My only real complaint with the Duggars is that they used disposable diapers.

[Rabrrrrrr]

I can slightly fault them for overbreeding in a time of too many people, but my dad's family had 16 and my mom's had half that, and I have to admit that I fucking LOVE being from a giant family. I LOVE having 60+ cousins and 60+ in the next generation, plus all the add-ins from marriage. It's one of the best parts of my life. There's nothing quite as cool as having family out the ass, that get along well, and that will help anyone who needs it, and who get together for great, wondrous feasts many times a year.

And I can fault them for being Jesus Crispy Christians, though their Jesus Crispyness isn't anywhere near as bad as most, but I imagine in their homeschooling they're learning creation science and not legitimate science, which makes me sad.

But what really makes me cringe is that they've gone through some 60,000 disposable diapers - that's a lot of unnecessary pollution. But on the other hand, they are very resourceful about re-using and recycling things and otherwise not letting things go to waste until they are no longer usable or salvageable.

But I look at the family, and I hear them talk, and they are clearly all loving people, the children are responsible and well behaved, they are all well taken care of, and are growing up in a nurturing home - and in the end, that's the most important thing of all. They take care of each other, and they've never hired a nanny or a maid or anyone else to take work away from the family. While their religious viewpoint isn't quite mine, I also don't get the impression that they are learning the theology of hate and fear that is so prevalent in the Evangelical sphere, nor a theology of hypocrisy. I don't get the impression that Jim Bob is lying, or off whoring (whether with women or men), but is simply a dedicated dad and husband. Sure, they're a huge family, and sure, we're already overpopulated - but at least they're creating hardworking, engaged, responsible kids who will actually be a benefit to society. There's a lot of smaller liberal families that don't do that.

Just a generation ago, they would not have been an anomaly. Where my dad's family grew up (rural farming Wisconsin) were also families with 18, 20, and 21 children. I went to school with a number kids who were from families of 8-11 children.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with their children, since unlike the large families of the past that were farmer families in which very few ever graduated from high school and basically spent their life in manual labor with no real chance to affect the world, I imagine all (or most) of the Duggar kids will go to college and become educated professionals and have a chance to influence the world somehow, whether in business, law, or even politics.

In the realm of "world's greatest sins", having a boatload of children is pretty low on the totem pole.

Of course, your opinion may vary, and that's okay.

[China_cat]

1. My biggest beef...besides the diapers (I totally agree about that)

is the fact that the 'old' kids become the parents of the 'new' kids when mom gets pregnant again. Lots of laying down the law, very little real parenting from those adults. Helping out at home is one thing, becoming a surrogate parent at age 10 is quite something else. Sure these kids are well-behaved, etc...they've never been allowed to have a childhood.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Nothing different than what happens in every large family.

You may still dislike it, but I do want to make sure that you know this is nothing new or unusual; nothing that the Duggars invented as some kind of evil, lazy plot.

In my dad's family, the younger ones were raised mostly by the older ones. You can't have extreme parental contact with more than four or five children, and quite honestly I don't think that is all that bad - the smaller kids are getting a lot of attention from someone. Probably more attention than a lot of other kids.

And, like I said, you can still disagree - I mostly wanted to make sure you know this is nothing unusual in a large family.

[China_cat]

3. What's unusual is the TOTAL abrogation of parenting

in this family.

And yeah, although there's only the 3 of us girls, we also grew up on a farm and know about large families. My grandmother was one of 13, my grandfather one of 9, etc. The neighbors had an average of 6. And every one of those kids got plenty of time with their parents.

The fact also that the kids have no privacy, live in boarding-school style dorms even when at an age where privacy becomes important, are expected to do adult chores (at least the girls).

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. My problem with it is that it's only the GIRLS expected to take on all the chores

I actually wouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with the Duggars if the older girl children weren't tasked with ALL the family's chores - one girl cooks lunch, the other dinner, another does the laundry, another changes diapers, etc. The boys, meanwhile, get to rock climb and do all these fun manly things while the girls are at home being slaves. I find their treatment of their daughters to be bordering on child abuse. If their sons were given tons of chores, I would understand a bit more, but it's clear that they are training their daughers to do be homemakers and mothers and that's it, while the boys are being encouraged to go to law school, go into politics, etc.

[redqueen]

6. Same here.

WAY past time for those habits to die off already.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. Only the diapers?

How about their form of Fundamentalism? It is creepy-deepy-doo. Have you gazed upon their website? Yoweee-zoweee! It's like some sort of hypnotic creepshow of Bible messages http://www.duggarfamily.com/

"Children are a heritage of the lord" Psalms 127:3 is their gang member tag (gang as in all them kids)

They sign their web page with:

With Joy Because of Jesus,
Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar Family
Proverbs 3:5-7

They sure believe in the missionary position... that's fer sure.

They found out that the pill allows you to get pregnant and then miscarry!!!!! They were real bummed out 'cause that's abortion... It's here for you to see: http://www.duggarfamily.com/aboutus.html
I know some people here will tell me I am not being open minded (or some such crap) but you wont make me think these people are not the original Stepford Family