Picture this: it is 7 a.m., and fourteen children are waking up under one roof. No butler. No nanny army. Just two parents, a mountain of laundry, and a schedule so tight it has its own fan club. How does a family of 16 actually run a house?
The answer, as Karen and Deon have described it, is less magic and more military precision — softened by laughter. Here is their day, start to finish.
The Morning Shift: Triplets as Alarm Clocks
Forget alarm clocks: the triplets were the alarm clock. Karen told The List that mornings began with the youngest screaming for "Poppy," then the machine switched on — diapers, breakfast, older kids getting ready, worksheets already laid out. By 10:30 a.m., Karen joked, the first shift was over. The day had an order, and everybody knew their place in it.
Breakfast for 16: 30–40 Pancakes and a Daily Grocery Run
Now the number that stops every fan mid-scroll: on an average pancake morning, Karen flipped 30 to 40 pancakes. That is not a typo. That is breakfast. Feeding 16 people meant a grocery run basically every day and a monthly food budget of roughly $3,500, according to In Touch via Soap Dirt — bulk buying, about 15 boxes of waffles and 20 rolls of toilet paper a week. At Thanksgiving, Deon took the four eldest kids shopping with a brand-specific list — one son was even sent back to swap the wrong brand of bacon.
School in Shifts: One Bedroom Became a Classroom
With a 2,300-square-foot house, school could not look like school. One bedroom became a classroom: the quintuplets downstairs at the dining table, three older kids upstairs, the eldest at her own desk — while Karen walked the stairs all day, checking work and breaking up laughing fits. Class ran at 9 a.m., then a break, then another class at 11. Lunch was simple: a sandwich, chips, pickles and juice. One mom, two staircases, fourteen students, zero quiet.
Chores, Laundry and the "Birth Order" Line
If meals and school were the engine, chores were the oil: at least 18 loads of laundry a week. Deon cooked and cut the boys' hair; Karen did the girls' hair and ran the school day. Nobody was a spectator — helping was just how the house worked. Then came the family's most famous trick: "birth order." The kids lined up in the order they were born — so that, Deon explained, everyone could be accounted for in an emergency. Practical, not performative.
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After dinner — Deon's department, by the family's own account — came family time, and then the rule fans quote most of all: every child went to bed at the same time, every night. No negotiations. By 8:30 or 9 p.m., the house went quiet, and the parents finally got their own time to regroup. One honest footnote: much of this routine comes from the show's era, when Karen and Deon were still married and running one household. They divorced in June 2024 and now share custody — according to reports, 12 of the 14 children live with Deon — so today's exact schedule is not public in the same detail. But Deon recently confirmed the family is filming again, with the kids learning their way around the kitchen. If the new season shows the routine now, in two households instead of one, it could be the most fascinating version yet.
So tell us in the comments: which part of the Derrico day would break YOUR household first — the 40-pancake breakfast, the 18 loads of laundry, or the 8:30 bedtime with no negotiations? And be honest: could your family survive a single Derrico morning?
