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UPDATE: The Duggars are expecting their 18th child.
Well, it’s kind of a slow gossip day, so let’s get on to something that’s just as interesting: a family that has 16 biological kids with one more on the way. Introducing…the Duggars!
Here’s mom and dad, Jim Bob and Michelle. I used to have bangs like that back in high school.
Apparently they all play some kind of musical instrument:
And here’s some fun facts about the family:
Michelle’s been pregnant for 126 months of her life.
Average number of months between Duggar births is 18.
The Duggars have had at least one baby born in every month except June.
Estimated number of Duggar diapers to date is 90,000.
The Duggars do approximately 200 loads of laundry each month.
The Duggars feed their entire brood for less than $2,000 per month.
The only person in the Duggar family whose name doesn’t start with "J" is Mom — Michelle.
Every Duggar child learns to play both violin and piano.
The family organizes their household chores by assigning "jurisdictions," so everyone knows exactly what their daily responsibilities are.
The Duggars estimate all the family members combined have worked approximately 39,000 total hours building their new house.
The Duggars are debt free.
Here’s a video of the Duggar Family; it’s Jim Bob introducing his brood to the 2006 San Antonio Independent Christian film festival.
Wonder how they run their household (hint: lots of vodka and Xanax)? Here’s Michelle’s take on that:
Our #1 goal is to lead our children to seek a close relationship with God & give Him every area of their lives. We purpose to start each day with a family Bible study, reading a chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with the day of the month. We have heart to heart talks with each of the older children regularly. We try to keep up with their attitudes & actions.
We desire for each child to develop a learning spirit & a servant’s heart that looks for opportunities to serve others. It is a joy to see our children becoming best friends. If they can learn to treat their brothers and sisters like they want to be treated, then they can learn to get along with just about anyone along life’s way.
Our daily routine begins with personal hygiene (get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, etc…). Each older child has a younger buddy or two that they help. We eat breakfast & read Proverbs at 8:00a.m., then we "quick clean" the house (older child & their buddy work together to clean their jurisdictions).
Throughout the day we try to pickup as we go along, but naturally things tend toward disorder. So, it is a constant training process with "quick clean" times throughout the day. At 9:00a.m., the older children help their buddies with their studies in phonics, math, violin & piano (J-O-Y- Jesus first, Others second, & Yourself last!). Then the older children start their music & individual studies- math, English, spelling & typing.
We break for lunch at 12:00pm. Jill (age 15) prepares lunch & we all help cleanup. After lunch we work to finish individual studies.
At 1:30p.m. the little ones go down for naps (4 & under). Momma & older children are around the table at 2:00p.m. for Wisdom Booklet group studies – science, history, law, medicine – part of our ATIA curriculm. We work on one subject until we complete the study. We also review & memorize scripture, hymns & operational definitions of character qualities. The children especially enjoy this because they make up motions to help with memorization.
At 4:00p.m., we break from group study to complete individual studies, otherwise this is free time. We have dinner at 5:00p.m. Jana (Age 17) prepares dinner & everyone helps cleanup. We do another "quick clean" of the house after dinner & then have free time. Some may still be finishing up music, seeing we have to take turns on the pianos with 11 students! 8:00p.m.is snack time. Then we get ready for bed (baths, brush teeth, pick out clothes for next day).
9:00p.m. is Bible time with Daddy. This is probably our favorite time of day. Daddy reads the Bible & we discuss the passage together. We talk about the day & bring out points of how to apply what we have learned. We enjoy making up skits & acting out examples of right responses & wrong responses. Often our little ones will fall asleep as Daddy begins Bible time, still they love to be with us at this special time. Bedtime is 10:00p.m.
We have a master schedule of each family member’s responsibilities displayed on our dining room wall. This idea came from the Maxwell’s, "Managers of Their Homes". For each month, we also have individual daily checklists which cover schoolwork, chores, music lessons, & personal hygiene. These were designed by Daddy so we could see at a glance how each child is doing. These checklists enable us to keep our children accountable & also reward them accordingly.
We have goals, but then we have reality! We are learning to practice flexibility -Not setting our affections on ideas or plans which could be changed by God or others! Sometimes we have "Daddy Days" when Daddy overrides the schedule and takes the children out for family time, a field trip or a service project. We try to make each day fun. Everyday is an exciting adventure!
Uh, yeah. Well, unfortunately, I would last about five minutes in that household before locking myself in the bathroom and crying.
Well, here’s some more pics. One question: how floppy is her va-jay-jay by now? Is it pretty much like throwing a hot dog down a hallway at this point?
Tags: the duggars, the duggar family, duggar, jim bob duggar, michelle duggar
I know plenty of Christian families and churches who do not emphasize the doctrine of Hell. Many Calvinist churches do, and they are currently the predominant voice in America; however, the Protestant churches that used to be “main stream” or “main line” (before the rise of the Religious Right) often do not bother to mention Hell, and when they do, I’ve heard things like, “There may be a Hell, but we are not required to believe that anyone is there.” :)
As this thread and its flame demonstrate, the culture wars in the US enter around religion. Those who oppose the Religious Right often forget that there is a liberal Christian tradition in this country. By painting all Christians as fundies and extremists (and thereby buying into the right-wingers attempts to limit Christianity to only their conservative views), secularists weaken the position of their natural allies in the cuture wars, namely moderate and liberal Christians.
I went to seminaries (Protstant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox) whose professors ARE the researchers who write the books that reveal the history of the Bible in a complex, scholarly way. Thoughtful Christians for centruies have known better than to take the whole Bible at face value; it is only since the 19th century that an anti-modern, ant-intellectual movement arose. The movers and shakers in in revealing the historical context of the Bible and church history are (gasp) frequently Christians.
Not all Christians are fundamentalists, and not all evangelicals are obnoxious. The left wing can be just as narrow minded and offensive.
I suggest that the personal attacks and the flame war subside.
“The Duggar$:” you pointed out [quote] “But this thread is about the Duggars.” Perhaps you would take the discussion back on point for us.
Maraleah -
If you did not teach your sons about hell.. you would be the only Christian I know of who did not. The rest of them teach their children that a god who loves them more than mommy and daddy… would send their souls to hell if they do not believe in him.
Crystal
I understand.. growing up the way you did.. it would be nice to have all of this be about you. The attention would probably be a welcome change…
But this thread is about the Duggars.
The only non-familial social relationships their children are allowed to have is with church members from their own religion. They do not go to school so that they can meet children who are different than their family and church members.
Again… I can see that you are desperate for attention. That is understandable considering your childhood. However… don’t assume everything said here is about you. it isn’t.
What was said in response to you… was the part you did not address… asking you if your parents.. while teaching you what is INSIDE the bible… also taught you the history of the bible itself. How it came to be… where the texts came from… the books that were left out of it and WHY those books were left out… (Here is a hint… anything that indicated that the church was not necessary… was left out by the elders of the church.. go figure)
I will ask again… Did your parents tell you that the original texts of the 4 gospels in the NT were written Greek.. a language that was not spoken by Jesus OR his disciples… and the oldest of the texts dates back to around 100 years after the death of Christ… which means none of them were written by anyone who ever met Jesus?
Did they tell you that the bible was canonized because politicians were not happy that several different religions were being practiced peacefully… so they told church leaders to come up with ONE religious text.. he didn’t care which books they kept or which they threw out… and the religious leaders threw out the ones they didn’t like and kept the ones they did?
Did your parents tell you that what religion you believe and which god you worship depends not on what *the lord puts in your heart*.. but into which part of the world you are born and which religion you are exposed to as a child?
Did your parents not teach you that there is a place called HELL where the souls of sinners burn for eternity?
The fact that you actually believe the literal version of Genesis’ depiction of creation.. yet say that it doesn’t mean your sisters and their husbands aren’t equal partners… is laughable. Genesis clearly states that the man is to rule over the woman. The bible states that the man is to love the woman and the woman is to OBEY the man. All things religious you must ask your husband about at home… for it is a shame for you to speak in the church. The bible states in Deut. that if a man kidnaps a woman and shaves her head and keeps her away from her family for a month… he can rape her and call her his wife.
Paul says Jesus changed the laws so that the laws of Moses no longer apply….
But Jesus said “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill”
P.S. I don’t recall my parents ever telling me that I can’t be around people that believe differently than me. I have some pretty strong relationships with non-christians that they have never disapproved of.
so tell me, “the Duggar$”, how do you know that my parents didn’t let me have any other options? I have family that doesn’t believe even remotely the same things me and my parents do, and my parents treat them the same way they treat me: with respect for what i believe. Also, my sisters and their husbands are equal companions, as will my husband and I be. No one is going to be under anyone’s “servant leadership”. God took a rib out of Adam’s side to make woman. He didn’t take it out of his feet or his head. My 8 sisters and their husbands and my 7 brothers and their wives make decisions together. They have better marriages than most people in the United States because they respect each other’s opinions, they compromise, they are selfless, and they have integrity. I’m choosing by myself to have a companion because i feel like my role in life is to be a mother and a homemaker, and a faithful one at that. There are certain roles for men and women to play that are of equal importance, but very different. God made women mothers because they were nurturers.
By the way, did your parents ever teach you anything? Did they teach you manners? Where’s the line between that and indoctrination?
“Using fear of eternal damnation to scare a child into doing what you want…”
I raised my sons in the faith and NEVER used “fear of eternal damnation” to keep them there. I taught my sons God’s love for them…that He loves them even more than I do and that says volumes to them. I don’t know what groups of Christians you’ve been associated with, but “fear factor” Christianity went out a long time ago.
The Duggers don’t teach their children fear of damnation. They teach them God’s love. If they taught their children to be fearful all the time, they certainly wouldn’t be as happy and calm as they are. They’d be nervous, frightened children.
I’ve been involved in both evangelical Protestant congregations and now am back in the Catholic Church. In my 52 years, I never heard a preacher or priest or teacher try to scare the hell out of people. God wants us to freely choose to love Him because He loves us, not because fire and brimstone await anyone who messes up.
God forgives us out of love for us. He is not waiting to zap us for stepping out of line. He is always there wanting the best for us and a relationship with us. THAT is what we teach our children. It’s not brainwashing…it’s loving them into the Kingdom. And if they choose to stray, we don’t reject them hatefully; we pray for them and love them even more because that’s what God does when WE stray.
People here speak as if the only choices are total immersion and indoctrination… or allowing children to raise themselves, place no expectations on them to be moral and decent people, allow them to join gangs.. use drugs.. and kill people.
Those are the extremes… and for the kid involved… one is JUST as bad as the other. The vast majority of American children are not raised EITHER way and grow up to be perfectly normal, happy, healthy adults with multi-faceted beliefs and ideologies.
Using fear of eternal damnation to scare a child into doing what you want is just as damaging as raising them in neighborhoods where other people use fear for their lives and fear of rejection by their peers to get them to do what bad people want them to do.
Either way you are turning your children into mindless maze runners who will go on to relive YOUR life rather than raising them to exercise free-will with responsibility, free-thought with logic and reason… and allowing them to live their own lives.. regardless of whether or not they agree with YOU.
Atheist parents DO allow their children to be exposed to other ideas. Atheists do not build schools where only other atheist attend.. schools which teach that children will spend eternity in pain and anguish if they choose to explore other possibilities. Atheists do not refuse to allow their children to be around people who believe differently.
Fundi religious people are the ones who do all of that.
Every parent attempts to pass on their morals and beliefs… the VAST majority do not quarantine their children away from EVERY OTHER POSSIBLE BELIEF SYSTEM their ENTIRE CHILDHOOD AND TEENAGE LIVES in order to do so.
It is not the passing on of their beliefs and morals that creates FORCED religion… it is the absolute REFUSAL to allow any information to the contrary to reach their children.
“Indoctrination of children is forced religion”
Every parent “indoctrinates” their children in their values and morals…good or bad. Do you think the atheist parents would allow their child to explore theistic ideas? The child would be afraid of being called ignorant or stupid or superstitious by their own parent.
I have faith in God. I am convinced He exists and that He loves us all. Why wouldn’t I pass that faith on to my children since I believe it to be true? I raised my sons in the Church. Now that they are grown men, they are free to decide what they believe and what they don’t. Of course I pray they will both be men of faith, but right now they are not practicing any religious belief.
Most mainline Christian parents don’t teach their children to be afraid of God. We teach our children that God loves them and wants a relationship with them. While they were minors in my home, they obeyed me and attended Church with me.
This is no different from any other discipline parents give their children while they are growing up…clean their room, be home by curfew, don’t do drugs, etc. Children need boundaries and only the parent who cares nothing for her child would refuse to give that child boundaries and guidelines to live by.
Once a child is an adult and on his/her own, s/he is free to decide which values and morals s/he wishes to keep from the parents and which to change for her/himself.
I would rather see 100 sets of parents giving the guidance that the Duggers give their children than one set of parents letting their children run wild. If you want to see the contrast, tune into “Nanny 911″ just once. I’ll take the Duggers any day over most of the parents on that show!
Also
You and your sisters… who chose men who could provide for them…
Did it ever occur to you that you can provide for yourself… that you can get an education and be anything a man can be… that you are adults who should not have to seek permission to do what you want… that you can be self-sufficient and independent… that you can be perfectly happy without being under the *servant leadership* of a man?
Please understand that being forced to believe something is not a case of being told *you must believe this or else!*.. it is simply the case of taking a child and raising it with exposure to only one belief system.. so that by the time they are adults they have no other options that seem realistic to them.
As you said, you were “raised on the scriptures”. Your parents likely gave you no indication that those scriptures may in fact not be true. They probably never told you that the original texts of the 4 gospels in the NT were written in a language Jesus and his disciples did not speak… GREEK. They probably never told you that the bible was cannonized because politicians were not happy that several different religions were being practiced peacefully… so they told church leaders to come up with ONE religious text.. he didn’t care which books they kept or which they threw out… and the religious leaders threw out the ones they didn’t like and kept the ones they did.
Your parents probably didn’t tell you that what religion you believe and which god you worship depends not on what *the lord puts in your heart*.. but into which part of the world you are born and which religion you are exposed to as a child.
Indoctrination of children is forced religion. It isn’t forced through threats of physical abuse. It is forced through mental and emotional manipulation… exposing them only to what you want them to believe… and making them scared to explore any other ideology… through threats of eternal damnation.
I happen to be the 15th of 16 children. I’m the 8th daughter and have 7 brothers, all from the same two parents. My parents raised us on the scriptures and taught us morals and values that every single one of us adhere to. I have never had a problem with individuality, though instead of a 20 year span like the Duggars there is a 30 year span between the oldest and youngest. We all have our own ideas, likes and dislikes, and we all do the most with what interests us just like anyone would. Especially if they know how to work for what they want.
My mother was the hardest working mother i have ever met, as i’m sure Michelle Duggar is. There is no way you couldn’t be with having that many children, even if the older children did help raise them. Everyone in my family is happy. Not one of my siblings or parents have ever been to jail or done anything that might put them there. We were all raised to respect one another as the Duggar children are. Although my older brothers and sisters did help change my diapers, they have much much more to put on their resumes. The boys all learned how to work at an early age, (very few boys know how to now days) and because of that they were able to grow up and own their own businesses and pay the taxes that many families are using today because they are too lazy to earn their own living. The girls learned how to work, too and recognized the men that they married as hard workers that would be able to provide for them in the future. And they have.
My parents have never forced us to believe anything. They taught us the morals and ethics that they valued and we took it because we were able to recognize the difference it made in our lives. Maybe some of you guys should try it.
I lived in the city as well.I was not trying to
misquote you in anyway.Everyone has their
own way of doing things.And you have seen
it in a different way then i have.I grew up in
single parent home and my mom couldn’t
get off work alot of the time or had the money
to take us to place like the zoo or the rain
forest.So a school field trip was exciting and
fun for me and my sister.It gave us a chase
to get to go some place and see things we
may only see on t.v. So for me I quess it
was fun time where I learned alot.So I
quess what I am tryng say is for your
kids maybe you were able to find have
soemthing you felt was better but for
some kids this an exciting time that they
wait all week for.
“Althrough I agree with some what you said Maraleah I can’t agree with you that public school field trips are short and you learn nothing.”
Mary,
Please reread my comment and don’t misquote me. I never said they learn nothing.
My experience with school field trips has been in large metropolitan areas. Each school level (elementary, middle, high) were on different shifts. If we had a field trip that parents could drive to, it was different but those were not the norm. The amount of time the buses were free was very limited as the middle schools (the last to be delivered in the mornings) began at 9:30, which put the buses at the field trip school at around 10:00. Drive time was usually 45 minutes to an hour which put us at the venue by 11:00. We gathered for lunch at noon and by 1:30 had to be on the buses to go back to school so they would be free to pick up the high school children at 2:30 to take them home.
Even if lunch only lasted 30 minutes, that gave us a grand total of 2 hours to tour the zoo or Seaquarium or what have you. Of course that’s if everybody was ready to leave on time and there were no delays anywhere.
First, I feel like dropping the letter J from my first name. My grandmother had 14 kids and said she would have been the 1st one in line for birth control had it been available. But she could have practiced abstinence too. But I dunno, my grandparents were Catholics. This is where religion comes in and encourages people to over-procreate so the church can gain more power by numbers.
To have a family this large is unusual in today’s world, but the amount of hostility that people have toward them is unwarranted.
No doubt their family has problems, but every family does regardless of size and religion. My friends are athesits with only one or two children, and their children are all MESSES! On the whole, these children are very well-behaved and know the value of work and responsibility. I don’t see them becoming self-centered delinquents, welfare-dependent, and/or drug-addicts like the “normal” kids in my community.
OK, the family gives me the creeps–but I can recognize my visceral response as the anti-evangelical, pro-Planned Parenthood bigotry that it is. :)
If in 10-20 years, we hear that most of the kids turned out to be basket cases and criminals, then our disapproval may be merited. Until then, our disgust is unwarranted judgmentalism.
This is America! We get to be free to have (or not have) a religion; to have (or not have) children; to be (or not be) hypocrites, etc. Live and let live. I don’t see the Duggars trying to push their standards on me, so I will not push mine on them.
I may not like what they are doing, but it is their right in a free country. I cannot assert my freedoms while simultaneously desiring to deny theirs.
Althrough I agree with some what you said Maraleah I can’t agree with you that public school field trips are short and you learn nothing.I went to public school and went on long trips they were normaly all day and we learned alot.We went with other classes from different age groups.We also played with kids every day on the playground with kids of different ages.I agree that people be able to live their life. But I have to agree that kids are mean if they walk into college not knowing the world the way it is today they will be attacked the chicken in the pack that is smaller then the others.and through I don’t agree with it people tend not to like whats different.And none of no matter what we agree with or disagree with can’t change that.
Well if that really is the case why is he not going to college now.He is 19 and should be done with school.And as for the field trip thing I have went on schoool field trips before we sent over 4 hours at the zoo and saw everything we wanted to see.I wonder if these kids have friends outside their home.Do they get to go to the mall and hang out with friends.Will they know how to react when they go college and are around kids that different from them.I agree with letting people live their own lives but lets face it they can’t possible know what they going to face once they step out the front door and see what the world is really like.
Actually, Ben, at the beginning of one of the shows when they introduced each child, they gave their likes and dislikes as well as what they want to be when they grow up. If I remember correctly, the oldest boy is interested in Law. Each one had different interests and career choices, which I’m sure will change many times over for the younger ones!
I used to homeschool my two sons. They were exposed to so much more especially on field trips. If you’ve ever chaperoned one of the public school field trips, you know that the actual time spent investigating the destination is very limited. The buses must wait until all the schools’ children have been delivered for the day before they show up at the school to transport the students for the field trip. By the time you get to the destination (maybe the zoo?), there is little time to explore before meeting for lunch and then it’s back to the buses to get them freed up for transporting students home from other schools.
I actually timed it once and we spent a total of one and a half hours at the zoo. How much do they get out of the whole experience besides a day off regular school? When I took my boys on a field trip with other homeschoolers in the group we belonged to (group rates applied), once inside the venue, we were on our own to really explore. My sons were exposed to so much more during those trips.
They also learned to interact with people of all ages. They weren’t divided into age-related groups, as they are at school. They learned to structure their group play so that the oldest to the youngest could participate…and this all on their own without adult interference.
As for those saying that Michelle does nothing while the kids raise themselves, tell that to the CEO of a company. While he delegates to others, he still works hard himself, if he wants to keep his job and company. She buddies up with the youngest child. The “poor” girl who makes lunch actually LIKES to do it! The one who supervises dinner actually LIKES to do it. At least they are doing what they enjoy.
They are fine. It’s not for everyone, but let’s let others live their own lives in freedom…that’s what America is all about.