I don’t know how anyone could love Kate. That woman is a c*nt.
Kate has certainly gone down hill since I started watching. She was anal and bitchy to Jon even then, but has now elevated it to new heights. Now the family’s life revolves around the show rather than the other way around. I still watch it, though, just because little Aaden is so darned cute (yeah, they have me suckered in).
I’ve watched the Duggars, too, but that’s just so I can giggle at the stupid clothing and rules and gasp when they deny that the earth is any more than 6000 years old.
Ooh, I know this one! I’ve never seen them on TV or anything, but I’m currently reading their book.
They had the first kid and named him a name they liked which just happened to start with J. Then they had twins, and without meaning to start a precedent, gave them names that went together and just happened to start with J. Then the fourth kid came. They didn’t know at this point that they were going to churn out so many more, but they didn’t want to give this one a name which set it apart from the previous three. And so on and so on… I am reading with great impatience to find out why there is a “Jinger” but not a “Julie”!
Jinger Duggar is my girl. She is so the black sheep of the family. If any of them writes a scandalous tell-all book, it’ll be her.
Did you see the episode where they went to the diamond mind? They were asking all of the kids what they’d do if they found the world’s biggest diamond. There followed lots of saccharin lisping about giving it to momma and daddy, or helping poor people. When they got to Jinger? “Cadillac Escalade.”
I guess that doesn’t bother me since I don’t see it as being any worse than when people make their kids do work on a family farm or help out with some other family business. I am hoping that with the scrutiny that the family is under from the media, if the kids were being mistreated then it would have come to the attention of the authorities by now.
I also think that in a way it is good for the kids that their family gets all this media attention since it is allowing them to learn about the world beyond their family. Having visited all these places and meeting all these people because of the Discovery Health channel shows, maybe they won’t grow up to be totally sheltered and clueless about the outer world like they would have if they were merely being quietly homeschooled and never interacted with anyone outside of the family.
I remembered someone on this board posting that they had supposedly seen Jon buying a chick drinks at a bar, so I googled it and it seems to be a common rumor that’s making the rounds. Perhaps he has an “understanding” with her that if he puts up with her for the sake of appearances on the show he can do what he wants when the cameras aren’t around. Maybe he’s just a very good actor and not as whipped as the show makes it look. 
I don’t have families confused… Well, not these two…
I remembered after I couldn’t edit anymore that it was a family of 11… or 12… another large number that I was not a fan of.
The Duggars are a nice family… Just too many children…
…and I do love Jon and Kate… but primarily for the children… they are cute… and to comment on Kate… Yeah shes downright awful at times… So is Jon… I dont think they hate eachother, I think it is a mutual understanding that there is a lot of pressure and not to take anything said during the day too seriously… perhaps they have nice pillow talk?
I can understand people scratching their heads about large families, but the criticism that I don’t understand is having the older kids each help out with a younger kid. To me, this is just what families do.
My father was third eldest of nine. Each older kid helped out a younger kid. This isn’t to say they raised the kid or had total responsibility for them. It was more of a buddy system (actually, isn’t that the term the Duggars use?). When it’s time to go outside, it makes no sense to make Mom tie all the little kids shoes when there’s perfectly able older kids there. Older kids can make sure little ones don’t wander off, or help them get a snack, etc.
I only have one much younger sibiling and I was frequently responsible for helping him out. Having an older sibling help a younger sibling doesn’t have to mean total abdication of parental duties and responsibilities (although I know it sometimes does).
There’s a line between forcing your umpteen kids into slave labor and expecting them to be productive, helpful members of the household.
Yeah, but with a family of two or three kids, if the older kid wasn’t there or didn’t feel well or just plain didn’t exist, things would still go fine. Mom would just deal. What happens if a bunch of the older kids just feel like taking off or slacking off or are too busy to help? The whole system falls apart.
ETA: Also, if you have that many people in your family, how do you interact with them? How do you spend quality time with any kid one on one? And if you can’t…well, what’s the point?
My best friend from grade school is one of 9. She seems to have turned out all right.
For that matter, my mom knows a rabbi who has, IIRC, 22 kids. I’ll admit, I was taken aback, but he assured me he can tell all his kids apart and remember their names.
I get the impression sometimes that the older Duggars aren’t just “helping” with the little kids, they’re flat out raising them. The mother is in charge of each baby until it’s weaned, then she hands it off to a sibling and gets ready for the next baby. I doubt the parents are able to give them much individual attention at all.
So the Duggars are basically creating a biological “assembly line”…
It’s a pity that the older kids have “parenthood” forced upon them by Mom, if Mom wants lots of kids, that’s her decision, just don’t hand off your newest production models to the older production models, leaving you free to crank out some more bio-packets
Hmm, the Duggar family kind of reminds me of an ant society, Mrs. D is the “Queen”, whose sole purpose is to crank out babies, the older kids are the “workers” of the Duggar Nest and Mr. D is the live-in Drone…
It’s not in the least unusual for certain Jewish sects to have very large families. Unlike the Duggars et al, they lead very private lives.
Ed
This is my impression as well. And, while I freely admit that this is my own bias, in my opinion there’s something different about helping out with chores on the farm or in the house or family business, or even helping out with younger siblings by babysitting or whatnot, and being given the bulk of responsibility for a child when you’re still a child yourself.