Parents of large families Mikhail and Oksana Samoshin have been together for twenty years. During this time, five children appeared in their family - two boys and three girls. The eldest Alexander is already 17, Sophia 11, Daniel 8, Anastasia 6, and the smallest Olenka is 4 years old. They live in the Kuchino microdistrict in a small three-room apartment with Oksana's parents.
“My parents, my mother Anna Ivanovna and my father Anatoly Alexandrovich Mandrykin, came to Zheleznodorozhny in 1974 from the Lipetsk region. In the eighties, large industrial enterprises in Moscow and the Moscow region recruited workers throughout the Soviet Union. So they got to one of the oldest enterprises in Russia for the production of bricks and tiles - the Kuchinsky Keramkombinat. I was born in 1976, seven years later my brother appeared in the family. Soon, the parents received an apartment, in which we all now live,”recalls Oksana Samoshina.
However, Oksana still had an example of a large family - her grandmother Ekaterina and grandfather Ivan raised nine children.
“All children are still friendly, and their families are strong. Probably thanks to grandmother Katya - she was very wise with us, calm and patient. Her love was enough for everyone. Martha's husband's great-grandmother also had seven children. Large families used to be the norm. Now those who, despite economic and financial difficulties, agree to have three or more children are often considered eccentrics. But personally, I consider myself happy. Next to me are six loving hearts, our dear parents, friends and many kind people,”shared a mother with many children.
And the head of the family added: "The main thing is not to rush along the road of life."
We met on the subway
Oksana calls the meeting with her future husband Mikhail significant, although they met in a very prosaic way - in the metro. Oksana went with her friends from a walk to VDNKh, and Mikhail, then a serviceman of the internal troops, was returning from leave to his unit in the Solnechnogorsk region.
“I liked the girl at first sight, I caught up with her on the escalator and asked for a phone number. So we met during the rare leave of absence for about half a year,”says Mikhail Samoshin.
For his successes in combat and political training, Sergeant Major Mikhail Samoshin was fired two weeks ahead of schedule, in April 1998. Mikhail is from the Tambov region, so after demobilization from the army he was going home to his parents. Before leaving for his homeland, he bought flowers with almost all his money that he was given upon dismissal and went to Oksana in Kuchino. Unfortunately, for objective reasons their meeting did not take place at that time. They covered a distance of almost five hundred kilometers from each other with letters and rare meetings. In June of the same year, Mikhail and his parents came to Oksana to woo. They got married in Zheleznodorozhny, and literally a week later they got married in the ancient church of the Archangel Michael in the Tambov region. It was a deliberate step for both of them.
Work days
By profession, Oksana is an accountant-economist, at one time after the tenth grade she graduated from the Kudinovsky Mechanical Engineering College. She was the eldest in the family, so she immediately went to work. First at a furniture company in Zheleznodorozhny, then at an auditing company in Moscow, later she became the chief accountant of a private security company. All this time, the young family lived in Oksana's parental apartment, and when the opportunity arose, they rented a house. At first, Mikhail had to work as a security guard, but a month later he came to a special militarized unit - a special police detachment in Moscow.
“My first day at the city OMON began with a hand-to-hand combat competition, where I took second place. Then I severely tore my ligaments in my legs. I somehow got to Zheleznodorozhny, but I could not get home - my legs did not obey. Then I was helped by two officers of the patrol and guard service. So, under the arm, and brought home. The picture, I must say, turned out to be ambiguous,”Mikhail recalls with a smile.
North Caucasus
Oksana knew that her husband's service in a special police detachment would not do with peaceful events. Mikhail had his first military mission for a month and a half in September 1999 to Karachay-Cherkessia.
“The second trip was already two months. We were alerted at the end of December 1999. We flew to the Grozny area, and landed in an open field. Near the airfield, and all around the darkness. They arranged their lives as best they could. This is how the village of Khankala arose. In 2000, a base for Russian troops was opened here,”recalls Mikhail.
In the same year, militia foreman Mikhail Samoshin received gratitude from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - President Vladimir Putin for the dedication and courage shown in the defense of the Fatherland.
Then the OMON officer of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of Russia Mikhail Samoshin, while ensuring the safety of the passage of a military convoy in the mountainous region of the North Caucasus, together with his partner, detained suspicious people with weapons and handed them over to the FSB officers. As part of a task force from the Rostov region, he freed prisoners from zindans (underground prisons) in the mountainous regions of Chechnya. Mikhail also took part in the elimination of the bandit formations of the international terrorist Shamil Basayev in the Alkhan-Kala region.
“Our life then was very nervous, we were afraid of unexpected calls and messages. Misha was not at home at the very time when another tragedy occurred in Chechnya: a convoy of a special police detachment from Sergiev Posad was attacked at the entrance to Grozny, as a result of which many employees died. In the message on television, something was confused, and other information came out that this was the Moscow unit where the husband served. What we went through then - you cannot tell with words,”Oksana recalls with a tremor in her voice.
After Mikhail's third business trip to the North Caucasus in 2001, Oksana asked her husband to find another job.
“I already wanted children, but here are such dangerous business trips. We lived one day, but we wanted to think about the future,”explains Oksana.
Mikhail went to work as a bodyguard, graduated from the Tambov State Pedagogical Institute in absentia. In 2016, his life changed dramatically again - he was offered to head the Balashikha specialized children's and youth sports school of the Olympic reserve, based at the Trud stadium.
Balashikha baseball
During the work of Mikhail Samoshin as the director of the sports school at the Trud stadium, the lawn was completely restored, lighting and a higher fencing were installed, a ground for games and training of baseball players was equipped, the gym and the roof were repaired, office equipment, sports equipment and uniforms for training in all sports were purchased. Wall bars, gymnastics training equipment, new basketball backboards with rings appeared at the stadium. This was done at the expense of extra-budgetary funds received from the provision of paid services.
“We have also prepared all the technical documentation for the inclusion of the Trud stadium in the regional program for the reconstruction of sports facilities. In 2018, the chairman of the Moscow Regional Duma Igor Bryntsalov and the city administration helped in purchasing a bus for transporting athletes. The school was transferred to the standards of sports training,”Mikhail said.
The results were not long in coming: in 2018, two football teams training at Trud under the guidance of coaches Artem Novakovsky and Alexander Shabanov became champions of the Moscow region in their age categories. In 2017, the baseball players of the Balashikha Olympic Reserve Sports School won the Brest Cup 2017 international tournament and took 2nd place at the Summer All-Russian Students' Games. Then the baseball team of the Moscow region included 18 athletes and three coaches from Balashikha. A year later, in 2018, the baseball team became the champion of the Russian championship.
Unfortunately, later Mikhail had to change his place of work.
Oksana worked until the birth of her second child. Later it was no longer possible to get out of the decree. A large family is really hard work that few parents are capable of.
“I have deliberately chosen raising children. Each of them needs my attention, and I am afraid to miss something very important. Family values are still in the first place for my husband and me,”Oksana admitted.
At home, she tries to cook everything herself, even bread - real, leavened. He often pampers children with buns and pies. They cook them all together.
The main wealth of the Samoshin
Of course, it's not easy to raise five children. One father's salary is not enough for everything, and there is no way to get a second job, since the children also need his attention.
“At first we didn't think about a big family. How many young couples, faced with difficulties, scatter in different directions, and families collapse. And we had and still have a lot of problems, but great responsibility for children and each other makes us find the right solutions,”says Oksana.
In a large family, children learn not only to respectfully communicate with each other, but also to help each other. Children quickly become independent. TV and modern gadgets are in last place here. More and more real printed books, reference books and dictionaries.
“We are allowed to watch TV only after the elders have done their homework. And then only educational programs, and sometimes we all watch a good movie together. Of course, we understand that we cannot do without the Internet now. It is necessary to see or read something according to the school curriculum and for universal development - no problem, but only on business. For the rest - why should it be superfluous and unnecessary to clog children's heads? Better to read books! " - says Mikhail.
Children study well and do extra work. The elder Alexander became interested in sports. At first he tried himself in judo, then he came to hockey, now he is engaged in baseball, in 2018, together with the team, he won the Russian championship and fulfilled the standard of master of sports. In the lower grades, he drew well and even once won the "Orthodox Russia" drawing competition. The eldest daughter Sofia is engaged in singing at the Kuchino House of Culture, performs in the exemplary children's vocal ensemble "Smile" under the direction of Svetlana Mikheeva. The second son Daniel goes to sambo classes, is fond of chess and also draws well: in the all-Russian competition "Bird of Happiness" he became a laureate.
There was not a day when parents did not come to support their children at school events and matinees. True, rarely when they can attend one event together, more often mom goes to girls, and dad goes to boys.
In cramped quarters - not offended
A day in a large family is scheduled by the minute. Older children are the first helpers and an example for the younger ones. In a three-room apartment, two rooms are given to children, one for boys, the other for girls. Both have bunk beds and each child has their own workplace. In a prominent place medals and cups of the eldest son, artwork of family members - landscapes and drawings on a patriotic theme. There is nothing superfluous in the girls' room either, but here you can immediately see who is passionate about what.
All the children in this family love sports and often spend time with their dad at the stadium. And they arrange family holidays with or without. Several years ago, a large family helped Oksana's parents to finish building a house in the Ramensky District, so now on weekends they try to visit their grandparents and help with the housework. For the summer, Oksana with her younger children, as a rule, goes to her husband's parents in the Tambov region. Last year, together with Sofia and Daniil, parents with many children went on vacation to Turkey. This was their first trip abroad with their children.
“We are far from perfect, so all this time we are trying to change for the better, learning to step over our pride, to truly love, endure and forgive. Many children are happiness that unites and strengthens any family,”says a mother with many children.
Faith helped the Samoshin family to understand and comprehend all this. They read a lot, and a few years ago, consciously together, they came to the church - to the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord to Bishop Nicholas of Balashikha. Sometimes they manage to take part in pilgrimage trips. So they visited temple ensembles not only in the Moscow region, but also in the city of Pskov, the village of Lukh, Ivanovo region.
Over the 20 years of their life together, Mikhail and Oksana not only greatly changed their character, but also learned to yield to each other. The only thing that has remained unchanged is the love and respect that they now instill in their five children.
On the recommendation of the social protection department of Balashikha, Oksana is collecting documents for awarding the honorary badge "Maternal Glory".
Valentina Chubenko