Duggars by the Dozen 30 - On a Mission from GOD!

[HereticHick]

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but I think this is one of Michelle's better outfits [from Bontrager Weddingpalooza, part 2]:

 

 

[nst]

she actually looks normal and decent

[singsingsing]

5 hours ago, Lurky said:

Me too - then at 6 months, hand them off and not give a damn again.

Yep, especially because by then there would be another newborn grandduggar, haha.

[JMO]

14 hours ago, SassyPants said:

Day one, for a breast feeding infant, which all Duggars are, would not allow a mother the luxury of sleeping all night. Sure, MD might be spending the night, but a Duggar mama is not sleeping all night on that first night.

Anna does say that Michelle brings the baby into them for feeds.  Most babies sleep relatively well the first night, it's the second when they are ravenous monsters. 

[NotQuiteMotY]

1 hour ago, JMO said:

Anna does say that Michelle brings the baby into them for feeds.  Most babies sleep relatively well the first night, it's the second when they are ravenous monsters. 

And the next few months...

[JMO]

Anyone else read the long tribute Jessa did to her mom?  Really sweet, as are all the kid's videos.  I want to know.  Why does Mechelle get such loving long individualized tributes from her kids when she and JB say the same crap about each child?  X has a servant's heart, they are such a joy to be around.  They help out so much with younger siblings, they love the Lord, yada yada yada.  

[singsingsing]

My personal theory is that Michelle is a better, more-involved mother than she lets on. That she actually cares about her kids as individuals and knows quite a lot about each of them. Much more than one might guess. I think her issue is the same issue they all have, really, the 'ministry mindset'. Whenever an individual kid's birthday or wedding rolls around, there are probably all kinds of different and unique things she could share, but she's entirely focused on the 'testimony'. So instead of a genuine expression of Michelle's relationship with the kid in question, we get the same canned 'you're a wonderful Christian, you're diligent and you put others first, so excited to see where the Lord leads you' thing every time. Jim Bob does the same thing.

Now I don't know why the kids give her long, individualized tributes. Maybe because they only have one mother, so they can focus a little better. Maybe because they grew up on TV and (a few of them) are active on social media so they're used to oversharing. Quite possibly they're somewhat more media savvy than Michelle and realize that people like to hear personal anecdotes and fun facts.

Again, I'm not saying that Michelle is a wonderful mother, but the discrepancy between how her children and her friends and acquaintances describe her, and how she comes across in the Duggar 'brand', is so great that it makes me think the truth is actually somewhere in the middle.

[Exposedknees]

I care deeply about a lot of people but I don't think it would be possible for ME  to be emotionally invested in a "motherly" way about that many kids. I can't wrap my head around that at all. I don't think it's even logistically possible for Michelle to be a "good" mother.

 

[CorruptionInc.]

That outfit looks really good on Michelle. Excluding the pearls. It suits.

Then again, we must remember she is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

[Four is Enough]

3 hours ago, singsingsing said:

My personal theory is that Michelle is a better, more-involved mother than she lets on. That she actually cares about her kids as individuals and knows quite a lot about each of them. Much more than one might guess.

IMO, she's doing an EXCELLENT job of hiding it.

 

I understand the part about the "testimony" but I feel that other people can combine a few details along with the testimony. Why can't she?

My theory is that when it's "for show", she is "involved" and "caring" with people around her. I'm betting she hangs out in the bedroom when nobody but family is around.

[likejana86]

it' s a strange to thing to say but michelle really look nice and semi normal

[Satan'sFortress]

Random musing:

I think back to the Duggar statement after Josh was outed as a child molester---one of the parts that always stuck with me was that they said this had all happened when he was "a young teen."  I am looking at my own son, who is now 15---same age as Josh was when he abused his sisters, and let me tell you--that is not a young teen!  A 15-year old boy is a man-sized.  He towers over me and weighs about 40 lbs more than I do.  15 year old boys shave. 

So horrible to think about those girls and how they were made to feel.  If a complete stranger had abused them in the same way, would the parents have handled it differently?  Would the girls still have been partly to "blame?"

[Chocolatedefrauded]

Yup, 15 year olds are not innocent babes. They can legally drive in some places. He knew better, he just didn't care. And I doubt he confessed to Boob & J'chelle with "a tender heart" or whatever she called it. I think he got caught & tried to manipulate it so he appeared to be sorry & bothered by what he did, probably so he didn't get beaten.

Added- a stranger who touched those girls would be jailed & demonized by that family. They would shout outrage at a high volume, I bet.

[Jenn The Heathen]

I really don't see how Michelle can be an attentive mom with all those kids.  I think maybe in the early days when the brood wasn't so large and there wasn't a film crew around, she could have put the effort in, but how on earth are you supposed to show 19 kids how special and loved they are when you wash your hands of responsibilities for child rearing once the kid is 6 months old? 

[JordynDarby5]

3 hours ago, Chocolatedefrauded said:

Yup, 15 year olds are not innocent babes. They can legally drive in some places. He knew better, he just didn't care. And I doubt he confessed to Boob & J'chelle with "a tender heart" or whatever she called it. I think he got caught & tried to manipulate it so he appeared to be sorry & bothered by what he did, probably so he didn't get beaten.

Added- a stranger who touched those girls would be jailed & demonized by that family. They would shout outrage at a high volume, I bet.

That's exactly what they'd do. If it had been someone outside the family JB and Michelle would be wanting the death penalty. They'd also use it as an example of how evil the world is. Look what this evil person did to our Godly family? But since it was their own son. It was nothing, they don't remember, Jesus saved him and their family, etc. 

[JordynDarby5]

4 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

My theory is that when it's "for show", she is "involved" and "caring" with people around her. I'm betting she hangs out in the bedroom when nobody but family is around.

This is my theory too. I think all the caring is for show. Whatever gets her on screen and attention for herself. For years it was constantly being pregnant and new babies. She was happy to hand over that precious blessing at 6 months and start trying for the next one. Now its pretending to care about her grandchildren or kids' weddings whatever will get her screen time. When the camera goes away I'm sure she does too. She had no problem abandoning Josie to head off to CA as a baby. She had no problem ignoring Jordyn or any of the lost girls or really any of the other kids. Her kids got the loving mother attention from their sister-moms not from her. 

[HurricaneBells]

I just watched some of the kids video messages for michelle... regrets, ive had a few....Sigh.... Hannies made me feel so sad, the sparkle and sassiness of younger days is now completely absent and she just doesnt seem to have any happiness going on in there. Then was it just me or did JD refer to JB as daddy in his? Please no. Which reminds me, WTF about JBs post for her? Vomit! At least he was honest but their marriage sounds like a fate worse than hell! 

[CarrotCake]

Ok, there is something I want to mention regarding Josh. Since I come here I see a lot of people referring to him as a pedophile and thinking he might molest his daughters/nieces.

While he is a child molester and he did disgusting things, I really don't think he is a pedophile. Do you really think he molested the girls because he likes underaged girls? I think he just likes girls in general and they were the only one 'available' to him.

Not that it makes his actions less bad, but I just don't think pedophile is the right word for this.

[Kangaroo]

34 minutes ago, HurricaneBells said:

I just watched some of the kids video messages for michelle... regrets, ive had a few....Sigh.... Hannies made me feel so sad, the sparkle and sassiness of younger days is now completely absent and she just doesnt seem to have any happiness going on in there. Then was it just me or did JD refer to JB as daddy in his? Please no. Which reminds me, WTF about JBs post for her? Vomit! At least he was honest but their marriage sounds like a fate worse than hell! 

I'm about 50% certain Hannie and JD we're just doing proof of life videos.

Also JD calling JB Daddy is probably what happens when you make a grown man raise his younger siblings and bunk in a dorm room. (It did just sound a bit like he was trying to recall a childhood story from when he would have called them "Mommy and Daddy", but really probably just a slip of the tongue and couldn't be bothered to record it again!)

 

[Queen]

I'm absolutely disgusted by the way JB and M handled Josh and the molestation. These three people are the guilty ones here. The five survivors of Josh's crime did  nothing wrong, and still they were the ones who were blamed by their community. Four of them were forced to forgive him, forced to live with him, forced to push their own emotions and needs under the rug. I really want their so called parents, who blatantly failed them and failed to get help for Fuckface, to get their punishment. I understand that the young women's feelings towards their parents and oldest brother might be complicated, especially since no human is 100% bad or good. You can have mixed feelings for people who have hurt you terribly, not to mention if your community demand you to like or respect them and blame you for their horrible actions it can get really confusing.

Was there any way the documents could have been readacted so that they didn't show the gender of the victims? Then it would have been much harder to guess the four that spineless Joshley chose, didn't he have like 10-12 siblings at that point? It must have been horrible for the girls/women when the news came out, especially since they were never allowed to process it, never allowed to feel resentment towards Josh, never allowed to feel like it was not their fault. I guess they felt/feel a lot of shame. When you happen to fall victim to a crime like this, it's common not to tell (many) people since you might harbor a lot of shame and guilt. This is especially strong within "purity" cultures where your whole worth as a woman is tied to who has sex with you or sexually assaults you and when.  

That said, I don't support the lawsuit. I think it was good that the hypocrisy of JB, M, Josh and the Quiverfull movement was brought into light. But the survivors shouldn't have been outed or felt like they had to out themselves and minimalize the abuse on TV. 

[MargaretElliott]

I don't know, I don't think JD calling his dad "daddy" is super weird. I'm about his age and that's what I call my dad, simply because that's what I've always called him. Is it a gendered thing? Is it weirder for men to say "daddy" in modern American society? I'm certainly not a "daddy's girl" but I just never bothered to consciously switch from "daddy" to "dad."

The internet daddy kink has kind of ruined the word. My SO and I have a list of banned nicknames, and among them is "daddy" and "bae." People can call each other whatever they want, but I will slap anyone who calls me bae.

[candygirl200413]

Ditto with it not being really weird to me cause my brother occasionally calls our dad daddy just like my sister and I. But maybe because like you said the way their cult is set up that it's a lot weirder to hear it.

[cascarones]

3 hours ago, MargaretElliott said:

The internet daddy kink has kind of ruined the word. My SO and I have a list of banned nicknames, and among them is "daddy" and "bae." People can call each other whatever they want, but I will slap anyone who calls me bae.

I have a visceral dislike to being called "baby" or "baby girl", similar to what probably happens to your eardrums when "baaaaabe" was at it's height of television glory. Whoever had our kitty before us clearly called her baby, because she responds like it's her name, which makes prenatal discussions fun.

My brother recently stopped seeing a gal over the "daddy" thing. He's got a four year old so it was just too weird for him within the context of an adult relationship. I know FJ has some single parents, I've got so much respect and awe for the strength that takes and if you ever need a vent, I'm a click away!

[Rachel333]

I almost gagged the other day when I heard Trump talk about how he likes it when Ivanka calls him daddy.

Spoiler

 

 

[HurricaneBells]

9 hours ago, MargaretElliott said:

I don't know, I don't think JD calling his dad "daddy" is super weird.

 

Its just not common to me thats all lol. In 36 years of life in australia i believe ive never heard a boy teens and above call his father daddy even in recollection. In my family at least you would be sucking up or taking the piss if you said that and would be teased for doing it. I was howling with laughter thinking of my huge 6ft 4, tattooed 24 yo nephew calling my brother daddy and the ensuing hilarious reaction that would surely follow.