The Duggar family in Arkansas are the stars of a weekly reality show on TLC about their huge family, and have been featured in documentary specials on Discovery Healthy about how they make it work with ever-increasing numbers of children. They’re devout Baptists who follow the Quiverfull movement, which believes that all children are a gift from God and that they should have as many as possible. All of the children are home schooled and everyone learns to play an instrument. Both parents work as real estate developers and they live debt free. Sixteen children now live at home in Toritown, Arkansas, after their oldest son Joshua James, 20, got married this summer. The children all have names that start with “J” and their family includes 10 sons and now eight daughters.
Michelle Duggar just welcomed her 18th child yesterday, a little girl named Jordyn-Grace Makiya by family vote. Jordyn was born by c-section due to the baby being positioned horizontally. Her dad calls her “The ultimate Christmas gift from God.”
An Arkansas woman has given birth to her 18th child. Michelle Duggar delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.
“The ultimate Christmas gift from God,” said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. “She’s just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters.”
The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.
Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.
“We both would love to have more,” he said.
The cable network TLC broadcasts a weekly show about the Duggars, called “17 Kids and Counting.” Chris Finnegan of TLC _ which handles public relations for the Duggar family _ said the show’s name would be updated to account for the latest addition to the family. He said TLC also will air a show Monday on the baby’s delivery.
[From AP via The Huffington Post]
Yesterday we linked an interview with Michelle and Bob at Parentdish. They made it clear that they still enjoy a healthy sex life when Michelle is pregnant. Bob called Michelle “really cute when she’s pregnant,” while Michelle admitted “Having sex when I’m pregnant, I’m a little more tired.”
Michelle also revealed that it’s not all sweetness and light in their kid-filled home and kind of admitted that she doesn’t intervene much when her kids get in fights. “Right now I’ve got a lot of little boys who fight or argue with each other. Every 30 minutes there’s a major crisis over an owee or a toy. But I don’t get involved. They learn to work it out themselves.”
The family makes it work through schedules and something called the “buddy system” in which an older child will take responsibility for making sure a younger one is dressed and fed daily. There’s also got to be a healthy dose of indifference.
You know, I know they live debt free and I know the kids are so cute… but there is no way, no way on earth to give 18 children enough individual attention. And the whole ‘buddy system’ thing creeps me out: the older ones just end up raising the younger ones. And the girls being raised to be homemakers and nothing else… the whole Duggar family makes me sad. 🙁
Some people just need to be slapped.
It’s definitely unusual, to say the least. Not for me, but I have to admit that I admire these people for some reason. I know people who can’t even handle two kids, much less two basketball teams worth. Actually, being debt free is pretty remarkable in itself. This woman’s body is going to conk out on her at some point.
She makes my vagina hurt. :'( WTF woman your lady bits are not an assembly line! Shut it down shut it down!
Edit: I had a thought… lets do math … if the 18 of those kids have a large family lets say 10 each …. 180 of those bastards running around… plus that whole ” True Love Waits!” … kinda creeps me out. She needs to find True love for a OBGYN to tie them tubes when shes not lookin.
They don’t control their own lives…God does. Their is always a “God answer” to anything critical of them. How is it that God relieves then of any Personal Responsibility? And if they both work 8 hours a day and sleep 8 hours a day and let’s say they have 2 hours in commuting, talking on the phone, shopping etc. that means that each child at the most could get 20 minutes of personal attention a day. That’s responsible parenting!!
They really should be in a cage at a zoo somewhere.
seven . . . LOL LOL! Thanks, your comment really just made my morning! Agreed…this woman should stop advertising herself as a human-puppy mill. Litters just can’t be healthy . . . for family life, or for her uterus.
If you look up what pregnancy and birthing do to your system (if you don’t know some things first hand!), it’s truly not healthy to have that many children and especially not in such short a time. It’s almost guaranteed she will not live as long as she could have, I’d rather not live my whole life raising children because that’s what god told me to do.
Not to mention the fact that those children are definitely not getting a “normal” amount of attention from their parents.
Doesnt mean she is a good mother, just means shes a good MANAGER.
I can’t even begin to describe how this makes my skin crawl.
She’s mentally ill and addicted to babies. She needs a few puppies each year to quell that sh-t.
Even if she died, those kids would not miss her, they’d just raise themselves. “But I don’t get involved. They learn to work it out themselves.”
Oh COURSE they do lady, youre just the bloated queen ant that pushes out eggs and hands them off to the workers. ewwwwwww.
Although personally Id never have that many children, back in the days people believed in large families. 3 kids werent enuff. My paternal grandparents had 23 children…my father being #12 or sumthing like that used to tell me the story and i would just be completely fascinated by their strength to endure that many children. Still, couldnt be me!
The thing that gives me the heebie-jeebies is the fact that he is 43 and she is 42 and their oldest son is already 20. She’s had no other life experiences than to get married and stay pregnant. What if she ever stops having babies (when menopause sets in) and figures out that she’s had nothing else to do or think about for a few decades?
I think it’s really unusual that all of the kids have been born without any type of chromosomal aberrations. Really unusual.
I never thought about the incest factor but now that I think…. a friend of mine, her grandparents come from large families of like 19 or so. There was alot of child molestation going on in that situation which ofc filtered down and such… EEWWWWWWW
Her Vagina IS a Assembly line for Kiddie Fiddlers R’ US!
what else is left to say?
I bet they have a bunker hidden somewhere so after the armageddon they will be the responsibles for repopulating the earth! ya ppl see it now? that´s their divine purpose!
I think it’s sad that the older kids are left to bring up the younger ones. What happens when one of those older kids moves out? Not very good parenting if you ask me.
I don’t find it so creepy that they are 42 and 43 and have a 20 year old, since I too married at 20, had my first at 21, and thus was only 41 when my oldest turned 20.
I just find it creepy that they KEEP DOING IT! She has to be so exhausted that she doesn’t even know what it’s like to feel good. And he’s nothing but a walking sperm bank. I notice their odd religion is one of those repressive ones where girls only wear dresses and never cut their hair. Ugh.
As for the debt free – they probably make pretty good money for the reality show. Probably not that hard to keep the bills paid.
Good lord you all….how is that family effecting you? They are not on welfare (you probably are), the live debt free (you probably don’t), they manage their own lives (you probably don’t), and they are happy, which you obviously aren’t.
Congrats on the new baby. Although 3 kids is all I can handle, it doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t have had more. And from all the comments above…your mother’s should have swallowed or shut her legs. Leave them alone…..
This is her third c-section. I was told three is about the limit although some risk a fourth. After 18 children, surely she’d stop now as it could become a health risk? But since she has said the house doesn’t feel right unless it has a baby in it, she’ll probably risk it and go for another few at least.
“Oh COURSE they do lady, youre just the bloated queen ant that pushes out eggs and hands them off to the workers.”
OMG, I’m still laughing! Thank you, Bs!
I want to slap the stupid bitch. This planet is already over populated!
the planet is over-populated. this irresponsible to the rest of humanity.
oh my
this family is creepy and they make my vadge hurt.
What’s really sad is hearing the young girls talk about their dreams of becoming nurses, teachers, etc. while they are under their dad’s thumb in a sexist, backwards system where women are simply baby machines. I hope those girls escape. The boys too. What a horrible way to live. The mom probably gushes on about how great it is, but she’s been pregnant since she was a young girl herself: 13. What does she know about ANYTHING other than babies? Nothing.
They had their home/family classified as a CHURCH, so they are getting a huge tax write-off! Plus all of those children are on Medicaid. And you still wonder how they live debt-free?
Michelle IS addicted to babies. There is just something sick and wrong about that kind of obsession. She needs to get an animatronic dol, or better yet, focus on the children she DOES have.
Actually, Jen, I’m not on welfare, am not in debt, and I’m pretty happy. But talking about celebrities is what we do here. Nasty references to our mothers or insinuating we should not have been born doesn’t fit in.
And by the way, the family would be Affecting me, not Effecting me. Affect is a verb, effect is a noun.
Memo: The vagina is not a clown car!
My hubby is an ob/gyn, and we are fascinated by her. One day, she’s going to stand up, and her uterus will fall out.
Seriously, though. It’s risky to have a vaginal birth after a c-section, and she has had several of those (the line along the scar weakens the uterine wall and can lead to tears during labor). Also, with each successive pregnancy, the wall stretches more and more, thinning and weaking the blood vessels. This can lead to an eventual rupture of her uterus during labor contractions. That’s why so many of the ladies way back when died in childbirth after having lots of kiddos. Now, the doc goes in and does and emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding.
Syko – your relentless fight for correct spelling never fails to make me laugh. Please keep it up!
ETA: I agree with you, btw. That remark was really offensive.
syko- its pretty hard to beleive anything about a person who posts on this site about the prefect state of their personal life.
For all I know, you could be some 47y/o loser who moved back in with his parents after forclosing and living in debt cause his parents were shitty people who didn’t raise him properly.
So keep the self-righteousness to your self…
Why are you attacking me, Hatsumomo? I haven’t said anything about the “prefect” state of my life, only that I’m not in debt, not on welfare and am pretty happy. I also am not a 47 year old loser moved back in with my parents after foreclosing because my parents were shitty and didn’t raise me properly. I also am not a man. And please, lay off my parents, they are both deceased and it’s disrespectful to call them names.
What I am is a 66 year old woman with three grown children, who works full time as a legal assistant in a law firm located somewhere in Florida. I have no debts. I support myself. I pay my bills. And none of this is your business anyway.
We are here to snark on celebrities, not each other. Lay off. Show a little respect for your fellow commenters.
I’m so sure the Duggars really believe their children are a gift from God. There is no way they can truly know and appreciate the unique individuals those children are turning into. Or *would* be turning into if they were allowed to exhibit anything even remotely resembling individuality.
On a completely catty note, that woman looks way older than 42.
Good lord.
I’m 7 months along with my first, and I’m freaking about having to actually give birth. I can’t even begin to imagine doing so eighteen effing times.
The past months have been trying. Not that I haven’t enjoyed most of it- I could have done without the severe puking for the first month and a half or so- but I can’t wait to have my baby and NOT be pregnant anymore. I don’t know how the hell Michelle Duggar can tolerate being constantly knocked up. Seriously, her vagina deserves a medal or something.
It’s kind of sad because you know each child is most likely not getting the individual one-on-one time they need with their parents. Saying “we use the buddy system” is no excuse; your children are siblings to one another, and you are the parent. You wanted a large brood, now take responsibility for them without pawning them off on one another.
And TEAM SYKO all the way!
Hatsumomo, if you want to attack someone, could you please move to a Jennifer Aniston thread and throw your barbs at someone who truly deserves it?
Thank you for the backup, Granger. I appreciate it. I’d use a smilie at you but there are no smilies. Consider yourself smilied.
Syko – I’m a wordsmith as well. Thanks for being one of the grammar police.
You’re welcome, Ellen. Normally I just overlook it, but when the poster is being an ass, I jump on it. LOL.
It’s just annoying when fully educated adults don’t know the difference between “there”, “their” and “they’re”.
Whomever posted that the family is on Medicaid and had their home classified as a church for tax purposes, do you have a source on that? Not trying to fight, merely morbidly curious is all. 🙂
can you imagine how those kids feel everytime their mom announces shes preg. again? poor things!!
is it ever gunna stop??
Reading these comments is interesting. Some of you are WAY over the line… assuming without a single ounce of evidence that these people are incestuous. I thought bigotry was not allowed here.
Say what you will… they seem pretty happy to me, and if they need 18 or more children to be happy then that is great. I envy their children in many ways. Had my parents had a few more I might have actually learned some responsibility in my youth. Not to mention how much fun haveing a baby around can actually be.
I’d rather have more large, happy families around than small, unhappy ones.
I agree, leave Syko alone.
@ Ellen Smith – just because they have a large amount of children they’re all suddenly child molesters?? That’s the most ridiculous comment I’ve ever seen on here. Yes, it’s not healthy to have so many kids. I don’t agree with it, but if you watch their show, they seem like very nice people. They’re not having all those kids just to molest them. Good Lord.
I don’t know if any of you are from outside the US, but I’d really be interested in how the foreign press is covering this.
I moved to Arkansas a few years ago for my job and consider this to be a freak show. I read an article that said she cares for the infant for 6 months, then passes it on to a daughter for raising. Then she and her husband work on getting pregnant again.
I wouldn’t be surprised about the incest. What they are modeling to their kids is sex in the absence of responsibility and there aren’t a lot of other choices because they are home schooled. What would be interesting is if one of the kids got pregnant, because you know birth control is never discussed in that home.
I wonder what will happen when she can’t get pregnant anymore. Will he take it upon himself to find a younger “helpmate” to bring into the home, because it is such a shame to waste all that good sperm
“I wonder what will happen when she can’t get pregnant anymore. Will he take it upon himself to find a younger “helpmate” to bring into the home…”
Or, they could be like most families and not. Is there any reason to make a comment like this? No. Again, these comments are crossing a line of human decency..
I personally only have two children, but I admire the Duggar’s. I wish I could be debt-free like they are, but I still have a mortgage! They were debt free long before the show. They felt it was important to be good stewards of their money.
I’m offended by many of these comments.
It is clear that many of these disturbing comments come from people who haven’t watched the show and/or have had some terrible life experiences (re: the incest comment).
makes me REALLY sick.
world is overpopulated. children don’t get the time from their parents…they deserve. they don’t make stupid, silly and funny things like a normal child would do…or a teen…i dunno. go to partys, meet boys…first kiss and so on.
the social contacts…need social skills.
think on a job…you need more social skills than the relationship to your brother or sister…
mrs. duggar is crazy. this can’t be healthy…for her and for her kids.
sometimes…religion is an “excuse” for really strange actions.
i don’t want to offend anyone. it’s just my opinion.
Your opinion is valid, lene.
but I’m not sure how informed it is since there is no evidence to support it. You might be right, or you might be wrong.
honestly these kids must live in constant chaos. I do not envy that life at all. I think I would go crazy in that environment.
I’m with Bryan. I’m not going to assume these people are bad people solely because they have 18 children.
The mom has had plenty of life experience. She wasn’t born into what she believes now. I don’t believe that she is addicted to babies – I think the guilt was eating her up when she miscarried her first baby while using birth control.
The girls aren’t dressed like whores and they (and their brothers) are being taught to respect women’s bodies (thats the “true love waits” argument and I rather agree with it even though I know it isn’t realistic).
There is no argument that any of them are child molesters simply because that happened to the grandparents of one poster and I think there is something seriously wrong with someone that can say something so horrible so flippantly. Personal opinion of course, but that is so wrong.
Hey Syko – who knew you had a “perfect” existence eh? LOL.
I could care less how many kids they have, I’m just sad that they foisted the poor mite with a truely nasty name (never ever design by committee) on a child who will never get the opportunity to eat a piece of fresh veg until they move out of home
(as per their recipe page on their website – who knew mushroom soup and some Amino sauce, that tastes better than soy apparently, could be dumped in so many foul-sounding dishes?)
*rollseyes until they hurt*
Oh god, I don’t even WANT to read their recipes!
She’s going to come down to the kitchen one morning to find her uterus sitting there with a cup of coffee and a resignation letter.
Seriously, even the sex can’t feel that good anymore, for either of them. Hotdog meet hallway…
Oh doooooo Syko…. they’ve even added new ones for fabric conditioner!!!
http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html
We could turn it into a drinking game:
one drink for every tinned veg mentioned
One for every (small) packet of frozen veg inappropriately used
2 drinks for velveeta ( what the hell IS that?)
2 drinks for either cream of chicken or mushroom soup.
the whole goddam bottle for every mention of Bragg’s Liquid Amino
*eeeeeevil grin*
Velveeta is a processed cheese food. Actually pretty good when you use it for mac and cheese.
@ seVen: Thanks for the belly laugh today! You ARE the star..
@ Syko: I have long liked you, and today I like you even more. I also agree with you, and all you grammar-offenders out there–beware!!
@ Jess: “Hotdog meet hallway…” LMFAO
After much thought, and watching this discussion board all day–I still can’t say for sure what it is about this family that creeps me out the most; I only come from a family of 7 kids, and we never had one-on-one time with our parents. I can’t see how it would be that way with 18, either. It’s really sad that these kids are home-schooled, too. Important social interactions happen at school, on dates, just hanging out with friends, and I just don’t think these kids are in any way prepared for the real world–the oldest got married, and he’s only 20! I think he did it to get out of that household, don’t you?
My aunt home-schooled her 2 kids, and they fought it tooth and nail when they got to be about 13 or so. My sister was going to home-school her 3, but thankfully changed her mind after seeing how hard the cousins were fighting not being able to go to high school. They were in shock when they were actually allowed out of the house for the first time when they got jobs at 18. It was hard for them to get jobs, and when they did, it was REALLY hard for them to adjust to the way people do each other, because they’d never experienced it before. Behaviors that most kids know by the time they’re 10, these kids had to learn the hard way–and quickly! I am so angry that they were sheltered to the point it actually handicapped them.
I also agree with one of the posters above–weirdness in the name of God is still wrong! She should be concerned about her health, too–that many pregnancies and C-sections? Hasn’t her doctor explained that she could DIE? Is she so stupidly ‘religious’ that she subscribes to the tired old “every child was meant to be” line?
Aarrghhh…. These people make me sick.
Bryan, most people also don’t have as many children as they possibly can. If that is your goal, why stop just because your partner can’t?
Some of us are highly offended at the way these children are raised, with so little parental involvement.
I’m so glad I wasn’t born into that family, because I can’t imagine having to deal with 17 siblings when i could barely stand 2. Personally, they just freak me out in general. If I were one of the kids, I would be slutting it up just to rebel. That’s just me though.
I just heard on the radio that some women have orgasms during the birthing process…maybe that’s our answer!
Just wanted to say “first time writer long time looker” :O) and Team Syko all the way
Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.
It would be good to remember that, not too long ago, people thought anyone who got divorced was a lousy parent who forever ruined their child’s home and security.
Anyone who didn’t marry the father/mother of their child was an irresponsible, terrible example to their poor (illigitamite) children.
Anyone who married interracially were damaging their children’s sense of identity.
Any same-sex couple had no business having children becasue it was “creepy” and, possibly, they might use their children sexually.
All these bigoted, irrational, ugly judgmental comments have all been made before–it’s just that now, some groups are fashionable to support and others–those who are religious, for example, or those who have very large families–are not (at the moment).
Syko: I am one of the many who appreciate you pointing out the appalling, yet often hilarious, spelling/grammar errors of the more self-righteous pricks on this site. It’s important they realize that whatever point they’re trying to make is rendered obsolete when it could be corrected by a fifth grader.
I watched a documentary about the evil Phelps family last night…why am I being reminded of it as I read this?? Are the toddlers painting ‘God hates fags’ posters in the basement as we speak?
More than 2 kids is greedy and a damn sight arrogant. Are you *that* special that you need to inflict more of yourself on people? (the answer is NO, douchebags)
I agree, she makes my vagina hurt too. Can’t wait to see the day when the kids start moving out and distancing themselves from this nutjob.
Susie: that’s a long way to go for an orgasm…maybe she just needs a vibrator, eh?
I live in England and have seen the Discovery H&H docs. I really don’t know where all this animosity is coming from.
I like the Dugger Family. Yes it is a lot of children to have, but when you watch the shows they all seem to be very well adjusted.
I don’t think the father is sexist – all the children helped in the constuction of their house – and the boys are assigned the same chores as the girls.
A purity pleadge is NOT creepy, in this age of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea etc it’s a sensible choice.
I don’t think every family should choose to have so many children, because most people are not equipt to cope with the strains.
As for world overcrowding I’d prefer a couple like Michelle and Bob to raise their 18 (or more) well educated, moral and ethically minded children to add to us, than not.
As for the incest theme of some of these comments it’s a ridiculous assumption.
Team Syko! I spend my days at work editing bad spelling and misuse of words. The instances I see of lack of spelling/grammar skills are growing exponentially into ignorance.
I AM the Grammar Chief of Police.
Anyway, topic:
I’m sure they’re a delightful family. But this practice of never stopping having kids is wrong. Even The Bible references moderation and modern religion preaches against too much of a good thing.
If she thought cakes were a gift from God and ate them nonstop, we would all see it more clearly.
The woman is a HOARDER of children. If they had that many cats and/or dogs her true pathology would be more obvious, and County authorities would be called in. But since it’s human children she’s hoarding, ones that she “made”, it’s okay??? wtf!
I cant wait for the day the older kids to go on strike. The girls may hide vibrators in their drawers and the boys have playboy mags under their beds!
All thse negative comments suprise me to be perfectly honest. It’s not ‘gods’ way, she choose to follow that god and it’s her choice to live by that. (I’m sure there are plenty of religious people who don’t ‘go forth and multiply’)
p.s i agree with Chan, maybe it’s an english thing? (I live in England)
How is this any worse that a 2 parents family having one child who then has a nanny, only at least in this family there’s always somebody there to talk to. So whilst they may not have the close knit relationship i would want with my chilren, or with my own mother, because they may feel one of many and that that don’t really count, there’s always a replacement. I bet they grow up to be well rounded and feeling loved.
The only problem i have here (which has nothing to do with the number of children) if that they’re being homeschooled (not inself bad), but that they’re not seeing contrasting ways of life. And may go on o have lots of children themselves (and they may not be as financiall stable as their parents). And raising the girls to be housewives. That just makes me sick.
I don’t know why these two are bragging about their sex life. I mean, at this point sex with her is like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.
It’s an orphanage, except it’s run by their parents. At least that’s how I would feel if I was one of those children. I have two children, and they deserve every bit of time that I can manage to give them. These Duggar children can’t possibly be having a close relationship with their parents…especially if mom and dad are constantly playing rabbit. *shakes head sadly* And another thing…well-behaved children don’t automatically equal happy children.
I question the quality of life that these kids will have in the future. If any child isn’t allowed out into the world, to a certain degree, to experience life outside of their ‘compound’ – whether they are an only child or one of 20 – they’ll be missing out on important lessons and experiences. Can you imagine the shock of leaving that home and suddenly realizing what the real world is like?
I’m sure that these kids feel like they’ve got a loving family, but it must be kind of a disappointment to be raised by a ‘buddy’ sibling rather than, I don’t know, your actual mother. The older kids never really got to have a childhood – they were too busy playing parents to their siblings, which I think is just wrong.
I’m no fan of the Duggars and I can’t understand the desire to have so many children with the insistence of foisting a “J” name on them so they “match”, but I’d like to point out one thing that seems to escape the notion of many critics here – a small number of children does not automatically mean that the parents are more involved or nurturing with the children. It just doesn’t.
Oh, man, I’m getting sucked back into a Duggar thread! Check out the thread on TWOP for way more dirt. But here’s a few points that stick in my craw.
(1) They have discussed BC with the kids (or at least the older ones) and the television viewing audience and every reporter that ever gave JimBob and Jichelle a second of interest, so we all know they believe that BC is bad and should not be used because children are precious gifts and saying there are too many children is like saying there are too flowers. The story is that when they were first married, JB and Jichelle used birth control. Eventually she got pregnant with Josh (Kid #1) and a little while after that, was pregnant again. The pregnancy miscarried, which they blamed on the birth control. JB and Jichelle to turn to God. God let them know that he doesn’t condone any type of birth control because trying to space out your pregnancies is trying to control God’s will, which is bad, man, and totally ticks God off, but not so much that He’ll override your birth control and let you get knocked up with an actual 0.01% chance miracle fetus. So don’t use birth control ever and have many, many children.
(2) JimBob and Jichelle run debt-free seminars. You can pay to learn how to be debt-free, just like them!! It’s great that they’re debt-free. Woo, yay, good for them. But they’re quite smug about it. Whenever they’re asked, “How do you afford all them kids!!??!?!” the answer is always the same — “Well, we’re debt-free!!!” Great, that’s nice and all, but no one ever seems to work. Money has to be coming in, doesn’t it? And if it’s coming in from TLC and debt-free seminars…
(3) They built their own house! It started while they were living in a house that was way too small for them. Their landlord was evicting them from the house because the house was going to be knocked down. TLC’s money stepped in to finish what JB and Sons couldn’t. But don’t worry, JB and Sons took full credit.
(3) The daughters are doing much more work than the sons. The daughters are responsible for more chores as well as raising their younger siblings. Yes, it’s good that kids have chores. Awesome. But being in charge of preparing every meal for twenty-some-odd people is too much for a fourteen year old girl. The boys’ chores aren’t exactly equal. Sure, they change oil in the car and take out the trash — but not something that has to be done three times every single day.
(4) They’re being home schooled. Nothing wrong with home school — it can be a great decision for kids, lots of opportunity for field trips and learning outside the box. But they’re using a curriculum (called Wisdom Booklets) that is not at all adequate and, again, the older girls end up teaching the younger kids more than studying high school-level academics. Wisdom Booklets, their home school curriculum, is created by ATI and Bill Gothard. Look him up. The beliefs he encourages about relationships and child rearing (despite being single and childless himself!) are a little scary.
(5) Once a baby is about six months old, Jichelle stops being its buddy. She stops breastfeeding and passes it off to its buddy — one of the older girls, natch. Then she and JimBob get to work on conceiving the next baby. Also! They use blanket training, wherein the baby is placed on a blanket. If it starts to crawl off the blanket, Momma or Big Sis bangs on the floor with a wooden spoon. Baby gets scared and stays on the blanket. Eventually Baby learns it’s safer to stay on the blanket than to explore. Sometime theories of blanket training encourage smacking baby lightly with the wooden spoon.
(6) There is, and I kid you not, a sign up sheet in the Duggar’s kitchen. Each kid gets to sign up for one-on-one time with Mom and Dad.
(7) There are three bedrooms in that huge house. 1 for Mom, Dad, and the youngest baby (until it stops breastfeeding!), 1 for all the girls, and 1 for all the boys. Now, JB and Jichelle say that the kids REALLY REALLY wanted the house to be divided this way. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Either way, I don’t think it’s appropriate for sixteen/seventeen/eighteen year olds to be bunking with three and four year olds. Not because I believe there’s incestuous/otherwise abusive behavior happening, but because those kids need a break from each other. The older kids (especially the older girls, who are carrying for the younger ones all day) need space away from the little kids.
(8) All the shows and specials show the parents treating oldest son Josh much differently than the younger ones. He’s the golden boy, clearly, and while that probably does happen in lots of families, it still stinks.
(9) It is so stupid for Jichelle to continue having kids. Leaving aside the delicate issues of quivers full of arrows, overpopulation and the fact that we wouldn’t be hearing so much gushing about the huge family had the Duggars been anything except white and vaguely Christian, it’s not healthy. In the first special (I think) they were desperately trying to find a new OBGYN for her…because hers had quit and all the other ones weren’t comfortable working with such a high risk patient. It’s stupid and selfish to continue having children despite the advice to stop from more than one doctor. If something happens to her, that’s a lot of children left behind without a mom (even if the oldest girls are the ones doing most of the mothering).
(10) Finally…They named their child Jinger. I should have started with this one. I could’ve rested my case on that alone.
Bravo, Brista, bravo!
The kid was in there sideways? Why would that pose a problem for her?
Lady! Your vagine is not a clown car!!!
Team Angelina or Team Aniston is annoying, yet Team Syko isn’t? Okay…
its almost like a novelty to them. im sure they do ove their kids, dont get me wrong. but 18 kids?? cmon. all their names starting with “j”? showing the birth on a tv special? its just not right.
if they want to have a bunch of kids, fine. but i think they just like the attention they are getting as “america’s largest family” or whatever. theyre going to continue with it until michelle hits menopause, im sure.
The Duggars are a family that should pitied. I am a psychiatrist, and it is very clear to me that one or both of the parents are suffering from a form of mental illness. You don’t have to be stark raving mad to have a mental illness. This is a very clear case of an obsessive compulsive-like disorder (OCD). They are just like people who keep getting tatoos or piercings and can’t stop (ie. David Beckham. It is the children of this unfortunate couple that will suffer the most. As a physician, I can say that Mrs. Duggar’s life is going to be severely cut short. Osteoporosis, a potentially lethal disease, will almost certainly occur in this woman. Kidney and heart disease issues will also occur. I suspect it is the husband with the mental disorder and the wife is the enabler. Her excessive religious beliefs will not allow her to say NO! to husband. It is a form of physical and mental abuse. All the media attention they are receiving is actually making the disorder worse. I am sure that God would not approve of what they are doing. Their poor children will grow up with little or no real attention and in a clearly abnormal household.I urge them to seek treatment as soon as possible. I wish them the best of luck.
I can’t help but notice the body language of “J”ichelle. She can’t even support her head! “Devout Baptists who follow the Quiverfull movement…” anyone else see the irony? I think SUSIE is on to something here… JESS “hotdog meet hallway” friggin hilarious!
referring to the baby’s head ofcourse..
Okay, so I disagree with many of the things that the Duggar family believe in and do, but come on people. Why so much hate toward them? Some of the comments about them are so rude, presumptuous, and downright hateful. It’s sickening to see so much loathing for those who don’t deserve it- save it for a thread on Paris Hilton.
Just because they are different and “odd” by average societal standards it hardly makes them these horribly villainous people that so many others are trying to paint them as. For what it’s worth, they seem to be cheerful, loving, and committed to their family- quite the miracle considering that most families get torn apart by divorce these days- and most of those are a fraction of the size of this family. I may not agree with the Duggars, but they’re well-adjusted, decent human beings. I still think it’s crap how the parents hand the younger children off to be raised by the older children, but it’s not as if these kids are being abused, neglected, or worse.
/$.02
I have a sick fear that one of the daughters will be asked to step in once mama is no longer able to have kids for dad.
Does the Church of Dugger commandment to reproduce at all costs trump the Christian one about no incest?
Way too much emphasis on reproduction in that family, especially for the girls.
Who do these kids take to their home-school prom?
I’ll take gay marriage over this weirdness any day.
I’m so glad most people can see how the kids get ripped off in these big family situations.
Shame on the parents, thank God for menopause.
The second most disturbing thing about this thread is the picture. That is one creepy looking army – I mean, family.
The most disturbing thing about this thread is how many people actually watch that show.
OMG! What is wrong with this woman? 18 children? And now I am hearing rumors that they “can’t wait to start conceiving their 19TH child!!
“She should be concerned about her health, too–that many pregnancies and C-sections? Hasn’t her doctor explained that she could DIE? Is she so stupidly ‘religious’ that she subscribes to the tired old “every child was meant to be” line?”
I totally agree with this! Having 18 children is not healthy, safe or sane! Sure they did it in the early 1920s, but look at all the women who died during childbirth! Medicine may have improved over the last 80 years, but this is just ridiculous!
As for the “Hotdog meet hallway” comment…LMFAO! Too damn funny! But it would be more like “Hotdog meet subway tunnel”
And just thinking about all that childbirth makes my va-jay-jay scream in pain! “Evil penis! Be gone!”
@Syko-my hero. I’m an English major and these posts irritate me so much I don’t post often-I go cry in a corner after reading the comments. (I know I make some spelling mistakes but I type fast and am used ot Word as a spell check)
And this lady disturbs me. I respect her right to have as many children as she wants, and I’m impressed that the live debt free and yaddah yaddah yaddah, but it’s just creepy.
Is that how you spell “yadda-yadda”?
Global Warming? Overpopulation? What a selfish bunch of idiots. I’m praying that one day she does find her uterus at the kitchen table with a strong drink and a note that says “I QUIT THIS BITCH”!
tener 18 hijos es una lokura, para mi son demasiado rednecks para ser verdad …
gg: I think you’re right about the “yadda” situation.
Also, Mozilla Firefox has a built-in spellchecker, if anyone’s interested …
wow – you all are mean… Wonder if you’d care if they said all of those things about your life choices. Good thing we live in America eh?
Irish Catholics don’t believe in birth control, but at least have the sense most of the time to use the rythem method. I am not sure if b/c is still black market in Ireland. Not too many have that MANY children. Many ethnic groups believe the same, but, since I went to Irish Catholic schools, I did notice the great amt. of kids. My grandparents were fr. Ireland, so, I have uncles that have MANY children. Again, not 18 & counting…Maybe Brangelina cld. adopt a few of the Duggars when they want to adopt American born child…
I was thinking they were Morman, but I just looked that up and it says they are Baptist. I was thinking that would explain the need to have so many children.
Wow. I want kids and all, but damn woman! Can’t you buy a baby born or something? I’m not saying I dislike them for having that many kids or being Baptist or whatever they are, but surely that many kids can’t be good. Sex shouldn’t be all about the children that it produces. Sex should be a way to express love. God, I sound like a hippy therapist XD Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that having sex can’t be all that pleasurable anymore, and having that many kids must be tough. She needs time to be her own person. It sounds like she never got to do that to me.
Like AJ, I may not agree with this family’s choices, but I just don’t get the hatred flung their way, either.
And I know they won’t agree with MY VIEWS, but I believe in reproductive rights, that they go BOTH WAYS. If this couple can support their kids and enjoy them, how many they have is none of my business.
Oh please, stop with the large happy family crap. I am the youngest of 12 and belive me there was plenty of resentment by the older kids being stuck with the younger kids all the ime and not having any fun because they were busy taking care of kids! The older children deserve lives too and when their parents are acting like brood mares and poping one kid after another just how much freedom do the older kids have. The “buddy system” is actually Mom being pregnant all the time and the older kids are raising the younger ones. My oldest brother and sister never had kids of their own because of having all the responsibility for the younger ones.
These people need to get a grip, I am quite sure if their oldest kids refused to rtaise the brothers and sisters it would have been a different story. There wouldn’t be 18 or 20 kids because they might actually have to take care of their own kids and not shove them off on their brothers and sisters. I find nothing admirable about these people at all and if they are on medicaid then the taxpayers are paying for their medical ,and I find nothing admirable about that either.
I am going to second what Judy said. My mom was a single mother, and every time she gapped her legs open and made a baby I had to raise it. Guess what ??? I don’t have one single child!!!! Why?? Because I raised my mother’s children.
I think this comment is by far the most hilarious comment ever:
She’s going to come down to the kitchen one morning to find her uterus sitting there with a cup of coffee and a resignation letter.
I wonder how much the Duggars are getting paid for their TLC shows?
Maybe God is saying okay Jichelle (as someone wrote) I will give you as many children as possible because you are too stupid to understand that women miscarry for other reasons.
If number 18 is not the last, the number 19 will be born in March/April 2010. I read the Duggar book. Jichelle said they sustain from sex eight weeks if it is a boy and ten weeks if it is a girl. I wanna think they said that got this information from the Bible.
And I say, God gives us common sense use it to the best of your ability!
Also, I remember watching a particular Duggar show where Jichelle took several of the boys to the local thrift store to buy shoes. The camera crew had shown how one of the children had “repaired” a pair of boots and other children were wearing very well worn shoes. I was thinking as watching this particular segment, I wonder if some smypathic viewer was going to send Jichelle/Jim Bob money to purchase shoes or a company would furnish x-amount of shoes for the children.
Funny how “conservative” the Duggar women are when the older ones wear makeup and even looks like Jichelle/Jessa dyes her hair.
The only normal one in the whole group is the cousin Amy. She is a hoot! Maybe she should do a reality show of how to survive being an only child!
The Duggar parents are glorified (on TLC) for having an exorbitant number of children.
Why should people look up to them for having so many children and why are they being rewarded for it???
All that they’re doing is overpopulating an already overcrowded world with limited resources. By the year 2050, the earth’s population is estimated to reach 9 billion people. That’s almost maximum capacity for this planet and its resources.
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar are so selfish and irresponsible. If they want a lot of children, why don’t they adopt some of the million or so orphans in this country and around the world???? The reason is because Michelle and Jim Bob think that by having so many of their own children, that they’ll get the attention and adoration that they so want.
They call themselves good “Christians”. Shouldn’t good and kind hearted Christians be trying to help others living in this world rather than making carbon copies of themselves???
Guess the OctoMom should sign up for one of the Duggar’s debt free seminars.
I really haven’t paid attention to the whole Duggar thing, just random things on the web really. I might watch half an episode if nothing else is on and I’m bored.
But here’s food for thought.
I’m the youngest of six. And an “accident”. I was born when the sibling closest in age to me was seven and in school. I’m now 30.
Three of my siblings have confessed to me that they were jealous of me. Why? Not because I was the youngest really, but because they didn’t have to share Mom and Dad with me.
Go ahead keep your little woman barefoot and pregnant, right Jim Bob? Sounds like your very controlling if you ask me. I feel really sorry for the kids since they’re not receiving any individual attention from mom and dad. Then I was wondering how Michelle’s uterus is really taking all these pregnancies, it must be completely stretched by now especially since she’s not a very big woman. Poor thing.
I wish michelle would not have any more kids. I saw the family on the Today Show this a.m. Poor Anna ,I feel her time to shine was taken away from her. Michelle should accept that its time to be a Grandma. Its not all about you Michelle. If you are so good and holy you should think of others. Maybe reality TV is doing the same thing to you as it did John and Kate,keep the ratings up!
I feel sorry for their kids.
I have to apologize for the diversion from the Duggar family… I know this is not meant to be comments made on the correct and incorrect use of the English language, but, as a teacher, I just couldn’t refrain. By the way, I like them (from what I saw), I respect their stand on their beliefs, but they have more children than I want to imagine ever having. Period. Actually, I mean ever imagined wanting to have, since I raised my three and “had” four. This is coming from a Kindergarten teacher of 18 full-time children in my class. Of course, that’s just my feelings and it’s totally beside the point, because what I really wanted to say is: THE most irritating misuse of the English language is when people are so apt not to misuse the word “me” that they go in the other direction and try to compensate by misusing the word “I.” I’m talking about smart, educated, professional people; eg., “I did not appreciate the comment made to my husband and I.” Or, “That is between my friend and I.” PLEASE STOP!!!!
Of course, my Kindergarten students are all four, five, and six years old, so there is no older child support or buddy system. Believe me, a teacher is always happy to see the end of the day and turn each child over to his/her parent (!). I will just add–it is fully a matter of good management and control capability to have that many children in your midst at one time, on a daily basis; albeit, six hours (for a teacher) as opposed to 24 hours of round the clock care. Frankly, I think Michelle is using some pretty clever and time-honored and proven techniques when she uses the older children to care for and teach the younger ones. I have even used it over the years in my classroom with some more mature, and brighter children to help some of the less capable students. They are proud and most happy to oblige. If they’re not, I never push them into it. Michelle Duggar and her husband are the ultimate care-givers, and I’m sure would not shirk from their roles, whenever the situation turned from the norm to the less than normal, to whatever degree, and however often.
Of all the comments there are about the Duggar’s overpopulating an already overpopulated planet… from what I can see from some of the comments, the Duggar’s are not the overpopulation problem 😉