SJ.com favorite: And baby makes 20

With all due respect, TBF, the Duggars have turned their reproductive "activities" into a sideshow. Aside from a personal issue with people in this day and age -- and that very much includes those having six kids with (insert number of women) here -- breeding like rabbits, that's the big problem I have with this.

They're certainly entitled to their lifestyle and it's clear (well, sort of, we'll get to that in a moment), they can support them. But when you turn yourself into a carnival show because of it, a certain amount of ridicule will follow.

And Inks, if Daddy made such a killing in real estate, how come he had to have donations for their new house -- the house they tried building on the uber-cheap and the house profiled on the Discovery Channel? That neatly and not coincidentally ties into the way they've milked this for all it's worth.

 

I'm not talking about pitching in a little around the house, like cleaning up a little. I did chores, such as mowing the lawn when I was a teen. I'm talking about the parents making the older kids become the de facto parents by raising the younger ones. Is the mother or father waking up at 3 a.m. to feed the babies, or is it one of their 14-year olds?

From what I'm gathering here, it seems like the family can financially support themselves. Good. But what about physically taking care of the younger kids, and providing them with the emotional support they need? What about the older kids? Do they have time to make friends, and live a somewhat normal teenage life, or are they busy cooking dinner for 20 people while mom and dad hang out in the bedroom behind a closed door?

 

A Bugs Bunny classic [/shamelesscrossthread]

 

How many siblings did Danny Noonan have? That house was packed.

 

That was my biggest problem with them (on top of the sideshow aspects). During the show they were on, the older kids basically said they didn't have any friends outside of their siblings.
They talked about how they were always spending time with their siblings. They started listing off all the things they do together, and all of them were chores. That didn't sit well with me.

 

There were only three kids in my family and my mother still calls me by my brother's name about half the time. I can only imagine the level of confusion that many kids could cause.

 

You mean, like my sister?

 

I agree, as long as the family can financially, physically (disabled people are an understandable exception), and emotionally take care of the kids, that's one thing. With this family, it seems like the parents act like CEOs, while the older kids do most of the grunt work.

And if a woman can do all three things with the six kids by four different fathers, that's great. Unfortunantly, there is that stereotype, true or not, that those families tend to have problems in society. Do I have an issue with that? Yes, if I see a woman on public assistance because she had four kids with three dads by age 21, I want to tell her to keep her legs closed, or at least have the guy use some protection. Why? Because it's not fair to her current kids.

There was a family who used to live near me, in which the mother had three kids by two men, neither of whom lived with her, and only one who barely gave any child support. This woman would actually leave her kids (oldest one was 8 at the time) at home while she tried to work. My wife actually called the cops because one time, the mom left the home, told the kids that she was going to be back in an hour, and hadn't returned in four hours. The 8-year-old came over to our house worried about his mother. My wife called the cops, who found the mom two streets over hanging out with her current boyfriend.

 

Not sure, Bird. I'm just relaying what I've been told by some Arkies in that area.

 

And to think the rest of us just sat and laughed at the TV while enlightenment whizzed right by our heads.

 

Wow.
That looks like a cult under construction.

Sorry, people are entitled to breed like rabbits if they want, but that photo s just plain creepy.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I was talking about this with my wife (an avid Today Show watcher) and she said the parents actually broke the news about the latest "arrival" live on the Today Show, and they all cheered and clapped. Why not have the decency to at least tell your kids before you tell the world??
Sick.