Josie Duggar and the Duggar House in 2034

[VelociRapture]

Things have changed hugely since this question was last asked. Now, what do you think is going to have happened to all of them by 2034?

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Michelle and JimBob start treating their kids the way that Gil and Kelly treat their kids - meaning, more courtships and marriages at earlier ages (if they can find anyone interested), as well as allowing some of the older kids to work outside the home. The less mouths to feed the easier it will be for them to manage.

It probably won't happen immediately. I'm guessing they still have income from their books and they may have some money set aside in case of an emergency that they could use for a bit. Not to mention real estate - they could always rent out properties (if they aren't already) or sell off any they don't need.

But yeah, I think they'll have to loosen up a bit in regards to allowing the kids to work outside the home at some point - not because they're good parents (and contrary to some people's opinions, the Bates are pretty terrible parents as well), but because they need the money to feed their family.

[HereticHick]

The Duggars are already facing their emergency financial situation-- Josh & his family of soon-to-be-5 dependents. Josh has no income & has to pay for a birth soon. And the paid speaking engagements are drying up for him & for his parents.

[SnazzyNazzy]

If I am even thinking/talking/etc about the Duggars 19 years from now, someone come and shoot me, to put me out of my misery.

[DugFan]

I haven't seen Grey Gardens (must look into it) but I'm kinda seeing a Mommie Dearest-like situation.

Grey Gardens!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: I think I just wet my pants. That is THE perfect image for Michelle and Josie in a few years. BTW, rent the real one, not the Drew Barrymore one.

OMG, now I can't get that image out of my mind!!!! :cracking-up: :cracking-up:

[CorruptionInc.]

I haven't seen Grey Gardens (must look into it) but I'm kinda seeing a Mommie Dearest-like situation.

Michelle will be 68 and JB 70. They might not be giving many shits by then. Who knows? :think:

If anything, Mullet will most likely be emotionally detached to the extreme.

[RMB863]

I can see the younger ones being "loaned out" to their sister mommies as JB and DQ get older and have fewer/no J-Slaves about to do the work for them. It would also alleviate some of the financial burden on them. Who ends up where will effect what their outcome is.

If the J-slaves go head first into the QF lifestyle then the younger girls will be used much like the J-slaves were, I'm not sure that all of them would react so well to it though.

[FloraKitty35]

I haven't seen Grey Gardens (must look into it) but I'm kinda seeing a Mommie Dearest-like situation.

Michelle will be 68 and JB 70. They might not be giving many shits by then. Who knows? :think:

Grey Gardens isn't a story of abuse like Mommie Dearest. The Beales were more eccentric than abusive. Joan Crawford would have never put up with living like the Beales.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

The Duggars are already facing their emergency financial situation-- Josh & his family of soon-to-be-5 dependents. Josh has no income & has to pay for a birth soon. And the paid speaking engagements are drying up for him & for his parents.

"pay for births"? Please. Unless there's a real medical emergency, Anna isn't going to the hospital. They'll just use Jill and whoever it was that helped her when she gave birth. No costs there.

[NeverQuivered]

I agree that she seems to have developed quite well considering her extreme prematurity. It could have been very, very much worse of course - the Duggars have been exceptionally lucky.

However, she still seems small and slight for her age - premature babies take a long time to catch up, if they ever do. She might end up being pretty small.

The fact that she is "funny looking" as you put it, may be significant. None of the other children have those eyes. She is pale and thin. Her movements seem quite jerky. Although her speech has developed better than I would have expected, she still isn't as fluent as she might be for a four-year-old girl (and yes, boys are often behind girls in expressive development, but on the other hand often ahead in physical development - I think Josie is behind in both). Her interaction with other children seems more limited than one would expect for her age.

People have made comparisons with Anna's sister Priscilla who was also premature and while of course we don't know, I think it's possible Josie may develop something like this - a functioning adult, but with some limitations. On the other hand she may catch up completely, and let's hope so. One thing in her favour is that, as Michelle's permanent "baby", she gets most of what limited attention J'chelle is willing to give her children, by the looks of it. That extra stimulation will help her.

My 7 y/o son has autism, so I know about developmental delays. From what I've seen, Josie may have some physical developmental issues, but she does pretty well from intellectual level. If she went to public school , she would probably get some assistance with any deficits (at least we do in CA). She's funny looking because she has such fair eyebrows, and it doesn't help she looks so much like her mother. She's precocious but likable.

[FloraKitty35]

My 7 y/o son has autism, so I know about developmental delays. From what I've seen, Josie may have some physical developmental issues, but she does pretty well from intellectual level. If she went to public school , she would probably get some assistance with any deficits (at least we do in CA). She's funny looking because she has such fair eyebrows, and it doesn't help she looks so much like her mother. She's precocious but likable.

In MD, Josie would have the option of an assessment and an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) would be put into place for her.

[ShepherdontheRock]

"pay for births"? Please. Unless there's a real medical emergency, Anna isn't going to the hospital. They'll just use Jill and whoever it was that helped her when she gave birth. No costs there.

Well, even if there are no emergencies...he has to pay for the baby supplies...I know she'll probably use mac's hand me downs but diapers and formula ain't cheap!

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

Well, even if there are no emergencies...he has to pay for the baby supplies...I know she'll probably use mac's hand me downs but diapers and formula ain't cheap!

Now that Jill is on the cloth wagon, I wouldn't be surprised if all the others follow suit. And, aren't they all about breast feeding? Like super obsessive. Almost hippy level obsessed with it.

[drivingmishcrazy]

My 7 y/o son has autism, so I know about developmental delays. From what I've seen, Josie may have some physical developmental issues, but she does pretty well from intellectual level. If she went to public school , she would probably get some assistance with any deficits (at least we do in CA). She's funny looking because she has such fair eyebrows, and it doesn't help she looks so much like her mother. She's precocious but likable.

She inherited JB's eyebrows, unfortunately :( I still think she and Jordyn are spunky bunnies though!

[ClaraOswin]

Now that Jill is on the cloth wagon, I wouldn't be surprised if all the others follow suit. And, aren't they all about breast feeding? Like super obsessive. Almost hippy level obsessed with it.

Anna used cloth diapers with Mac. But then when Michael came along she kind of abandoned it because it was too difficult with 2 kids in diapers.

[Cochise]

It'll be interesting to see what happens to them financially, though I doubt they'll shout any troubles they have from the rooftop. But yes, where's the money going to come from if TLC and speaking engagements aren't in the future? And at least for the moment they're not. I don't think TLC can just pretend that nothing happened and that Ma and Pa are good parents. They very obviously aren't. Losing these things would take a huge bite out of their income.

I'm old enough to remember pictures of Richard Nixon with "Would you buy a used car from this man?" above them. Would you buy a used car from Josh? Where's HIS income going to come from? What's JB going to do for income--sell whatever property he has? How long will that keep them, and . . . well, selling rural property can take forever. If the adults have to look for work, how many of them can find jobs in their area? Won't some of them have to flee? (Jinger, now's your chance). What can a man as socially incompetent as Jim Bob DO for a living in a community that might not much like him now? And what on earth could Michelle do for a living, period? Has she done anything other than breastfeed and whack children daring to venture off a blanket in the last 30 years? She's just useless. Her daughters could possibly work as housekeepers or nannies. Not Michelle.

I think the fallout could be profound and go on for quite a while as the various Duggars discover they need to find actual work. Some of them are on their way. Will they feel they need to help support all their smaller siblings they didn't ask for and barely know?

[Walking Cat Bed]

Once the kids have all grown up and either married out or R-U-N-N-O-F-T, it'll be Jim Bob, Michelle, and a house full...of reborn dolls.

[CorruptionInc.]

Anna used cloth diapers with Mac. But then when Michael came along she kind of abandoned it because it was too difficult with 2 kids in diapers.

Aldi sells diapers... she could always buy them there if she really needs to penny pinch.

[HarryPotterFan]

Once the kids have all grown up and either married out or R-U-N-N-O-F-T, it'll be Jim Bob, Michelle, and a house full...of reborn dolls.

I'm surprised Michelle doesn't have one already! I was thinking about that earlier. Just imaging her running around with one and going out with the doll under that "my breast friend" blanket. Those creepy reborn dolls are perfect for her. She loses interest in her kids the second they start showing any sort of personality or hit any developmental milestone (like crawling).

[SassyPants]

It is weird how Michelle has referenced her former life in the context of pregnancy and especially nursing. Remember when she, Jessa and Joy were reupholstering the barstools and she talked about how in the past, she'd being doing X while nursing a new little one? I think M viewed sex, pregnancy and nursing as her job...childrearing and housework, not so much.

[snark_bait]

In MD, Josie would have the option of an assessment and an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) would be put into place for her.

All kids in the US are eligible for intervention services before school-age, and even private schooled or homeschooled kids can get services from the public school systems which their parents' taxes (are supposed to) support.

[FloraKitty35]

Michelle would end up like Bette Davis's character in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane".

[Cochise]

It is weird how Michelle has referenced her former life in the context of pregnancy and especially nursing. Remember when she, Jessa and Joy were reupholstering the barstools and she talked about how in the past, she'd being doing X while nursing a new little one? I think M viewed sex, pregnancy and nursing as her job...childrearing and housework, not so much.

Gee, I'm a teacher and I worked full time during pregnancy, till summer came. I was due on September 10 and so got pregnancy leave till January, when my I went back to work. So I had the last three months of pregnancy off and the first 3 months of my child's life. My husband isn't the most domestic person but did his best with laundry and cleaning, but the whole being pregnant and cooking and breastfeeding biz was down to me. And I was run ragged even before I went back to work.

I know what I was doing during and after my pregnancy and all the time that we worked full time, shifted schedules around so he was without a parent for only four hours a day till he started school, fed ourselves and tried to keep the house and our clothes clean.

What the HELL does Michelle do during, after, and between pregnancies? It sounds like she can't even make time to see any of them more than once a week! How is it she's so busy? So busy that she has to blanket train them so that they sit there silently, longing for a toy, bored, while she does . . . what is it that's so much more important?

[mebeforee]

I've been thinking a lot recently about something I read over on Recovering Grace... apparently only 1% of kids raised under quiverfull and ATI end up using that methodology with their own children. I'm sure the Duggar parents see Anna taking the kids to the library and them going to mommy & me type playgroup and living in the city, etc, and think 'oh, we made those same liberal mistakes when we were younger, they'll come around'. And the fact that the family was/is (at least for now, still) in the spotlight, there's probably a lot of added pressure on the Duggar kids and their spouses to follow the same Gothard family model. But the desire to live that way can't be much stronger in kids under the limelight, if anything it would have a sometimes very negative effect (especially for some personality types, like Jana, John David or Joseph who really seem to dislike being interviewed or paid attention to in that way, and come across as very shy as a result even when people who know them personally view them as more outgoing people).

So while there may be more pressure on them to follow the family tradition with their own young kids, it's because what they do has a greater bearing on the entire family's livelihood. I can't imagine that the individual kids in the family view such a restrictive and oftentimes abusive system as being the ideal, or even imagine them thinking that every other lifestyle in the world is evil. Even if they don't view their own experiences as abusive due to no outright examples of excessive physical discipline or substance abuse or emotional/verbal abuse (in their eyes - I think some of the family's teachings should qualify but I doubt that they agree), their friends are all members of the same culture. They don't make other 'reality star' or mainstream friends, they really only associate with other ATI families. So while they have this huge amount of experience with travel and planned events and get to MEET a lot of different kinds of people, the kids really don't KNOW a lot of different kinds of people. Their friends are other average ATI boys and girls in average ATI families, the people they know have the same belief system and so the Duggars trust their influence on their children as a good one.

There are a lot of horror stories that come out of this cult and I'm sure, their own experiences aside, they have heard a lot of stories from friends about violent discipline or emotional abuse involving body shaming or public shaming, belittling of the children or mother, emotional invalidation, etc. Things these kids would never breathe a word of to a police officer or CPS worker or anyone outside of the family, they don't say anything because they've been trained to fear those people and believe that over the slightest thing they'll be taken away from their parents. That's not true with same age/same gender peers, and I'm sure they talk to each other when they have rare moments together without adult supervision or 'tattlers' around. They may be scared to venture out into the wider world because of the 'umbrella of authority' concept, which doesn't just teach them that they must obey their father and father must obey god, but also that since the father has a direct connection to god (and the children and women do not), that if they disobey him they are inviting satan to destroy everything in their lives. Those are fear tactics and they do a lot of damage, but it seems that most people respond much better to positive reinforcement and will often transfer their loyalty when they find a group that is supportive and welcoming and makes them feel safe.

The cameras going away will surely make it much easier for the adult children of this family to choose their own path for their own families. The risk of dishonoring the family is gone, and the public eye will soon be turned away from them. That gives them the opportunity to line up with that whole 1% thing, because even in the quiverfull circles, they won't be worth much without the mainstream attention. They're not the Maxwells or the Pearls, they don't really have a huge influence in the community outside of the media attention. The family will lose their cash cow (unless they find a new niche - Molester Redemption seminars? GOD WORKED THROUGH JOSH AND HE CAN WORK THROUGH YOU TOO~) but the kids will be freer. Their parents may try to crack down, but the external threat to their family's livelihood if they should choose to go a different way is now gone.

[CorruptionInc.]

What the HELL does Michelle do during, after, and between pregnancies? It sounds like she can't even make time to see any of them more than once a week! How is it she's so busy? So busy that she has to blanket train them so that they sit there silently, longing for a toy, bored, while she does . . . what is it that's so much more important?

Sex to create the next one with JB. :ew:

[DeFrauder]

It is weird how Michelle has referenced her former life in the context of pregnancy and especially nursing. Remember when she, Jessa and Joy were reupholstering the barstools and she talked about how in the past, she'd being doing X while nursing a new little one? I think M viewed sex, pregnancy and nursing as her job...childrearing and housework, not so much.

It *is* her job. She is having babies for Jesus. The purpose of having these large families are to produce as many fundamentalist Christians as possible so that they can increase their political power.

This might sound "out there", but there is a possibility that this Quiverfull movement might split with some members embracing polygamy. There are (non-Mormon) Christian polygamist groups in the USA already. Christian polygamy would fit very well with their lifestyle and patriarchal beliefs. It would only take one or two influential families to "receive a revelation" and bam we would have a brand new TLC show to watch.