Michelle Duggar is Back

It seems that my Michelle Duggar post from June of 2004 is back in the news again and based on the number of comments I am getting folks are interested. God bless 'em. We have trouble keeping up with laundry for four.

Sauk Valley News:

Michelle Duggar just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again.

Johannah Faith Duggar was born at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and weighed 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces

The baby's father, Jim Bob Duggar, a former state representative, said Wednesday that mother and child were doing well. Johannah's birth was especially exciting because it was the first time in eight years the family has had a girl, he said.

Jim Bob Duggar, 40, said he and Michelle, 39, want more children.

"We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them," he said in a telephone interview.

The Discovery Health Channel filmed Johannah's birth and plans to air a show about the family in May.

The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family from the northwest Arkansas town of Rogers has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers.

Comments

[Debi]

I just finished watching your show. I am amazed that the two of you think it is healthy to continue with your enormous family. I, myself, have a child that is 13. I am also a registered nurse, so I deal with children everyday. Your children not only look and act way out of character for their ages, but Mom needs a new "do" and should be concerned about what kind of life she will have when all of the babies leave the nest. Your children dress like "Quakers" and have absolutely no outside relationships. This is not healthy. My son is involved in sports and various school activities. He dresses appropriately and has numerous friends. I've discussed this issue with many of my friends (including my husband) and they agree that your children are being robbed of a normal life. What is wrong with you?

Geez, get a grip and QUIT with the baby making. Also, Mom needs to do SOMETHING with her hair. It looks hideous for the year 2005. I am sitting with 10 of my friends and they are basically gagging at the site of your kids (clothing and hair) and your military style life. Get your tubes tied babe.

[Ahnna]

Gurl more power to you if god has blessed you with the ablity to have kids and the money then you guys keep doin wat you do....i kno that i want a big family not as big as yours but big and if god has blessed you wit a big family then keep on keeping...your kids dont look abnormal and yea you couldprob do away wit the poof but you look happy and thats all that matters

God Bless Ya'll

Ahnna Paparella

[Anonymous]

In response to Debi's post, I would just like to say how immature your comments about Mrs. Duggar's hair were? Why do you care?! That was just completely ridiculous and totally uncalled for. Now back to the ACTUAL issue being discussed, as long as the Duggar's can take care of their children and provide them with love and all of the other important things life has to offer, I believe they have the right to continue having children. I myself would never do that, but who am I to judge them?

[leigh]

Debi-
Grow up! If you are old enough to have a child that is 13, you should be old enough not to make immature comments about the way people look. You sound like a gossip who needs to discuss everything with your friends and husband before you are capable of coming up with your own opinion. The Duggar's are not hurting you, so WHO CARES!

[leigh]

Debi-
Grow up! If you are old enough to have a child that is 13, you should be old enough not to make immature comments about the way people look. You sound like a gossip who needs to discuss everything with your friends and husband before you are capable of coming up with your own opinion. The Duggar's are not hurting you, so WHO CARES!

[Kate]

The Duggar family is a loving family. Mr. and Mrs. Duggar look wonderfully young and Mrs. Duggar has a smile that can light the dark. Bless you for all the well balanced and respectful children. All the happiness to you all. Stay positive.

[Clowder]

OK, I've read as much as I can stand.
Some people's heroes are other people's schmucks - that's just the way it is.

So...I'll be somebody's schmuck:
1) I agree about Mrs. D's hair; but for a reason: if you (or your husband) are going to be in a public office, or running for one, make sure the family as a whole is presentable - contemporarily speaking. Essentially, her (their, meaning the girls) hair styles froze in time - the 1980s - which, it seems to me, is when Michelle's sense of individuality came to a screeching hault.
2) "They" want to home-school all their kids? Great, good for them. Note: if they were in NY, the school taxes would increase anyway. Here, you pay school tax if you have 17 kids, no kids, or you're retired all the same - so they can do as they like. BUT - lets refrain from teaching the 6 year-olds about things like BANKRUPTCY for a few years, shall we?
3) They're up to 16 children? Whatever. I really don't have a problem with that. They wanna f@*% like bunnies - and at this point can find the TIME and the PRIVACY - go for it. And yes, they must be doing it like bunnies, cause the 'little swimmers' don't always hit the mark on the first shot - trust me I know.
4)I really feel for the children themselves. The entire show I just saw - 14 & pregnant again - was exactly that; centered around the fact that there are so many of them. "THEM", as a whole. I saw no individuality, no unique interests. ALL of them HAVE to learn violin & piano. I'm married to a very talented musician, so I applaud the music-education aspect. But suppose someone has an interest in trumpet, or guitar, drums...or even ART.
5)The Clothes!!! Talk about isolation. Those poor girls. I feel bad that they seemingly are not permitted to indulge the typical feminine fashion-experimenting and expression. Boys are easier to please fashion-wise. Not only does it seem they are stifled in that way, but they all have matching dresses?? And ONLY dresses, apparently. It looks as though they are specially made for these girls. The Ingalls Family would be very proud (stop - I am a huge Little House fan). These kids are on a road to growing up and not having a single clue as to who they are when their siblings aren't around.
I feel that, yes, Michelle is addicted to pregnancy; JimBob totally likes it that way (big manly accomplishments you know).
They are religious extremists; if "children are a gift from god" doesn't it seem that they are the greedy ones? A gift is something you accept and are grateful for - you don't keep going to the giver looking for more and more and more. But then, more than one Pope has "encouraged" Catholics to reproduce at will simply to increase Catholic numbers in the next generation, so...
I also feel that all the publicity has everything to do with the fact that he is and wants to be a politician. You don't think they do the Discovery stuff for free, do you? Can you say 'Campaign Fund'? Quite honestly, they've worked so hard to keep their kids in their little world, if he keeps running for office...talk about a public life. These kids (some of which aren't really kids anymore) will essentially be living in a fishbowl their entire lives.
I think they are one big publicity stunt. I mean I'm sure they are loved and obviously they have the cash flow (Discovery or no) to keep them fed (ok, with tater tots & soups) and that's all good. But at some point, I imagine the two of them sat there & took bets on how many kids they could have. My bet is that they're shooting for 20.
PS - as far as the public-school education bashing from all you home schooled people: Sorry, but so far it seems like I, a public school Regents graduate, am the only one that has successfully taken advantage of the 'preview' feature on this blog, checked my spelling, grammer & capitalization. I would never claim to be perfect - heaven & the world know otherwise - but I must say some of you need some serious brush-up language courses!

[misty]

In response to Clowder:
1. Get a grip!

2. You should spend some of your pious efforts thinking of reforming yourself.

3. The correct spelling is G-R-A-M-M-A-R

[Cheryl]

Well, I am so torn. The children are loved, healthy, and well taught. I do wonder about their sense of individuality and their ability to function in the real world once they leave home. But what if they meet someone like them, and do what their parents do? Their partents live in the real world (mostly). I'm super impressed with the organization in their house, yet disappointed with how unhealthy their meals seem. Overall, they are not hurting anyone, and the children are loved which is more important than new outfits. Right? I mean if you had to pick one or the other, the choice if obvious. So, I guess they should keep on going!

[Lissie]

As far as how healthy their meals are...It does make me wonder how much soup & tater tots you can eat, but when I was watching the show, at one point, I DID see a HUGE bowl of salad...
I also wonder where they get the money to pay for all of these kids, and finance their lifestyle (a one month vacation for 18 people? C'mon...). My guess is that it is being financed by the taxpayers.

[sj]

_I_ believe that a person's, or family's, financial life is nobodys business. JimBob Duggar has explained in several shows and interviews the how and why of their financial status. I didn't think he needed to but that's my opinion.
People, viewers are petty in that they regard 'appearance' above quality of life for this family. They are not the only people in the world to have 16 children, and they certainly won't be the last. And they absolutely won't be the ONLY people who appear on TV because of it.
And another thing - they are really really open about how they do something, so if you are sooo curious about who pays for all their milk - ask them.

[sandra]

what is wrong with you people that bash the duggar's? are you so upset that your children do not act as civilized as their's do? so what if they do not wear the latest fashions, so what about michelle's hair? she is raising 16 beautiiful well mannered children, who don't act like the little demons that you people raise

[Johanna]

I'm sick of the Duggars. Sick sick sick. Like the Duggars themselves, who insanely keep procreating in middle age wtihout so much as a thought that when they are 60 they'll still have kids at home if they continue on the way they're going. And every new baby they have brings the opportunity for Downs' syndrome or some other birth defect. Plus, we just learned this week that increasing age in fathers means increasing numbers of autistic children.

It's only a matter of time before Michelle's uterus prolapses and/or she drops dead from a blood clot or an aneurism or something, God forbid, because that would leave 16 children totally at the mercy of their sadistic father. Who, incidentally, asks his wife if she wants more children, so apparently Michelle's uterus is actually Michelle's jurisdiction and Jim Bob is the uterus's buddy, but screens all her email before she reads it.

The guy is what they used to call, in the nineteenth century, a "breeder." That is, a man who is in love with generating his own offspring, and to hell with the poor woman whose shape is slowly turning into a bag of potatoes from constant childbearing.

And, if the child welfare people don't show up to find out what the hell is going on with those poor burdened girls, whose entire childhood and youth has been dedicated to raising somebody else's enormous brood of children, cooking, sewing, cleaning, and even helping the men and boys build the house, then I say impeach the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the whole state government of Arkansas or whatever southern shithole those people live in. Those girls aren't even allowed to cut their hair. I mean, is that sane? Is that normal?

I mean, chores are necessary, but schoolwork is a child's most important occupation. While Michelle is trying to teach a five year old about bankruptcy, who the hell is watching the kids ages 1-4? You guessed it: one of the slaves I mean girls.

[Anne]

I don't really care about hair styles or clothes even though they don't appeal to me. What does bother me is that I grew up in a family much like that in the 1950's. Evangelical parents, sweet devout mother, father in charge 14 kids. Older kids raising younger kids. By the time I was 10 I was in charge of the younger kids, making sure they were dressed, cleaning up after them, discipline at my discretion,caring for them when they are ill, changing their beds when they were sick, cooking about 1/2 the meals. When I was 11 I started doing the laundry. I delegated things to the younger kids. It was work, work, work. We kids raised each other even though we were not competent to do so. We all smiled and were happy, happy, happy. We all loved to help (or else). Our parents were lauded as fine examples of christian parents. We all stood in a big group and grinned as we were dragged from church to church to be shown off. When I left home at 19 my mother was horrified, Her response was "I need your help with the little ones". Lots of kids are lots of work and we kids worked very hard raising ourselves. The Duggars are very familier in their responses. While the children of course are individuals each as different as snowflakes, I know they are not getting much individual time from their parents and I know their older brothers and sisters are picking up the slack. At my fathers funeral we children were talking. We all agreed that we loved each other but we also all agreed that our childhoods were unhappy, and we all felt like part of a group "the kids". We weren't abused or neglected and our parents loved us. We grew up and all of us married in time. Most of us didn't have children, only one of us had 2 children. It isn't fun to raise your siblings plus children do not have the maturity to do a good job.

Maybe the Duggars are in some magical way different but I have experienced parents in love with their fertility and lining up children as displays of that. All on show, all saying the right thing, all smiling and happy. But we were not happy and I have doubts about the Duggar children.

[one of thirteen]

I'm sorry you had such a bad time of it. But, I do know some good situations. I too am from a family of 13. We may be overly blessed but I wouldn't trade my big, weird, crazy family for all the organized, perfectly run 2 children family. I do have to work, a lot. But that is my joy. My family is my best friend! I do have others but none are so dear to me. I do lose my temper, I do have bad days were they drive my crazy but I still love it! I spend at LEAST 4 hours a day just helping like a nanny and I still have to do my school and 2 days a week I have to cook all the meals. But would I rather go to school and not be able to help? No! not for anything! My brother made himself very disconnected for the rest of us and he went to public school and I hate to see him distance from the rest of us because he always wished for a "normal" family. But we still get to have our own lives if we wish. I take art, music, and had my own animals for a while. My sister went for 3 months to a foreign country. One of my other sisters has a concert harp. I hunt. And if we plan ahead we can almost always get together with our friends. I love my life! And my Dad started his own company and WORKS HARD! But he does not do tax breaks, or anything that is dependent what so ever. We didn't always have a lot but we always have managed. We have our strife and conflict but I don't think most of us would change it one bit! I am blessed with such wonderful parent! And our new babies are so sweet! My crazy and wild brothers are so fun! My sisters are so kind! I feel kind of awkward posting my deepest feelings on this but I just want everyone to understand that most of us LOVE it! God bless you all!

[Staci Lynn]

In my 25 years as a teacher, I can suffice to say that these children would not to well in the school system (public or private). Trust me I've taught in both. These children have no outside relations, indiviuality, or anything that expresses that they are emotionally healthy. Sure, they'll give a little smile at the camera, but mentally, these children need to be socialized. The parents need to take into consideration what they're children will be like when they grow old. You do not see too many successful people who were homeschooled. However if you name one, I will retract this comment.

[homeschoolmama]

To Staci Lynn - as a homeschooling mother myself, I try to set a good example to my 5 children by not being rude to others, even in the face of incredibly offensive ignorance. So I will try to ask kindly - do you actually know, personally, any homeschooled children? Have you read any of the recently published articles detailing how much better homeschooled children tend to in college, b/c they are better prepared and more self-disciplined? I would suggest you do a little research before speaking on a subject about which your knowledge is obviously limited. Call a few big universities, as their admissions administrators how they feel about hs'ed kids. Do some digging into which schools are actually intentionally seeking out hs'ed kids b/c they are so well-rounded and tend to be mature, hard workers rather than time and money wasting party animals. Read some of the research that has been done comparing p.s.'ed children to homeschooled, both academically and socially.

You offered to retract your comment if someone could name one successful hs'ed person. I'm going to take you up on this. Although I know of many many successful hs'ers (the author of Eragon, which was just made into a movie, comes to mind), I will restrict my comment to 2 whom I know very well. My younger brothers were both hs'ed w/ a religious curriculum. Both graduated college this past yr., one summa cum laude from Belmont Abbey in Belmont, NC, the other magna cum laude from North Carolina State University. The former just began his master's of theology on a full ride scholarship at Notre Dame, the latter walked into his dream computer programming job (one requiring top security clearance) with Northrup Grumman in Baltimore, MD. Both are active in church, charity, music, social events, and much more. From early on, both have had more friends than they had time for and fit in just fine w/ their p.s. counterparts - if anything they were considered the "cool" ones b/c they got to be individuals and do their work in a relaxed and healthy environment rather than spending 8 hrs. per day as drones of the gov't system. They are happy, fun to be around, into all the "normal" things - movies, music, shopping, concerts, etc. They are the most wonderful, moral, friendly, upstanding people I know of their ages.

I do agree with you on one point - the Duggars probably would not do well in the p.s. system. This is not surprising, considering the sad, shameful state that many public schools are in today both socially and academically. We hs'ers like to joke that socialization is the *reason* we homeschool. I would much rather my children have each other, as well as other hs'ed playmates, as an example, than the monstrous behavior I see coming from some p.s.'ed children.

Do some of the research I suggested, reread your comment, and consider the concept that the Duggars are not the only ones who live in a bubble.

[Angie]

Personally, I feel Michelle Duggar especially, is selfish. She keeps saying "there is nothing like it in the world to have a baby in your arms." Does she not realize that each new baby takes away from the time and attention that she can give to the children she already has?
I just wonder how much public assistance this family is receiving? I can't believe that they all have (complete) private insurance coverage for example and I am convinced the government is footing a lot of the bills. I agree that the oldest daughters are probably saddled with watching the toddlers while the mother homeschools the others.
My mother came from a family of 9 children and I don't even remember my grandmother because she just had too many grandkids. My mom said they all had to raise each other and take care of each other and no one ever had anything that was not a hand me down.
I am a former teacher and I believe homeschooling could be much more effective, if you had the time and committment to do it. Too much time is wasted in public settings. You can work with a child on their ("their" not "they're" to the 25 yr teaching veteran) own level and at their own pace. I worked with my first neice a lot before she entered the public school system. Since starting public school she has tested gifted; had straight A's every single semester; had perfect score on the math section of the PSAT, etc., etc., etc. I was not able to give that kind of individualized attention to the rest of my neices and nephews and none have done as well. I am torn about having children of my own because I have 5 neices and nephews that I spend time with and do things with and I know that will take away from them.

[deb]

To the reader who said no successful people were homeschooled, I present this list of homeschooled individuals.
Artists
Claude Monet
Leonardo da Vinci
Jamie Wyeth
Andrew Wyeth
John Singleton Copley

Inventors
Alexander Graham Bell
Thomas Edison
Alec Issigonis
Cyrus McCormick
The Wright Brothers

Scientists
Blaise Pascal
Pierre Curie
Albert Einstein
Booker T. Washington
George Washington Carver

Statesmen
Winston Churchill
Konrad Adenauer
Benjamin Franklin
Patrick Henry
William Penn
Henry Clay

Writers
Agatha Christie
C.S. Lewis
George Bernard Shaw
Noel Coward
D.H. Lawrence
Hans Christian Anderson
Charles Dickens
Mark Twain
Margaret Mead
Sean O'Casey
Rumer Godden
Brett Harte
Phillis Wheatley
Mercy Warren
Pearl S. Buck

Miscellaneous
Charles Chaplin - Actor
Florence Nightingale - Nurse
John Burroughs - Naturalist
Charles Louis Montesquieu - Philosopher
Albert Schweitzer - Physician
George Rogers Clark - Explorer
Andrew Carnegie - Industrialist
Bill Ridell - Newspaperman
Will Rogers - Humorist
Tamara McKinney - World Cup Skier
Jim Ryan - World Runner
Ansel Adams - Photographer
John Stuart Mill - Economist
John Paul Jones - father of the American Navy
Clara Barton - started the Red Cross
Abigail Adams - wife of John Adams
Martha Washington - wife of George W.

Religious leaders
Joan of Arc
Brigham Young
John & Charles Wesley
Jonathan Edwards
John Owen
William Cary
Dwight L. Moody
John Newton

American University Educators
Frank Vandiver (President - Texas A&M)
Fred Terman (President - Stanford)
William Samuel Johnson (President Columbia)
John Witherspoon (President of Princeton)

American University Educators

Frank Vandiver (President - Texas A&M)
Fred Terman (President - Stanford)
William Samuel Johnson (President Columbia)
John Witherspoon (President of Princeton)

American Presidents
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
John Quincy Adams
James Madison
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Abraham Lincoln
Theordore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

US Constitutional Convention Delegates
George Washington - 1st President of the U.S.
James Madison - 4th President of the U.S.
John Witherspoon - President of Princeton U.
Benjamin Franklin - inventor and statesman
William S. Johnson - President of Columbia C.
George Clymer - U.S. Representative
Charles Pickney III - Governor of S. Carolina
John Francis Mercer - U.S. Representative
George Wythe - Justice of Virginia High Court
William Blount - U.S. Senator
Richard D. Spaight - Governor of N. Carolina
John Rutledge - Chief Justice U.S. Supr Court
William Livingston - Governor of New Jersey
Richard Basset - Governor of Delaware
William Houston - lawyer
William Few - U.S. Senator
George Mason

United States Supreme Court Justices
John Jay
John Marshall
John Rutledge

Composers and Musicians
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Anton Bruckner
Felix Mendelssohn
Francis Poulenc
Conlon Nancarrow
Irving Berlin
Yehudi Menuhin

[Michelle]

I grew up in a household where I was the only child. My brother had long since grown up and moved away and even married and had his own children by the time I was old enough to care about my individuality. I was allowed to partake in many subjets of my choosing, including violin, ballet, tap dance, art, cooking, et cetera. I went to public school until 8th grade, homeschooled through high school and then went to college.

My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a household that was extremely religious and teeming with children. He has 7 siblings. Growing up, he was always "one of the children" or "child number three" or "the oldest son" but never just HIM. His parents didn't have the money for good food, good clothes, extra activities or any kind of individual interests. Incidentally, once those kids grew up and moved out, it was quite a shock for them to realize that there is a great big world out there that doesn't have everything organized and set aside like their Mom had. Once they found out (the hard way) that not everything in life can be settled or fixed by reading a passage from the Bible or talking to your mom or dad about it, they soon found themselves in a wide array of problems.

Perhaps this was just his mother and Michelle Duggar is nothing like that. Perhaps, behind the scenes, each child DOES have a sense of self and knows who he or she is as an individual. I doubt it, though. Everything is so organized and set up a certain, military style way that once they eventually leave the nest (assuming they ever will), it is going to be a nasty shock to them.

In addition, I am not saying that children need or even deserve fancy clothes, expensive meals and the top of the line items. I'm not saying to feed them filet mignon for supper and dress them for school in Prada. But what I am saying is that feeding your children tater tots, canned soup, bagged salad and Vanilla wafers is not the healthiest diet. Taking them to Goodwill for back to school shopping is not the best idea.

Homeschooled or not, these children are completely cut off from the outside world. Have you noticed that the only other children they are ever seen playing with or associating with are children who also have a lot of siblings? They wear matching clothes, have matching hairstyles, and wear clothes that are outdated. No, I am not saying fashion and hair matter. But to be so incredibly distanced from your peers is extremely unhealthy.

[chad]

These posts completely astound me; and though I could not come near to expressing my entire dismay and amazement I would like to try.

First I would like to deal with the religous bigotry (or very possibly a guilt trip disguised as religous bigotry) on the part of those posting negative responses concerning the Duggars. The intolerance, ignorance, bigotry, and outright stupidity in some of these comments should be clear even to those who have quiet godly concerns for the Duggars and their well-being. What is so astounding is the apparent need that some have to weigh-in on a family's decisions that have nothing to do with them at all. Maybe they are afraid that the Duggars' lifestyle choices are going to affect the nation so much that they will fell presured to conform to this lifestyle themselves. Yeah right!

This tells us one of two things. Either they believe that everyone should conform to societal standards (the pinnacle of bigotry), or they observe many failures in their own life not mirrored by the Duggars and feel compelled to speak out against the Duggars in an attempt to mitigate against their own guilt.

For instance, in reading the various posts I saw a lot of talk about norms. i.e. "appropriately", "contemporarily", "sane", "normal". These individuals clearly judge themselves against society and wouldn't have the courage to stand against it even if society began saying.... oh, I don't know, something clearly evil like, "it's allright to murder unborn infants." They are clearly devoid of any insight or personal judgement, and incapable of choosing any values for themselves that haven't been presented to them by the media or their immediate subculture. The superficiality is plainly evident in all their talk of hair styles, fashions, and political posturing.

Regardless of one's own preferences in these matter common-courtesy alone would demand a modicum of tolerance to those whose lifestyle choice do not mirror our own. They remind me of the children in school who picked on kids because they didn't have the newest shoes, and best clothes. These children always had brand-name clothes, the coolest backpacks, and most trendy hair styles. Unfortunately, those children, and many who took their criticisms to heart, never learned what to truly value in life. They developed their values based upon those held up around them, never taught to see past the fog of stupidity which is society itself.

The other possible conclusion (that they may be on a tirade to hide their own guilt trip) is almost as innescapable. The very idea that Mrs. Duggar is selfish! Am I honestly to believe that the countless families which limit their children to one or two do it out of selflessness? And why do they reason over and over--as if one post to this effect were not enough--that the Duggars couldn't possibly raise their family without government assistance?....While the selfish indulgent lifestyles of some who have posted would make it impossible for them to do so, it does not stand to reason that, "If I cannot..., he cannot." Their constant assumptions of government assistance betray them. Consider carefully: they are not assuming and hoping for the best of the Duggars; they are assuming the worst. Why??? Because if the Duggars are above reproach in their lifestyle then they feel condemned. Is this a necessity? Only if they suspect guilt on their part for their lifestyle.

Had any of them stopped for 10 seconds before displaying their ignorance on this thread they might have considered the following:
Maybe the Duggars value something other than fashion trends. Maybe they DON'T want their girls indulging in "typical feminine fashion-experimenting and expression" (gag!!!) BECAUSE they want their girls to value something different. Maybe they long for something other than "good food, good clothes," or "extra activities" (which by the way don't prepare you for a life-of-integrity a bit more than a field trip to the local zoo.) Maybe the Duggars understand that EVERY adolescent and young adult strugles with "who they are" (gag again!!!) and are actually more concerned with teaching their children HOW they SHOULD be regardless of "who they are".

No. I suspect that many of them did--or have--thought of these things. However, seeing as how they have woefully failed to pass on meaningful values to their children they accept the superficiality and meaningless platitudes (find yourself, follow your heart, "...and by golly, people like me") that society has offered as meaningful, and defend them as such. For if they did not defend them against those who do not accept them they would in fact become a testimony against themselves.

Someone says, "This is not the case."

I say, "If this is not the case, why do they strive against the Duggars whom they have not met (and probably never will)? Why not rather opine, 'That is their lifestyle. It is not mine.' and leave it at that?"

There are many valid criticisms which one could wage against the Duggars. But such should be done with care--to the Duggars, I might add, not on an internet post. But, to be sure, with care; for the Duggars may well have equally valid answers to those criticisms. A lifestyle such as theirs is not one entered into lightly.

In conclusion, every person who goes to public school, has nice clothes, engages in extra-curriculars, and knows lots of people finds themselves well adjusted while in school and after leaving home. The illiteracy in our country, random acts of violence, corruption, murder, school shootings...all of this comes from idiot homeschoolers and their large families. Clearly, we need to take the Duggars, hang them up to dry and put their kids in foster care so that they can have a chance at a normal life. How could they be so stupid.

[Shamane Milan]

To all the women on here who comment on how many kids Mrs. Duggar has and her families dress and whatever other crude marks you have come up with, just shows how in a box you are in society. Looks to me you all have went with the flow in life and have no individutality and are mad at someone like Mrs. Duggar who has some individuality. I would love to see where your 13 year old is ten years from now...compared to her 16 where they all are now. They are so well organized, individualized and so not touched by society it is a breeding ground for a child to finally be a leader. To bad you all like to throw your kids into society and let society raise you and your kids. Go ahead fit in...your showing your following skills perfectly..thats why shes on t.v and your not..????

[Donna]

I agree with Shamane. This family is what America should be about. The negative comments sound like they're coming from elementary children. It's sad to see how the general public is so brainwashed into believing that "normal" is the way our society is now. The Duggars are a great example of how we should all be. I could say so much, but no time. God, continue to bless this family.

[ProDuggar]

Consider scripture when trying to conform this family, who chooses not to "be socially acceptable"...

John 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Titus 2:14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Who can argue with God's Word??? (other than non-bible-believers...we are not to judge them, that will be the Lord's judgement)

[divino]

I have never laughed so much !!

Her hideous mullet,covered in a bottle of hairspray.Here in the uk,they are a joke.

Do all red neck ppl dress like that?