Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Have you heard of The Dugger Family?

They're this family with 18 children who live in Arkansas. They announced this morning on The Today Show that baby 19 is on the way! HOLY COW! 19 KIDS! That's a hell of a lot of kids. How in the world do these parents PAY for these children? Their new baby will be born AFTER their first grandchild. How weird is that!?
As conservative Christians, they decided after that to let God decide how many children they would have.

They adhere to a Christian movement called Quiverfull, whose members take seriously the biblical exhortation to be fruitful and multiply and believe that every child is a gift from Providence.

All the children are home-schooled and all learn to play the violin and piano. The older children help raise the younger ones under a buddy system. Jim Bob, a former state legislator, is involved in a number of businesses, including commercial real estate. -- The Today Show
I've seen their TLC show and I am amazed at how organized it all is. All of the children have assigned jobs to do and no one seems to be left out or forgotten. A far cry from Octomom. Instead of being disgusted I'm amazed at Michelle and Jim Bob (no joke) Dugger. I have no clue how they can emotionally and financially handle all of these children -- but they do it and still find time to have sex!

4 comments:

Kristina P. said...

One of my issues I have is that the older kids basically help raise the younger kids. I don't really think that's fair. I'm curious to see if any of these kids rebel down the road.

Michael Alden said...

"...but they do it and still find time to have sex!"

For people like the Duggers, that seems like quite the conundrum.

; )

Mimi said...

Yeah -- I wouldn't want to be responsible for raising my brothers and sisters. I'd feel like my parents were taking advantage of me. Give me chores, sure, but don't expect me to rear the offspring....

ur sista said...

after seeing this family in action... it doesn't look like the kids feel taken advantage of. they really enjoy being with their siblings and feel proud to have a 'job' in their home. kids love kids and they REALLY love babies. mine does, anyway. it isn't like child slavery or anything! they are all very polite and kind, but they're still kids too. i urge you to watch their show on tlc. i thought this family was insane, until i saw them in action. i'm astounded by the mother's patience, daily sturcture, creativity, and effort to spend individual time with each child. i'm not saying everyone should go make a million babies (i'm exhausted by just one!), but if anyone's gonna do it, i think the duggars do it great.