to think they really should just stop?

[GreenMonkies]

The Duggers who else? Baby #19 is on the way.....

Michelle and Jim-Bob, it's not a clown car.......

The girls do the laundry and cooking. It isn't sinister, it's just sexist.

weegiemum put it so much better than I could! i couldn't agree more.

'(disclaimer: none of the many evangelical CHristian parents that I know smack their children. I suspect that in the US, this is not the case).'

your suspicions are correct.

I'd never heard of them before this thread but think they are deeply scary.

Having multiple children because you love children and planned for them, is one thing. Doing it because of religion, is weird.

I'm presuming there are evangelical families with fewer children than the Duggars. So, I'm not sure that how that relates to GreenMonkies saying they should stop having children now.

Also, are people absolutely certain that the Duggars use corporal punishment? Michelle Duggar said otherwise in an interview that I saw.

And while in their case, their beliefs may be connected with them having a large family, I'm not sure that their beliefs were related to the op question. I thought it was more the issue of whether the Duggars have too many children and in GM's opinion should stop.

There is a poster on mn called maduggar, that would have been completely lost on you then ArizonaBarker.

If you find their website interesting, read the eldest son's and his wife's, especially how they got together

Personally I think 19 is a bitt ott, on the other hand if they are supporting them all financially and they have a caring, loving home I reckon its up to them what they do.

However if my DH had given me an electric shaver whilst I was in labour I certainly wouldnt be having any more

When I said she should think of her health I was thinking of specific strain on her body from pregnancy. Generally yes she seems in good health - but can you imagine what state her uterus is in after so much childbearing? I've only had three children and I noticed how much harder the uterus has to work to contract and stop bleeding with my third. Also her bladder and pelvic floor must be shot - now that's not life threatening (unlike pph) but it's pretty unpleasant.

I think that a lot of things depend on the individual. I've 'only' had 9 (very few in comparison with mrs Duggar ) but my uterus always contracted down well in under 7 days and I can't say there was any problems with bleeding after each pg. Not had any problems with pelvic floor or bladder so far (although I'm apprehensive about post menopause - heard some stories).

I would also think that so many pregnancies etc would cause problems generally but then maybe not for her.

PlumBumMum To be honest, most posters are lost on me, not just their names.

That made total sense in my head.
Honest.

It's not awesome, it's exploitative.

I've just realised all their children's names start with 'J'. Was this to make it easier naming kit for school, do you think?

They don't go to school, shellseeker, they are HE.

shellseeker their reasoning was they started with J names then they thought if this is baby is the last they didn't want that baby to be the odd one out (I think she said that at about no6/7), so they all begin with J

This is one to watch. Can you imagine how many grandchildren they will end up with if their kids decide to be like their parents...they will inherit the earth or build their own town

Weegiemum and dizietsma you hit the nail on the head. Everything about them makes me uncomfortable; Michelles "surrendered" status, the isolation of the children and what they are being taught as they are HE'd, the sexist gender stereotyping of the distribution of household chores, the delegation of child-rearing to the older children, the fundamentalist religion (Jim-Bob is the Pastor of their own little "church") I could go on.........

I recall a documentary where a similar family took part in a kind of Wife-Swap program. The Surrendered Wife swapped with a Career Woman, a Dr or Lawyer I think, I don't remember. When the eldest daughter of the Surrendered wife expressed a desire to pursue a career in law or medicine (I don't remember the exact details) she was taken from the family by a church elder, "talked to" and returned when "she decided" not to follow a career after all. It made my skin go all cold and clammy.

Jinger

dizietsma That's grim reading.

Morloth - agreed. but I can't help feeling that this is on a completely different level of selfishness. I wonder how many of their children will look back on their childhood and think they had a happy upbringing?

Arizona Seriously grim, agreed, but needs to be said as a balance to all the "they're not hurting anyone" and "aww, how awesome" sentiment on this thread. Quiverfull is an oppressive movement that subjugates women and children, and the Duggars give a very, very false impression of the truth of the matter.

Thats a great site dizie but not all religious women or quiverfull women are exploited and abused. Any more than non-religious women. There's good and bad in every movement. Bad men surface everywhere.
I don't see anything wrong with the Duggars lifestyle as long as they are happy and have made the choice. Michelle seems like a strong woman. But yes, there are hideous abuses in the religious right in the US but they aren't all like that.
We had run ins with Farris etc when I lived in the US over homeschooling. Cant stand him.

poor old Jinger got the short end of the stick. And imagine hearing all those violins going at the same time... great house - looks like they live at Center Parcs!

poor old Jinger got the short end of the stick. And imagine hearing all those violins going at the same time... great house - looks like they live at Center Parcs!

I have mixed feelings too. I've seen the show once and the family does seem happy. And they can afford to have them, so...

But on the other hand, as others have said, it's hard to believe they can give 19 children, especially 19 children that close in age, the love and attention they need.

I understand wanting to have a large family, I'd like one myself. To me that means 6 or 8 kids, though! However, just for me personally, I feel that having that many biological children would be sort of irresponsible, so I plan to adopt in addition to my biological kids. But anyway, where was I going with this? Sorry, it's two in the morning here.

The religion thing kinda skeeves me out too. I'm a fairly religious person, but, wow. And no, most American religious families I know don't spank their kids!

So...rambling here, but YABU in that it isn't totally your business, although as someone pointed out, their going on TV sort of makes it our business. But YANBU in that, yeah, 19?! C'mon!

So cheerfulyank how many biological kids do you have and how many do you plan to adopt?

I've just got one biological child right now. I plan to have another pregnancy at some point and I'd like to adopt 3-5. Here in America we've got over 100,000 kids in foster care waiting for homes and families.