- We’ll work it out together, she smiles.

Start with six eggs. It is necessary to carefully separate the proteins from the yolks - a task that requires patience and accuracy. Angelina becomes my partner. She is fond of how focused she first observes the process and then diligently tries to do the same. Mom supports:

- Without you, it would take a long time.

Beating proteins with sugar to lush foam Lira takes over. The remaining ingredients are gradually added.

Alexander suggests that we leave the female part of the family to do magic on the test to show our blogging corner. Their family blog began with Lyra's Instagram page and Sasha's argument with his eldest son, who was sure that his father would not be able to interest social media users. The first were Alexander's short videos shot at home. His children and wife gradually joined him.

Today, more than three million people monitor the life of the family at various venues. TikTok has 1.2 million subscribers. The number of rollers depends on how busy the day turned out: sometimes there are three, and sometimes 15. Alexander explains: We show our life without pathos and productions. We try to talk about family values, about the fact that a child who comes into a family can really become a native. We're getting emails from people who, after watching these videos, have decided to adopt or have custody. It's especially valuable. Housework, holidays, raising children, joint conversations, tried-and-tested recipes - ordinary life is removed. Most of the videos are successful the first time. The reason for the reshoot is usually mundane: someone passed by, spoke, or decided to wash dishes while recording.

- We get a kind of video diary, adds Sasha. But kids always come first. If someone needs to be taken to a doctor, class or child just needs our attention, the rest of the business will wait.

The tour is interrupted by a call from the kitchen: the dough is ready. Return to Lyra and together carefully shift it into the favorite form of the hostess - in the form of a heart. We send the future mannic to the oven - and you can take a little breath. A day in the family begins early. Lyra gets up about six in the morning so that before the children wake up, they have time to devote some time to themselves and calmly tune in to the coming day. At 06:30, the guys wake up and the usual morning fuss begins. While the children are washing, dressing and going to schools and kindergartens, the mother prepares breakfast and makes sure that no one forgets. Lunch and dinner Lyra tries to make in advance, because after the return of the children need to devote time to their business and study. Do not forget about the planned helps the usual calendar - in especially busy periods, the hostess paints things by dates and time:

- When everything is in front of you, it is much easier. In the evening it is clear what to do tomorrow, who and where to take.

At the same time, spouses do not strive to turn home life into a flawlessly working mechanism. For them, it is important that children do not just perform duties, but feel needed and learn to take care of each other. Seniors help the younger, but parents make sure that this support does not turn into a permanent obligation for teenagers. Everyone should have time for study, hobbies and rest.

The main educational principle is a personal example. Lyra and Alexander are sure: Children watch as parents talk to each other, distribute cases and cope with differences. Therefore, it is not enough just to explain what respect, responsibility and mutual help are, it is important to show it daily by your own actions. I ask Lyra if she has a desire. She says right away:

- I want the Order of the Mother. This is probably my biggest dream. Dinner for you at lunchtime. Lyra takes the ladle and begins to pour soup on plates. Alexander immediately turns on the phone camera: the usual home environment turns into a new story for a family blog. A few short shots - the mother lays food, the children gather nearby, soup with meatballs is smoking in plates.

Meanwhile, the smell of baking spreads around the house. We take out the mannic from the oven and Sasha again takes up the phone. Lyra cuts the cake and shows how it's inside. Mannick turned out soft and juicy.

- It's delicious! We will cook more, Lira decides after the first test. - Quick, simple and for the whole family. The main recipe of the Nezhevets family was also quite simple. He has a lot of daily work, patience, mutual help and kind words. And the most important ingredient is love, which in this house is enough for all eighteen people. On the way back to Brest, they looked into social networks: videos from today’s cooking are gaining views, subscribers share comments. Another page of the video diary Nezhevets.