And the Duggars Shall Inherit Earth ...

And the Duggars Shall Inherit Earth ...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

filed under: momstrosity

The Duggars say it's their mission from God to have more children. Could He also tell them to knock it the heck off?

Momlogic's Momstosity: Surprise, surprise. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are already going to be grandparents! Their eldest son Joshua and his new wife are expecting their first of what's sure to be many, many children. What happy news, except for the fact that Michelle is herself a mom to an infant ... and has her hands full with her other 17 kids.

Unbelievably, even though Michelle will soon be making the transition from mommy to grandmommy, she is still itching to get pregnant. "We would love more,'' Michelle reportedly said. "We really believe that each child is a gift from God. We would love to receive more gifts." Hmm, Michelle Duggar sounds a little like a woman collecting designer handbags ... she just can't stop herself. Sounds a little less like God's work and more like pure greed.

Mrs. Duggar's womb just keeps quivering for more kids. This makes sense, since the Duggars and other prolific procreators like them subscribe to the Quiverfull movement. Never heard of it? It's a movement followed by a small faction of conservative evangelical Christians. Apparently it's easy to be "quiverfull" -- all you have to do is pop out as many kids as humanly possible.

It's all based on Psalm 127:
Lo children are an heritage of the LORD and the fruit of the womb is his reward
Happy is the man who has a quiverful.

That was probably REALLY good advice back in biblical times, when the child mortality rate was through the roof and parents needed as many kids as possible to help sustain their hardscrabble agrarian lifestyle. Thanks to medical advances and convenience stores, the need for a multitude of children has dwindled.

But Nancy Campbell, founder of the Quiverfull movement, which began to take hold back in the '80s, believes "The greatest impact is through my children." Campbell told NPR, "The more children I have, the more ability I have to impact the world for God." Or, more accurately, impact the world with Quiverfull families' big a** carbon footprints.

In these days of food shortages and pollutions, maybe Psalm 127 needs some revision to account for a global population that's teetering on 6.77 billion.

But Kathryn Joyce, author of "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement," sees the future of the movement as strong. "If everyone starts having eight children or 12 children, imagine in three generations what we'll be able to do." Joyce also told NPR, "We'll be able to take over both halls of Congress ... we'll be able to reclaim sinful cities like San Francisco for the faithful." Um, yeah, good luck finding affordable housing in 'Frisco for a family of 20.

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37 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

so sad to see kids raising kids…what else is the eldest Duggar to do? All he knows how to do is to raise children. He did it for his parents his entire life! The Duggar “kids” never have a chance to be kids. They are to busy trying to help their parents raise the rest of the brood. The Duggar parents are SELFISH!

- Anonymous

Posted 04/14/09 05:10 AM

What I can’t figure out is how Joshua and his wife will be able to stay debt free like his parents preach when starting to have kids so quickly, plus they are not willing to use birth control so they could have who knows how many kids before they are 30. Kids are expensive and this new young family doesn’t have a tv show to support their growing brood like mom and dad. This entire thing bothers me, I LOVE being a stay at home mom who is also homeschooling but I also am a person who has interests, how can you have time to yourself when you have a million kids. It’s also really sad that these two pretty much know nothing else but how to raise kids.

- Kristen

Posted 04/14/09 06:57 AM

Think of how much trash this family must have each week! And think of how many diapers (unless they use cloth, I don’t know, I don’t watch the show) they have gone through over the years that are just piling up. Disgusting!! I have 2 kids and the amount of garbage we have is unbelievable. I think theyare selfish for making the older kids raise the little ones.

- ashley

Posted 04/14/09 08:15 AM

The vitriol toward this family is really amazing. This is a moral, decent family who are not asking the taxpayers to contribute toward raising their kids and seem to be doing a really good job of raising solid citizens. Why all the animosity? My husband and I have 7 kids, and you wouldn’t believe the stuff we have heard. I never understood why people were so vicious. We have 7 beautiful, productive, happy, well-adjusted children and have never had one cent from taxpayers to raise them. The best thing we ever did for our older children is have the younger ones. It taught them that babies and toddlers are a lot of work, and not something you take on lightly. They have always had loving relationships, particularly with the babies, and I wouldn’t change anything. Is is jealousy, I wonder?

- cyndi

Posted 04/14/09 08:41 AM

you know i cant say nothing bad about this. as long as all them kids are taken care of and are healthy then its all good. the only thing i have to say is you go girl, to have that many kids and it seems that alot of the time all of them are happy. they must be doing something right. we only have 2 kids and that is a wonderful thing to us. we both would love to have more but i am not able to.

- Anonymous

Posted 04/14/09 09:27 AM

I think people should really lay off them. I thought they were odd people but I watched the show a few times and all though I can’t say I know them through the “magic ” of television, I have never seen so many helpful, loving, caring, fun children under one roof or almost at all. None of them are afraid of hard work and all of them have learned to help and contribute to the family at a young age. Some may argue that that’s a bad thing and they are not being kids by helping so much but since when is it a bad thing to teach a child responsibility? They still play and do things as a family. They even go help others as a family outing! They all eat dinner together which is close to unheard of these days. In my family everyone has a job. These are values we instill early on. Values that when they leave home will carry on to help others, expect nothing to be done FOR them. To learn to take care of others and that not everything is handed to them. I have to say I was wrong about them and was impressed by these children. For all the crappy parents out there and all the bratty kids out there this is one family we should really leave alone! Who the hell are we to say they are wrong for having so many children? They are not asking for tons of taxpayer’s money to raise these kids or knocking on your door for a donation! They take care of themselves!I think we all have octomom syndrome and we think nobody should have so many kids, but families were much bigger back in the day, why is it so wrong now. They take care of them.

- amy

Posted 04/14/09 09:33 AM

I realize that having that many kids sounds crazy but watching the show it is amazing to see how well everything runs and the kids are happy! These are hardworking selfless children that they have raised. They’ve done very well with their family and I have no doubt that all of those children will grow up to be very wonderful adults as well. The Duggars are amazing parents. And besides, they are not using taxpayers money so what do we care? The children are well cared for and the family is supporting themselves.

- Sara

Posted 04/14/09 09:36 AM

I am not a fan of huge families… 19 or however many they have isn’t for me. This family is also very religious and old-fashioned, which is not for me. HOWEVER, I’ve seen their show a handful of times and from what I’ve gathered, this family takes care of itself. They grow their own food in their gardens and they get used clothes and they’re creative in their toys for the kids—the rest of us could probably learn from them! I don’t have any idea what their trash bin looks like at the end of the week, but I know a family of four who fill two bins EACH WEEK, so it’s not always about the number of people, but how wasteful and creative they are. Also, I think education is important, and I will encourage both of my children to go to college, but if this young couple is happy and their goal is a big family, who are we to criticize? Just because it’s not for us doesn’t mean we have to stop others from fulfilling their dreams.

- Barb

Posted 04/14/09 10:07 AM

I’d rather see a self-sufficient family of 19 than one family of 3 on the taxpayer dole. It’s funny how people want to criticize their reproductive decisions. Probably the same people that tell anti-abortion advocates to get out of their wombs. Reproductive freedom goes both ways.

- Rachel

Posted 04/14/09 10:12 AM

I agree Rachel, people don’t realize that pro choice is so much more than thinking it’s ok to abort….

- amy

Posted 04/14/09 10:20 AM

What happy news, except for the fact that Michelle is herself a mom to an infant … and has her hands full with her other 17 kids. I think you’re wrong here, Michelle doesn’t have her hands full because her children are raising her children!!!

- Christy

Posted 04/14/09 10:36 AM

I’m pro-choice, but I don’t think it’s very responsible to have this many kids. There is just NO WAY that the parents can provide the love and individual attention that all of these kids need. Someone is going to fall trough the cracks. Sometimes you want your mom or your dad, not your brother. I also question the ethics of parents who are willing to let cameras into their home to tape their kids 24/7 for their entire lives. There’s something very disurbing about the way they practically wave the positive EPT stick at the camera for the Today Show.

- Elita

Posted 04/14/09 10:37 AM

I go to church too. There’s nothing in the Bible about having tons of kids. It’s irresponsible and selfish, no matter who your God is.

- Beth in SF

Posted 04/14/09 10:57 AM

I think it’s important that we, as women, support the choices of other women, even if we don’t understand them. Would I want a huge family? No. I barely managed to birth two children. My only concern with all of this is whether they will support a life choice that doesn’t fit with their expectations. In other words, if one of the daughters or Anna develops a condition where having more children would put her life at risk, would they be accepting of a decision to not have more children.

- Beth

Posted 04/14/09 11:08 AM

I pity the poor Duggar girl that finds out she can’t have children or will only be able to have one or two before she is advised to STOP for her own health. I don’t have any vitriol for the family but I think it’s pretty presumptive that Joshua says they are planning out their own naming theme for their assumed brood of babies to come. What if God’s plan for you is just one child, Josh? Then what?

- Anonymous

Posted 04/14/09 11:09 AM

I can’t believe some of the rude comments I have read here about these people. Their children are all well-adjusted and probably a little better behaved than most of our children. Just because their children have chores and the instill responsibility in them at a young age that makes them irresponsible? These people are not hurting anyone and deserve to be left alone!

- Cassandra

Posted 04/14/09 11:25 AM

The same people who direct angry comments at the self-sufficient Duggar family are probably the same people who praise the single parent, who made a conscious decision to raise a child with the welfare system as their partner.

- Anonymous

Posted 04/14/09 11:26 AM

Someone want to pass me that Pinky and the Brain juice the Duggars keep drinking? My nails are ravaged worrying about how my only child will survive independently in the ten years following the greatest Recession since the Great Depression. But I’m sure Michelle’s nails are GREAT, seeing how her kids are just flimsy inanimate arrow objects to be stuffed in an already overstuffed pack for whatever purpose she and her faith want them to serve.

- Sarah-Jane

Posted 04/14/09 11:51 AM

I’m really surpised so many people are so upset by this family. I understand the arguements on the cons of having so many kids but they really do it well and are responsible loving parents. I say more power to them The world can use as many nice, kind hearted, caring people in the world, even if they have to come from one family…

- amy

Posted 04/14/09 12:04 PM

I refuse to bash the Duggars for having so many children. Their children are alot better cared for than some children that are only kids. I myself am a mom to 5 beautiful kiddos, and wish I hadn’t had my tubes tied. I would love a couple more. 18…no, but a couple more…sure. Just because ones faith does not coincide with your own does not mean that anyone has any right to say their faith is wrong. If they feel God wants them to be “fruitful and multiply” then let them. As for the other families involved with Quiverfull, I don’t know. Never heard of it. But I say as long as the kids are well cared for, loved, and all those wonderful things some people think you can only do for 2, who are we to judge?

- Brandi

Posted 04/14/09 12:09 PM