Michelle Duggar #18!!

No fan here. Don't believe in ultra-large litters.
But can't not watch the show (kinda the train wreck theory).
All power to them though.
 
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I've watched all the shows. I find it fascinating but in that OMG! sort of fascinating. Obviously they are loved and much wanted children and they are a happy & self-sufficient family which is a wonderful thing. But I can't help thinking OMG! every time I watch the show.

We stopped having kids at 2 partly because I had my appendix out 11 days after DS1 was born and my gall bladder out 6 weeks after DS2 was born and I was honestly worried I was running low on disposeable body parts. A third might have cost me a kidney. I just can't imagine carrying 18 children, and 2 of them twins. My body would have given out around 4 probably.
 
My kids definitely help around the house and with their siblings, but not like they have going there. I feel like her daughters are really the ones running the house and she's just having the babies. The girls do all the cooking and cleaning.
 
My kids definitely help around the house and with their siblings, but not like they have going there. I feel like her daughters are really the ones running the house and she's just having the babies. The girls do all the cooking and cleaning.

This is the way I feel as well.
 
I'm willing to bet when she clears her throat..she pees. All that baby having has to be hard on the old bladder!! LOL
 
My ex's ex (got that?! *lol*) does not have this many children, 'only' 6, but is of a similar faith and has a similar ideology to the Duggars. She had to have emergency surgery that rendered her sterile or she would have many more than 6.

It's called 'quiverfull' taken from Psalm 127 verses 3-5: 'Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.' Most believe having a quiverfull family is not using bc of any kind, even natural family planning, and 'letting God decide' how many children you will have.

My ex-stepchildren have always done the bulk of the household work once they were of a certain age. Chores like washing the entire family's laundry or cooking lunches & dinners for a week were rotated between children, and care of their youngest sibling fell mostly on the oldest who would get up in the middle of the night to change diapers and feed her a bottle when she was a baby. Their mother mostly supervised to be sure the chores were being done correctly and helped them with their homeschool studies when they couldn't figure it out for themselves from the textbooks they used.

They have lived this way for the last five years, so this lifestyle is all the youngest ones really know or remember. While they are, without question, the most obedient and self-sufficient children I have ever met, they are also so starved for attention and so hungry for peer-to-peer relationships that it makes my heart hurt.

The oldest emailed me this past week to tell me that her mom doesn't want her to go to college, and I have come to conclude this must be b/c her mom doesn't want to give up that extra pair of hands, especially now that she can drive the younger ones around and drive to town on errands. The oldest is brilliant, so I know it can't be b/c of grades. I just hope the Duggars are encouraging their older children to move up and out when they are of age so that they can experience a regular life, too.
 
I remember last year when she had the 17th. I think they are a sweet family, but that is just insane.
 
I remember last year when she had the 17th. I think they are a sweet family, but that is just insane.
ITA.
They're really cute...but I'm wondering if they have an extra chromosone or something that allows them to deal with all those kids without seriously injuring self or others. LOL I'd be whipping some butt on a daily basis probably. UGH that is scary thinking about it.

I also wonder.....after like, 3 or 4, when do they have time to _make_ another one? :blink:
 
ITA.
I also wonder.....after like, 3 or 4, when do they have time to _make_ another one? :blink:

Yeah, especially 9 months after the last???? Seriously! Eeks! I guess though, all it takes is one time right?

Fortunately, nursing holds me off for the first 7 months and then I choose not to get pregnant right away. :)
 
My best friend has 3 kids. One turned three last month, one is 18 mnths, and the other is about 8 weeks. the girl still is a hottie and still weighs like 120 and her brain and body parts are in tact. Her house is clean too. Three boys and a clean house? I told her she needs to get some sleep and let the dirt and the toys sit around a few days LOL.

The Duggars, the big family thing, I'm down with that. They can take care of them, they should be able to have as many as they want. The kids seem more well behaved than a whole lot of only children (yeah, I am one and have one LOL) and small families so hey, more power to 'em!
 
My kids definitely help around the house and with their siblings, but not like they have going there. I feel like her daughters are really the ones running the house and she's just having the babies. The girls do all the cooking and cleaning.

I also think this is what is really going on. :thumbdown: Also this statement by the oldest
Joshua, the Duggars’ eldest son, said the news, two days before Mother's Day was “a shock” — if only to a point.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” the 20-year-old said. “But it’s been nine months [since the birth of the last baby], so yeah.”
does not read like someone who is happy to add another to their family.

That just makes me sad and makes my heart hurt for those kids!! :(
 
To each their own I guess... I couldn't do it - even if the older ones helped me...

I think that's what bugs me the most about their whole situation though. The older kids help out a lot in raising the younger ones which I believe is the parents job. Don't get me wrong, kids should do chores but to have to cook for 20 people every morning, noon and night and do all that laundry????? When do they have time to do schoolwork and play and just be kids???????

But, they are very intriguing to say the least...
 
I don't particularly like cooking and cleaning for my little family of 5. and one of the reasons is I always feel like I'm the ONLY one cleaning up after all of us. If I felt like everyone was doing their part, and I had a couple of my friends doing it with me it wouldn't seem like such a chore - kwim? These kids are so close in age I bet they are pretty close to at least a few of them. I'm sure it gets old sometimes, but for the most part all the kids seemed happy she was having another one. I really don't get the impression that mom is sitting back eating bon bons while the kids do all the chores.
 
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