Jessa Duggar's "Parenting" Skills

[FloraDoraDolly]

My children call me and other adults Ma'am or Sir, but not their own siblings. That's just weird. Your siblings are your peers!

I'm big on respectfulness and good manners. I am an attachment parent and do not spank or really discipline much at all in the traditional sense, but I like being around polite people who respect others, whether they are adults or children. I show my children extreme courtesy and they return it.

Attachment may be the key word here. No doubt Jessa has noticed how attached the little ones are to Jill and Jana. This is one of the ways Jim Bob & Michelle keep those two oldest girls tethered to the family-- even if Jill and Jana could work up the coruage to break away from their parents, could they break away from small children who love them dearly and depend on them the way normal kids depend on a parent? It's emotional blackmail, plain and simple. So maybe Jessa has figured this out and decided to keep her distance psychologically? Thus, she is more no-nonsense than Jana or Jill and makes the little ones call her ma'am.

[Kitchen Princess]

My kids always loved the novelty of sleeping on the floor, so I let 'em, especially if it was the only way I'd get MY nap. ;)

[ladypuglover]

I've been thinking on this for awhile and it still seems weird that they have Johannah and sometimes Jackson nap on a daily basis. Jennifer on up to maybe age 8-9 should be encouraged to have a quiet time. Pop in a quiet movie or give a stack of books to the kids and let them read quietly for an hour while laying down. Just make sure that everyone has their own spot to control the giggles and most likely the kids will fall asleep who need it and those who don't will get some rest and reading in. The teens monitoring the quiet time would get more computer/craft work down in encouraging quiet than forcing sleep.

[Lillybee]

Since there are so few books or movies that those kids are allowed to read or look at I am not sure it that would be doable. I can see putting them down with a kiddie bible, though.

[contrary]

:o I really don't want this to come out sounding the wrong way, but I'm really surprised that you called members of your own family sir or ma'am. To me doing that would be incredibly, incredibly formal; in fact it would never have occurred to me in a million years to call my parents or grandparents that! Sir and ma'am (or madam, as it more commonly is over here) are what you call strangers, not members of your own family. Well, strangers and teachers (though female teachers are called Miss not Ma'am or Madam, even if they're married).

my maternal grandparents were very old-skool southern, and my relationships with them were quite formal. in fact, we all actually called our grandmother "Grandmother". yes ma'am was expected, as were intricate southern table manners (dressing for dinner, don't sit until grandmother sits, one hand in your lap, etc). that was just the way it was for my mom's family (my mom taught me these things, but our own home was nowhere near as formal. we just pulled out the Big Manners at grandmother's house).

My paternal grands were far more casual, and I may have "yes ma'am-ed" them out of habit (my mother expected it for all adults), but my relationships with my paternal grands didn't have manners as a baseline requirement).

[Antigone]

Interesting.. my 5 year old stopped napping daily around age 4, but we still encourage quiet time or alone time for a hour or so every day just to keep things calm around the house. During the weekends though, we do need her to nap, she gets over-excited when her father has time off work and is actually home to play with her.

When she was younger we did encourage her to nap in her bed, but didn't mind her sleeping on the floor for naps only- whatever worked to get her to nap. Nowadays she naps in her bed if it is a naptime occasion- sometimes she will be so tired she ends up sleeping wherever she ends up (as long as it isn't in her food or the tub, LOL). We have taken a few interesting photos over the years of her sleeping with the dogs, on a pile of stuffed animals, leaning on the couch with a bottle in hand, etc-

As long as the kids are happy, comfy, and healthy... i'm not too concerned. Though the fact some of the girls do not have their own bed kind of raises my eyebrows. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. No one has perfect sleeping habits or preferences- after all the Romanov children slept on militiary cots growing up, and they were happy and healthy with the way they lived (granted, they were royalty during the early 20th century, LOL).

[mnb357]

What "squicked" me out more was the episode which was shown right after the naptime one, in which Jim Bob used the word "funnest" to describe Jackson's trip to the car lot. At least, I THINK they were heading there. I turned it off after I head Jim Bob say that word to the camera.

[bananacat]

Just to add, obviously I find the idea of calling siblings sir or ma'am really weird, though I suppose that as Jessa is the SOTDRT teacher she needs to exert some authority with the younger children. I still think she should use some other method of doing so though.

I think that you don't necessarily need to exert authority to get kids to learn, unless there are too many of them (which there are). I used to babysit a lot, including a home daycare, and volunteer as a teacher at Vacation Bible School every summer. I always hated being called Miss M, so I told the kids to just use my regular name. I never had any behavior problems from any of the kids, even though I was just a high school student for some of those classes. There is a mutual respect between me and the kids, but I have never had to force them to use signs of respect to get them to pay attention to me.

[snarkykitty]

Does anyone think that Jessa was unnecessarily physical when she grabbed Jordyn's face two weeks ago? I believe that it was when she told her to say "no thank you."

Having the child look at you when you're instructing them is one thing; grabbing their face (when they are two years old) to do so is another.

If I didn't know any better, I'd guess that Jessa or the other older girls participate in physical punishment.