tharedhead
New member
I was looking at the pictures on the site thinking, OK, the older red headed girl is going to be the one to write the tell all book... 
HOW do they afford it?! Woman pregnant with 18th child
- Thread starter miki
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lidarkside
Active member
I was out yesterday, so I didn't read through most of this. As for it being fair for older children to help with the younger ones, it most certainly is. It teaches them responsibility just like it would going out to get a job. My mother would be shocked at that thinking having been a little girl during WWII with bombs going off around them and not having much. No one would ever have thought that way, and no child would even have thought of it not being right.
As for this woman, it's their choice, their religious beliefs, and THEIR business. No one elses.
As for this woman, it's their choice, their religious beliefs, and THEIR business. No one elses.
3mnkids1
New member
There are others ways of teaching responsibility. She had the kids, she needs to take care of them. I would agree that its her business if she didnt make it everyone eles's by going on tv the second she gets pregnant again. She is using those kids for attention and money and they will be the ones to pay the price for it. They are children. let them be children. not day care providers.
completelyme
New member
Don't assume anything, LDS. Don't assume they're having all of these children for religious reasons.
And why should an older child have to take on the responsibility of a younger sibling of this magnitude? The older child isn't the one having a baby. To keep having children and pawning them off onto your older children is selfish. It may not be my business but I don't give a crap. It is what it is and I don't like it. I don't like children having adult responsibilities forced upon them. Allow them to be children.
And this isn't the WWII era. It's 2008. Children do not want to be tied down with their sibling(s).
:sunny: As you said completelyme, don't assume anything. Did it say anywhere that there were being forced to help look after the little ones? Not all kids growing up think this is a bad thing. My grandaughter who just turned 13 loves babies and little ones. She loves taking care of her little brother. She started taking care of him the minute he came home from the hospital. She does it because she loves it. I know lots of girls and boys that are this way. They do it because they love their family and enjoy helping each other. Not because they have been forced to do it.
completelyme
New member
If you go to their site, you will read where the older children are assigned a certain amount of children. I've done my homework so I'm not assuming anything. How about everyone posting in this thread go check them out. That way you'll know what you're talking about in terms of the Duggars.
And of course they are going to do what their parents tell them to do. You must have misunderstood my use of "force." No, their parents are putting guns to their heads.
Your granddaughter helping take care of her little brother is NOT the same as what these older Duggar children are expected to do. As I've stated, go read for yourself, but try not to confuse my point.
:sunny: I just marvel at the fact that they do seem to genuinely love one another. I certainly cannot imagine running a household this size without having schedules and lists. Just imagine the kaos if these kids were like alot of kids today and didn't do as they were told. Sure this lifestyle does not match up with most of our own lifestyles, but it seems to be working for them. They remind me of the Amish that lived in the area where I grew up and lived.
I have to agree with Tracey here...when they put everything on TV they have to expect a certain amount of people to disagree with them. If they didn't want people to talk then keep it off the air! When you bring tv into your lives then you are asking for the good and the bad. Some will marvel at how they pull it off and others will think they are crazy ~ I am between the two!
I am amazed that the kids seem so well rounded, but it just seems like they do expect a lot of them. I feel the same way about my husbands family ~ they had kids to help with the farmland. I think it was wrong back then and I think it is wrong now.
I believe that a family has the right to bring up a child in any religion they want ~ whether I agree or not, that is not my problem with the Duggars. My problem is that they don't seem to take responsibility of the kids. The other kids do. It seems like to me that on the shows that I have seen that Michelle only messes with the baby of the bunch and then they are pawned off on the other kids to raise. There is a difference between helping with younger kids and raising them. All kids learn from there older siblings, but when you are expecting them to teach them everything it falls into another catagory for me.
I do think it is a loving family ~ but just different than what I think should be happening. They have benefited from putting this family on the tube everytime they sneeze, so we can't help but have opinions on the whole thing!