One of my nieces – from a very large family – was at my house playing with my girls when she noticed my baby had teeth.
“How many teeth does your baby have?” she asked.
“Five,” I answered.
She then proceeded to tell me the number of teeth all the babies/toddlers in her family had and even the number of teeth of some of the children of her married siblings.
All of this came from a SIX-YEAR-OLD.
Not only did I find it absolutely adorable that she was so observant and cared so much about her siblings, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at all the people I hear talk about how unloved polygamous children are. We always hear from the naysayers how children in plural homes are “just another number.”
Children are taught to be observant and caring by the examples of the adults in their lives. If a six-year-old knows that level of detail about the children in her family, just think about how much her parents know and care about the children in the household.
Contrary to popular belief, most women benefit from polygynous society, and most men benefit from monogamous society. This is because polygynous society allows some women to share a resourceful man of high status. George Bernard Shaw (who was one of the founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science where I teach) put it best, when he observed, “The maternal instinct leads a woman to prefer a tenth share in a first rate man to the exclusive possession of a third rate one.”
Polygyny has been in the public eye and many Americans’ water-cooler conversations lately, from the success of the HBO series Big Love to the trial of the Mormon sect leader Warren Jeffs. Most Americans consider polygynous 
