Exclusive: Michelle Duggar is pregnant!

This is so sad. How can any two people possibly give 17 children the time they need? They seem to be reproducing like mad because of their religion, not because they actually cherish each child as an individual. Think of the problems and conflicts you had growing up as a teenager- did you get the time, support, understanding, long talks, etc... with your parents that you needed? Did you have 16 other brothers and sisters to share your parents with?
Even if the mother is giving all the chores and childcare tasks over to her daughters, how could she possibly have enough time in the day to actually mother and mentor her children?
Who are these kids supposed to go to if they are having any kind of problem? What if one is gay? What if one doesn't agree with the teachings of their religion? What if one has been molested? What if one of the girls hates raising her mother's babies and doesn't really want any of her own, ever? Who are they going to go to with their problems? They are isolated from society for the most part- it seems like with ultra conservative Dad, baby machine Mom, and their caretaker siblings who aren't even adults yet, those kids are don't really have any open-minded adult they can go to for help or advice. Sad, sad, sad.

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*sigh* People always seem to want to attack what they don’t understand.

I’m a mother of 2 and oldest daughter out of 5 siblings. I have no desire for more children. The amount of negativity towards this family astounds me and I’d like to address some comments.

(quote) “They don't actually *parent* their childrn, apparently, Michelle weans early in order to conceive and as soon as a new baby is born, the old baby is assigned to an older sibling to be raised. It reminds me more of the parenting practices of a social insect.”

Definantly one of the ruder comments. I don’t recall Michelle saying anything about weaning early. According to Discovery health, the average time between births is 18 months. Both of my children were weaned at around 12 months, which was longer than some people I knew.

Who said the older sibling “raises” the baby? Since when is older siblings helping out with younger ones a new concept? I certainly helped with mine. The only difference is that these children have a specific sibling to help with, which is a heck of a lot more organized. Wish my mom had done that.

As for actual parenting, this mom spends more time with her kids than most, that is, 24/7. The average household sends their children to school for around 7 hours each weekday. That’s a lot of time. Even when they finally do see them, many parents spend very little time with their kids. Michelle spends her every waking hour with her children. Personally, that would drive me nuts, but it doesn’t seem to have fazed her at all, actually quite the opposite. She seems pretty spry for a woman of 40 with 16+ children.

(quote)"They also practice somewhat draconian parenting methods such as blanket training in order to get their children to be quiet and obedient. I'd rather have fewer normal curious children rather than 17 zombies sitting on a blanket."

I don’t remember this from anywhere. In fact, I had never heard of blanket training before, so I looked it up.
It is teaching your baby to stay on a blanket so they do not crawl on the floor. I have a hard time believing the Duggers had any space for a baby to be on the floor, but I could be wrong. Perhaps the writer was merely referring to the children being “abnormally” quiet and obedient. I wonder if this writer is the parent of spoiled brats. This could explain why obedient children are such a novelty to her. A lack of parenting methods shouldn’t be mistaken for good ones.

(quote)"Jimbob has effectively marketed his children and has bragged on about not being in debt."

If I wasn’t in debt, I’d want to brag about it too! There are very few people in America with no debt. Anyway, I don’t think he was bragging. He was asked the question of how he affords his kids ( more than once), and he answered plain and simple. And I don’t see anything wrong with going on TV. They seem to enjoy it, it pays some of the bills, so what? Apparently you’re watching it. I don’t see anyone yelling at the families with sextuplets.

(quote)"The girls are given no 21st century options for their future, they more resemble women under the Taliban."

Do you have personal knowledge of woman living under the Taliban? Do tell. According to Wikipedia, these are examples of Taliban decrees, directly copied and pasted.
• Women should not appear in the streets without a blood relative and unless wearing a Burqa (also Burkha , Burka or Burqua).
• Women should not wear high heeled shoes as no man should hear a woman’s footsteps lest it excite him.
• Women must not speak loudly in public as no stranger should hear a woman's voice.[1]
• All ground and first floor residential windows should be painted over or screened to prevent women being visible from the street. A Taliban representative explained that “the face of a woman is a source of corruption for men who are not related to them”.[3]
• The photographing or filming of women was banned as was displaying pictures of females in newspapers, books, shops or the home.
• The modification of any place names that included the word "women." For example, "women's garden" was renamed "spring garden".
• Women were forbidden to appear on the balconies of their apartments or houses.
• Ban on women's presence on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind
As far as I saw, the girls were in plain view, with just as much if not more to say than the boys. And they certainly have been on TV.

(quote)"What I don't like, other than the names (Joy-Anna and Johannah are just a little too close for me.. and Jinger?!), is that the GIRLS raise the younger children."

I’m sorry, do other people’s names for their children offend you? More to the point, it’s none of your beeswax.
Maybe you should check your facts before you act like a school age, stuck up snob. All of the older children have a “buddy” younger sibling to help with, boys and girls alike.

(quote)"ONE GIRL does 10 loads of laundry a day. A few of the other girls cook. What do the boys do? Play with power tools and whatever they want."

I hate laundry.
The correct amount according to that “ONE girl” is 7 loads, with more on occasion. Although she is in charge of it, I don’t believe she does it entirely by herself. Everyone pitches in for all of the cleaning. Two other girls have primary charge of cooking.
And oh those lazy, good-for-nothing boys. Do they have it made. Cleaning their room, bathroom, yard work, helping build their new home, helping with their siblings, school work and music lessons. That’s exactly the life I wish I had. Wait a minute, that is the life I had, minus the house-raising and music lessons. The funniest thing about this statement is that I recall one boy implying that he didn’t like building the house. On top of that, on occasion the girls came and helped too.

(quote)"We dont live in a day and age where women MUST care for children, not have an education, and basically wait on their husbands hand and foot. Thats what it seems this family is doing. Raising an 'army' of saints to do what? Make women into slaves and men into robots! Sorry, but it just aint right. Michelle has made herself into the QUEEN bee. She is nothing more than a baby factory. If the other "girls" take care of the babies, what is it that she really has to do? Basically, have MORE babies and pass the buck along to the others in the family."

No, we live in a day and age where people have been remarried multiple times (if at all), multiple siblings are highly likely to have multiple sets of parents, and children are very, very lucky if they ever get to see both of those parents at the same time. But our women are educated. Hail one for the femme fatal and whoever be crushed in her wake be dammed.
Have you ever been a manager? What is it that a manager really does? Answer, everything. Saying she does nothing is really, really unfair. I’ve already answered this further up above

(quote)"Other than family members, what kind of OTHER social enviroment, other than church, does those children have? Not much!"

(quote)"Those children have no idea what the REAL world outside their little circle is all about. Sad. Very sad, indeed."

(quote) "They don't even get to socialize in church, they have "church" in their home (just them and 1-2 other "quiverfull" families) for which JimBob gets a large tax break (although he is not a certified minister)."

Why do people think that “socializing” is so important? When I played Sims, I used to hate that bar. In general, people in our society are liars, cheaters, and self-egotistical (not to mention gossips). They fake smiles at you and pretend they like you when they really couldn’t care less. The Duggers have some close friends they like and they hang out with them. I bet they trust them explicitly. Why do they need anyone else? And where does it say Jim Bob gets a tax break for ministry?

(quote)"Michelle also homeschools all of them (although she is not a certified teacher - not that one *must* be in order to homeschool, but she married at 17 and has no education beyond high school)."

Since being a certified teacher is not a requirement to teach your own children as per the United States government, this is hardly something to complain about the Duggers. I think you just dissed about a half a million moms. Homeschoolers tend to have far higher scores than publicly educated children. Deal.

(quote)"And I agree, it's not the size of the family that bugs me, it's the fact that the gender roles are archaic, the girls must wear clothes straight out of Little House on the Prairie and are not permitted to cut their hair,"

I admit I’m not overenthusiastic about their wardrobe, but that’s their choice.

(quote)"The girls will never attend college, and so far the oldest boy is supposedly taking "online" college classes."

Again with the girls. Stop acting as if the girls are being treated subclass. Off of the Discovery website, the girls future dreams: Joy-Anna, age 7, nurse; Jinger, 11, chef, Jessa, 12, beautician; Jill, 14, missionary; Jana, 15, midwife.
If the girls want to have a college education, there is no indication that their parents would object. As for the funds, they have not said one way or another whether they can afford it, but neither can half the families in America with much less children. What’s better, an uneducated man with no debts or an educated man with $60,000 in student loans? Eye of the beholder.

(quote)"It's a VAGINA not a CLOWN CAR"
Main Entry: va•gi•na- a canal in a female mammal that leads from the uterus to the external orifice of the genital canal
Yep, not a clown car.
Main Entry: uter•us-a muscular organ of the female mammal for containing and usually for nourishing the young during development prior to birth -- called also womb
Translation, it’s for having babies. Class over.

(quote)"I wouldn't have a problem with the Duggars if they were not preaching to other couples that they should all have "quiverfull" families."

People tend to share the things they value. It’s not worth getting offended over.

(quote)"One thing that has always struck me when watching their specials is that none of those kids have braces or glasses. I can't imagine that among all those kids not one has bad eyes - or bad skin for that matter. They remind me of a cult –"

How dare they be in good health. Those with no braces, cults are we!

This next one was one paragraph, but I’m going to address it one at a time.

"Even if the mother is giving all the chores and childcare tasks over to her daughters, how could she possibly have enough time in the day to actually mother and mentor her children?"
I answered this one above, but I will reiterate. This woman spends 24/7 with her children. I’m willing to bet she knows more about them now than most parents do in a lifetime. Not one child complained about time with mom, and they certainly seem mentored to me, just not by your beliefs.

"Who are these kids supposed to go to if they are having any kind of problem? "
Um, call me old-fashioned, but maybe their parents. It’s a novel thing I know.

"What if one is gay? "
I’d laugh at this if it wasn’t so serious. You know, I heard a rumor that the majority of people calling themselves gay have had abusive childhoods. Now this just a rumor, but I would really like to see a study on it. It’s true for the very small # of gays I know. I wonder if homosexuality is really all the hype the media give it, or if it really is just a disorder. In a family with such high values and no signs of abuse, I bet my last dime that this will never be an issue.

"What if one doesn't agree with the teachings of their religion?"
What would you do? In my family, that one will be loved but disagreed with.

"What if one has been molested?"
Have you ever dealt with a child who has been molested? I have. They have issues. For the most part, the Dugger children don’t seem to know what a real issue is.

"What if one of the girls hates raising her mother's babies and doesn't really want any of her own, ever?"
The eldest daughter, the one that you would think would hate kids the most? Her favorite pastime is babysitting. If any of the girls doesn’t want children, I imagine they just won’t have children. What’s to wonder?

"Who are they going to go to with their problems?"
What problems?

"They are isolated from society for the most part- it seems like with ultra conservative Dad, baby machine Mom, and their caretaker siblings who aren't even adults yet, those kids are don't really have any open-minded adult they can go to for help or advice. Sad, sad, sad."
And I think you are "sad, sad, sad,"
Define “open-minded”. People who say that are usually selfish, immature, and ignorant with no grasp of life. Thanks to “open-minded” people, the family has become all but extinct and our society is suffering for it. People wonder why America has become so crime-ridden. It starts in the home. The values you are taught as a child and the environment you grow up in. Americans have become so self-centered with the “individuality” movement. Any child can demand his way. A mature person knows that life demands self-sacrifice, for the people you love and for others around you. The Duggers learn strong family ties and maturity from birth. No it’s not the size of the family that bothers people. It’s because they’re seeing what a real family is. A family with values that works. And that bothers people because, having no experience of a true, loving family, they can’t fathom it. So instead, they attack it. I don’t hold to all of the Duggers beliefs, but I’m glad to see another family with strong ties and values. Maybe there is hope for America yet.

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