A full house: not the popular late ‘80s sitcom, but the reality of many families living in the U.S. According to the most recent census, over 478,900 households have 3 or more children under the age of 18. Sophomore Eli Peres has four siblings that he shares a household with, and life can get crazy at times.

For Peres, one of the biggest struggles he has to deal with is the precarious task of trying to take showers. “I normally wake up at 6 a.m. and then immediately run to the shower. Because even though I leave at 7:20 I gotta get up like a whole hour and a half before just so that I can actually stay clean,” he said.

It’s also very hard for him to have friends over. “I have so many siblings that there’s essentially nowhere that I can, you know, just hang out with people. And when my siblings have friends over, it gets really crowded. So having lots of siblings isn’t not very fun for things like that,” Peres complained.

Of course, the cons of having so many siblings are minimal compared to the pros. For him, the best part about having a full house is always having something to do. “When I was really young, I always had people to go to. I was never really bored…Also, when I go on trips, it’s really fun because I’m not just alone with my parents for a month. That’d be pretty boring,” he said.

Peres often plays games with his family and stays up really late. “The other day, we were up at like 1 a.m. just playing a game called Gang Beasts. And that was a lot of fun to just hang out with them. Most of the time we either get food and just talk,” he said.

The late nights that Peres spends chatting with siblings might also have long term benefits. According to the Institute of Family Studies, kids with siblings have more social awareness. Even though they might bicker, the relationship and communication skills they form as a child will help them throughout their adulthood.

Weighing the pros and cons together, Peres still wouldn’t give anything up for the full house he lives in.

“I enjoy having siblings. I think it’s a fun time. There are some cons but I think overall, I just don’t think it’d be the same person without them,” he said.