Old Duggar Newspaper Articles

[formergothardite]

Since there are only 24 hours in a day, I do find it irresponsible and selfish to procreate 19 children.

The day never gets longer.

The way they talk about having to get to know their kids reminds me of the clip from Horton Hears a Who:

http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/3271 ... ho-clip-9/

[Seven Severn]

Several years ago (it was either when they announced they were pregnant with Josie or Jubilee; can't remember) a local TV anchor mentioned that when she was an anchor in Little Rock, the Duggars sent out a press release for the birth of #10. JB was pimping his family pretty early on, it seems. How else would a paper in New Mexico know about a large family in AR? There are large families all over the U.S. Why did they have a piece about this one in particular? Because Boob's a fame whore. :evil-eye:

Really looking forward to reading more of these early articles. :popcorn2:

ETA: I had green hair in college!!!!! :dance:

[DeFrauder]

The way they talk about having to get to know their kids reminds me of the clip from Horton Hears a Who:

http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/3271 ... ho-clip-9/

The Mayor of Whoville seems to pay more attention to his kids than Boob and Jshelle.

[SassyPants]

So Jim Bob did a bit better than Kelly Bates. :lol:

One thing Jim Bob and Michelle were tactful about was that they didn't admit that they were raising an army for God, which is pretty much the real reason they had all these kids. I think even back then they realized that they needed to keep quiet about the super crazy aspects of their life.

And yes, if you have to bring kids to work so that you can get to know who they are, well you are doing a pretty shitty job of parenting.

Not really= the results are not apples to apples as JB only at 11 kids at that time.

[DeFrauder]

I think not having time to get to know the kids is more a function of having too many of them! I can't imagine anyone with 10+ kids giving them all adequate attention; that's why they have the sister-moms.

As for whether it's wrong (with or without the ideology) to have so many kids... When people routinely had large families 100+ years ago, it wasn't out of the same ideology as the Duggars. It was because access to reliable contraception and/or abortion was extremely limited, questionably legal, or perhaps outright nonexistent. You can't really choose to follow the idea of letting God determine your family size when, short of abstinence, you have no other options to choose. (And if you were a women before marital rape was outlawed, even abstinence may not have been a legal choice for you.)

The Duggars don't realize how historically privileged they are to have the option of modern medicine. Anyone who's walked through an old cemetery has probably noticed plenty of graves of babies, small children, and young mothers. In some sibling sets in my own family tree, only like 1-3 of 10 recorded children made it to adulthood. Plenty of male ancestors remarried multiple times because their wives died in childbirth. I seriously doubt the Duggars would be continually pursuing more pregnancies, especially high-risk ones, if they did not have the option of using doctors/nurses with the secular education they so despise.

Yes, exactly!

Without contemporary medicine, half those kids would have died in infancy. Michelle may not have survived that last birth. All the kids over 15 would have left the nest by now.

And their ideology was my point. People in the past had this many kids because there was almost no choice in the matter. The Duggars are picking and choosing what miracles of modern science they want to use.

There are people who have only ONE child that have difficulty paying attention to them. Paying attention to 19 kids---especially the way they are so different in age is not THAT hard. It would be a challenge, but Michelle is a stay at home mom. Every public school teacher pays attention to at least 19 kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Michelle is capable of pulling it off if she spent less time staring at JB like a zombie, and more time time teaching her kids useful things.

FOR EXAMPLE: every day she could spend valuable time with the kids preparing dinner. Its not so much work to feed 25 people if everyone peels their own potato. Instead of paper plates, the kids can be split up into a few kitchen clean up teams that would ensure they didn't have to wash dishes more than twice a week. They could spend an hour gardening everyday---many hands makes light work of weeding a vegetable patch. Kids do not have to be read to individually---she could read to them in age appropriate groups. Another hour can be spent playing games or sports together. She could easily make a point of giving each kid a hug and kiss everyday. Younger kids need and want more attention than older kids need and want. She has no other responsibilities. It is possible to do this and she doesn't have to rely on Jslaves to get it done.

The fact is that they are having so many kids for ideological reasons. Their personal relationships with their family mean less to them than their ability to produce more adherents for their sect. They narcissisticly believe that God needs their help to bring more Christians into the world and that people who avoid pregnancy are thwarting God's plans. Its amazing how weak and limited they believe God is.

[SassyPants]

Yes, exactly!

Without contemporary medicine, half those kids would have died in infancy. Michelle may not have survived that last birth. All the kids over 15 would have left the nest by now.

And their ideology was my point. People in the past had this many kids because there was almost no choice in the matter. The Duggars are picking and choosing what miracles of modern science they want to use.

There are people who have only ONE child that have difficulty paying attention to them. Paying attention to 19 kids---especially the way they are so different in age is not THAT hard. It would be a challenge, but Michelle is a stay at home mom. Every public school teacher pays attention to at least 19 kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Michelle is capable of pulling it off if she spent less time staring at JB like a zombie, and more time time teaching her kids useful things.

FOR EXAMPLE: every day she could spend valuable time with the kids preparing dinner. Its not so much work to feed 25 people if everyone peels their own potato. Instead of paper plates, the kids can be split up into a few kitchen clean up teams that would ensure they didn't have to wash dishes more than twice a week. They could spend an hour gardening everyday---many hands makes light work of weeding a vegetable patch. Kids do not have to be read to individually---she could read to them in age appropriate groups. Another hour can be spent playing games or sports together. She could easily make a point of giving each kid a hug and kiss everyday. Younger kids need and want more attention than older kids need and want. She has no other responsibilities. It is possible to do this and she doesn't have to rely on Jslaves to get it done.

The fact is that they are having so many kids for ideological reasons. Their personal relationships with their family mean less to them than their ability to produce more adherents for their sect. They narcissisticly believe that God needs their help to bring more Christians into the world and that people who avoid pregnancy are thwarting God's plans. Its amazing how weak and limited they believe God is.

What you just described is work, time and effort expended. I think that Jim Bob and Michelle along the way became entitled and believed that they both were above daily, sustained effort and work.

As a working mom/wife who raised only 2 kids, I do not think 19 children is doable. Not for the long haul.

[December]

The fact is that they are having so many kids for ideological reasons. Their personal relationships with their family mean less to them than their ability to produce more adherents for their sect. They narcissisticly believe that God needs their help to bring more Christians into the world and that people who avoid pregnancy are thwarting God's plans. Its amazing how weak and limited they believe God is.

Probably a bit too off-topic, but I've always wondered: if God is all powerful in their eyes, and wants them to have eleventy-billion children, then why wouldn't God like... make the condom break? Apologies for being so crass, but I just don't get it!

What you just described is work, time and effort expended. I think that Jim Bob and Michelle along the way became entitled and believed that they both were above daily, sustained effort and work.

As a working mom/wife who raised only 2 kids, I do not think 19 children is doable. Not for the long haul.

My husband and I are thinking about having kids in the next few years. We're already freaking out about the monetary cost, the daily work, and whether we can give 2-3 kids enough attention.

I wondered how does someone even think about that stuff for 19 kids and then I realized a) they didn't plan this brood out before starting, b) they assumed God + grifting will take care of the finances, and c) they don't seem to care how effed up the kids may turn out, so long as the parents look good.

[marieantoinette]

What stood out to me was J.boob bragging about taking two kids to work to get to know them. If you have to take them to work to get to know them, then you have too many kids. And it bothered me how the article didn't point out anything that Michelle does for the family. J.boob works and the kids have chores and love it, so what does Michelle do? Guess she was just as lazy back then. And I don't like her logic for having so many kids. It sounded like they were trying to explain birthing an army for Christ. They should be ashamed.

[DGayle]

This might be an unpopular opinion :nenner:

I don't find the giant brood of children to be their main problem. I am not even sure that it is a problem except for the ideological reasons that they give for having all these kids.

Reliable contraceptives only became available in the 1960s. Condoms were around for quite a while, but they were expensive and hard to get. It used to be the norm for people to have 8-12-16 children. Especially if there were twins involved. It was just a fact of life that women would have a large brood and possibly die from it. It was not that long ago that child birth came with a 30% risk of death. It still does in many parts of the world.

It was also the norm for half the kids to die as infants. Queen Anne, for example had 18 children that were either stillborn, or died in infancy. My own Grandma had 6 children and 3 lived to adulthood. My Great Grandmother had 12 children. Mormons continue to have huge families--as do some Catholics.

Michelle Duggard is normal in the amount of children that she has turned out--she just happens to be extra fertile than avg and has the benefit of vaccines and other healthcare advances that serve to keep her entire brood alive. If this was 1915 instead of 2015, she might have been down to 10-12 kids by now.

So my point is: There is nothing wrong with having so many kids (unless you literally are unable to feed them, but there seems to be enough tater tot casserole to go around). There is also nothing special about having 19 kids because a lot of women can manage giving birth to that many. It was the norm to have babies every 1 to 2 years for millennia. It is just no longer the NORM to not use contraceptives and avoid pregnancies. We forget really easy.

So yeah, I cant blame them for having so many children. Its what happens when you don't use contraceptives. Its just their ideology that is the problem.

:stir-pot: :popcorn2: :)

There's a lot wrong with having as many kids as this. Before reliable birth control, there wasn't a choice. People had kids because abstinence was the only prevention, and social security didn't exist and having no kids meant you were fucked when you were old. But also families weren't as big as you think. According to the US census, in 1900, the average household size was 4.6, and you can't blame that on grown kids not living with their parents anymore since those kids would be married with kids of their own.

Kids in very large families don't get much, if any, personal time. They're just another mouth to feed, more hands to put to work. Talking just 10 minutes a day to each of 19 kids is over 3 hours. That many kids don't get to be individual. There are too many kids to remember who does what activity, so violin for them all. Homesteading isn't common anymore, and isn't always possibly like it used to be. The median household income is just enough for 19 kids to starve on. The Duggars got lucky financially. That doesn't mean they know their kids.

[DGayle]

I work in politics so I'm all for having kids learn about the political process in order to become informed citizens as adults. As a kid, I spent a lot of time at my dad's office (local government job) first doing things like coloring at the conference table and eventually filing and organizing things (out of boredom).

Were you going to the office because that was the only time your dad had to get to know you? Doesn't sound like it. You were coloring and doing other stuff while he was working.

According to JB, he took kids to work to get to know them. He didn't get reelected, which means he sucked at his job enough to not get reelected.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Sometimes bringing your kid to work is unavoidable - early release day at school, last-minute childcare cancellation, whatever. It happens. I'm also all for "bring your kid to work" type events. But doing it regularly is disrespectful to your co-workers. Children are a distraction, no matter how well-behaved they are. I'd be very annoyed if I were trying to focus on a project while someone's child was running around. If it were a political environment, I would say that goes double. Like was JB taking them to legislative sessions on the regular? :snooty: Generally I find it obnoxious when people complain about the presence of children in public (like a kid crying on an airplane or a store - we live in the world and children are part of it, deal) but work is an exception.

But maybe I'm just a weirdo because I require noise-cancelling headphones and a closed door when I work from home and my stepson is playing downstairs.

[MatthewDuggar]

so what does Michelle do?

She's the baby birthing machine.

[Nic]

Not really= the results are not apples to apples as JB only at 11 kids at that time.

It's also a crap question to ask JB or that he volunteered it to show off bc why is it more impressive that a father can name his kids and ages? At first I was going to say how about name them and say a little something about each of them (and saying they have Jesus in their hearts doesn't count) However, that's an easy question because shocker we find out a few years later in the police report they all love spelling and they're fav hobby is broom ball.

But whatever army you have, conformity is key, so I guess that works.

[DGayle]

Paying attention to 19 kids---especially the way they are so different in age is not THAT hard. It would be a challenge, but Michelle is a stay at home mom. Every public school teacher pays attention to at least 19 kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Are you seriously comparing raising kids to being a teacher? It's easier to keep track of a bunch of kids when they're supposed to be sitting at their desks, quiet, and their faces toward you. Let them run around and play, spend time in different areas, and it is impossible to pay much attention. Playgrounds during recess have bullying because it's not possible to pay personal attention to every kid just to monitor them. When is there time to get to know each child personally?

And thinking about how old schoolhouses were effective doesn't cut it either since kids were expected to learn the basics instead of anything advanced, and old schoolhouses might have 10 kids. I think Laura Ingalls Wilder had a class with 6. They didn't spend time getting to personally know the kids. There wasn't time. How can a mom of 19 have the time? The day still only has 24 hours in it.

[crazyforkate]

Probably a bit too off-topic, but I've always wondered: if God is all powerful in their eyes, and wants them to have eleventy-billion children, then why wouldn't God like... make the condom break? Apologies for being so crass, but I just don't get it!

Well, I guess God is just so disappointed in those hussies for using that condom that He turns away and lets you live your life with a severely understocked quiver. You made your own bed, etc. For shame :naughty:

[Nic]

I don't have access to news DBs, but I do find this blurb funny.

Headline: Duggar's Sideshow

Date: May 8, 2002

Publication: Benton County Daily Record (AR)

Page: 6

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bob Duggar's musical exhibition featuring about a halfdozen of his 13 children is getting old and annoying, and that has nothing to do with a political conspiracy among the Republican establishment.

Duggar, a state representative, brushed aside requests late last month from the Washington County Republican Women to have the kids take a break so he could articulate some of his campaign message. He drew a sharp response from Republican Anne Britton, who...

[halcionne]

I don't have access to news DBs, but I do find this blurb funny.

Headline: Duggar's Sideshow

Date: May 8, 2002

Publication: Benton County Daily Record (AR)

Page: 6

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bob Duggar's musical exhibition featuring about a halfdozen of his 13 children is getting old and annoying, and that has nothing to do with a political conspiracy among the Republican establishment.

Duggar, a state representative, brushed aside requests late last month from the Washington County Republican Women to have the kids take a break so he could articulate some of his campaign message. He drew a sharp response from Republican Anne Britton, who...

I'm gonna need to see the rest of this article. Voters wanted to talk about the issues and JB showed up with singing kids and probably looking for a love offering. Yeah, that sounds about right. :roll:

[fraurosena]

I think not having time to get to know the kids is more a function of having too many of them! I can't imagine anyone with 10+ kids giving them all adequate attention; that's why they have the sister-moms.

As for whether it's wrong (with or without the ideology) to have so many kids... When people routinely had large families 100+ years ago, it wasn't out of the same ideology as the Duggars. It was because access to reliable contraception and/or abortion was extremely limited, questionably legal, or perhaps outright nonexistent. You can't really choose to follow the idea of letting God determine your family size when, short of abstinence, you have no other options to choose. (And if you were a women before marital rape was outlawed, even abstinence may not have been a legal choice for you.)

The Duggars don't realize how historically privileged they are to have the option of modern medicine. Anyone who's walked through an old cemetery has probably noticed plenty of graves of babies, small children, and young mothers. In some sibling sets in my own family tree, only like 1-3 of 10 recorded children made it to adulthood. Plenty of male ancestors remarried multiple times because their wives died in childbirth. I seriously doubt the Duggars would be continually pursuing more pregnancies, especially high-risk ones, if they did not have the option of using doctors/nurses with the secular education they so despise.

I find it mind-boggling that Gothardism promotes having a bazillion kids, making use of secular doctors/nurses to have the most kids as possible; all in the name of building an army for god, that they are purposely keeping as dumb as possible (homeskool, no higher ed). What if they were to succeed in their aim? Why, no one would have any education to speak of, and there would be no (educated) doctors/nurses to aid them in their reproduction... so their whole ideal world is ultimately doomed to fail. :roll:

[DeFrauder]

I find it mind-boggling that Gothardism promotes having a bazillion kids, making use of secular doctors/nurses to have the most kids as possible; all in the name of building an army for god, that they are purposely keeping as dumb as possible (homeskool, no higher ed). What if they were to succeed in their aim? Why, no one would have any education to speak of, and there would be no (educated) doctors/nurses to aid them in their reproduction... so their whole ideal world is ultimately doomed to fail. :roll:

I don't think it is the Gothardism that is promoting the excessive breeding. All the Gothardites that I have known had a normal size brood--2-4 kids. Gothard is about "headship" and the "Umbrella of Protection" and unconditional obedience within a patriarchal system. I think it is the Quiverfull stuff that teaches the baby making.

[DeFrauder]

[

What you just described is work, time and effort expended. I think that Jim Bob and Michelle along the way became entitled and believed that they both were above daily, sustained effort and work.

As a working mom/wife who raised only 2 kids, I do not think 19 children is doable. Not for the long haul.

Yes, its obvious they are not that into work.

However--she is a stay at home mom. I assume that you work 8 hours a day? Imagine putting those 8 hours directly into attention on your kids. Plus no commute time spent. It wouldn't be easy and it would be hard work but these people go on and on about how being a stay at home mom and homeschooling and blah blah is their number 1 priority. She really only has 10 kids because the rest are old enough they do not need supervision. Although even the adults in that family are constantly watched, which is just plain stupid. If the kids are not able to make proper decisions for themselves by the time they are 18 (I would say even younger) then there wasn't effective parenting going on.

I guess what I am saying is that in this day and age, people who choose to squeeze out 19 kids need to put the time into raising them and that it can be done if they actually put the work in.

[fraurosena]

I don't think it is the Gothardism that is promoting the excessive breeding. All the Gothardites that I have known had a normal size brood--2-4 kids. Gothard is about "headship" and the "Umbrella of Protection" and unconditional obedience within a patriarchal system. I think it is the Quiverfull stuff that teaches the baby making.

Oops, my bad. :embarrassed:

[formergothardite]

I don't think it is the Gothardism that is promoting the excessive breeding. All the Gothardites that I have known had a normal size brood--2-4 kids. Gothard is about "headship" and the "Umbrella of Protection" and unconditional obedience within a patriarchal system. I think it is the Quiverfull stuff that teaches the baby making.

Gothard is very much into having baby after baby to build an army for God. Yes, there were families with 2-4 kids, but most of the ones I met were running 6+ children. Every year at the conferences they would parade the "reversal" babies around to show off the families that followed God's will and had tried to have babies after having things like vasectomies or their tubes tied. It was all about how these parents had disobeyed God and tried to limit their children, but now they saw how sinful that was and now God was blessing them with children. In the first Duggar special they go to an ATI event and talk about how mega-families isn't uncommon there.

[formergothardite]

Oops, my bad. :embarrassed:

No, you were right. Gothard is against all forms of birth control or limiting children.

As for how they expected to succeed while limiting their children's education, well Gothard had many people convinced that their kids simply did not need an education. Back in the 80's and 90's he was anti-college, all college, and instead taught parents that his apprenticeship programs were enough. He even had his own "medical" program. Advanced EXCEL(which I didn't attend because I sucked at the regular EXCEL) supposedly taught girls and women how to start an ATI approved home business. He would tell stories of boys having business men just walk up to them and offer high paying jobs based on their "shining eyes" and good countenance. :roll:

[karismanic]

I don't have access to news DBs, but I do find this blurb funny.

Headline: Duggar's Sideshow

Date: May 8, 2002

Publication: Benton County Daily Record (AR)

Page: 6

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bob Duggar's musical exhibition featuring about a halfdozen of his 13 children is getting old and annoying, and that has nothing to do with a political conspiracy among the Republican establishment.

Duggar, a state representative, brushed aside requests late last month from the Washington County Republican Women to have the kids take a break so he could articulate some of his campaign message. He drew a sharp response from Republican Anne Britton, who...

That is gold, Nic. Love it!

I would have loved to hear JB's response. If he purportedly had trouble ordering from a female waitress, how well did he interact with female voters?

I doubt very well.

[Cleopatra7]

I don't have access to news DBs, but I do find this blurb funny.

Headline: Duggar's Sideshow

Date: May 8, 2002

Publication: Benton County Daily Record (AR)

Page: 6

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bob Duggar's musical exhibition featuring about a halfdozen of his 13 children is getting old and annoying, and that has nothing to do with a political conspiracy among the Republican establishment.

Duggar, a state representative, brushed aside requests late last month from the Washington County Republican Women to have the kids take a break so he could articulate some of his campaign message. He drew a sharp response from Republican Anne Britton, who...

This reinforces my view that JB has been pimping out his kids for political gain since day one. JB and Michelle can't complain about the media getting up in their business when they've been departed for people to pay attention to them since the frumper days.