17 Kids and Counting.
Right now I'm watching an interesting show on The Learning Channel called 17 Kids and Counting. A brief synopsis: Ultra Conservative Baptist family adhering to the Quiverfull ideology. (a few links here Duggar Family Creeps and Quiverfull Ideals) In my opinion, having a large family is fantastic, by "large family" I mean 4, 5, or 6. Enough children for a parent to manage while still keeping a slight idea of sanity. The Duggar family is much too large. According the to their wiki page and Duggarfamily.com (Duggar Website) they have 17 children, number 18 due on New Year's Day 2009. The family itself is only manageable because the older children are forced to participate in the "buddy program." This program pairs a young child with and older child and that older child is responsible for the younger throughout the day. They help with phonics, get the child meals, and also help the child through daily activities. Essentially, they are taking the place of the mother, or both parents altogether. The mother of the family serves as a breeding cow, from the birth of her first son in 1988, she has been consistently pregnant each year, with only two years gap adding up.
I find this type of conservative extremism destructive to the minds and personalities of the children involved. The wikipedia page of the Duggar family lists all of the children's favorite foods and what they want to be when they grow up. The boys of the family have the general firefighter, policeman, father, some of the older boys have aspiring dreams of attorney. The girls, on the other hand, have a majority agreement to be mothers or missionaries. While I was watching their TLC show I heard a question asked by the man filming and interviewing. His question was something along the lines of "Don't you think that by imposing rules on the girls of the house to cook and clean and the boys to do outdoor work and train them to be the money makers of the family, that you're forcing them into severe gender stereotypes?" Michelle Dugger, the Mother, responded with something like "No, we believe that the girls are inate at what they do, they enjoy working in the kitchen and the house. They have been like this since they were young children." The only reason women have been forced into gender roles is because society has pushed them to do so. The Duggars do not allow their children to interact freely with the society outside of their home, homeschooling and controlling TV and internet access. Therefore the microcosm of their family is what forces the children into the life that they are growing into.
All in all, I feel bad for the Duggar children mostly. I take pride in admitting that I am not a religious person but I also take pride in being as open and understanding to all religions as I can possibly become. I ofent enjoy studying the theology of religions of each and every type. The display of the extreme conservative values the Duggar family lives by is, to me, an over obsession with the ideals of Christianity, and can be seen as something of a cult. No child should be denied freedom of choice to learn and live as they grow no matter what they choose to learn and become. The Duggar family openly denies their children to this right, and living in today's world, are completely encouraged and allowed to do so. I love freedom, I just don't love misinterpritations of historical works of fiction.
I find this type of conservative extremism destructive to the minds and personalities of the children involved. The wikipedia page of the Duggar family lists all of the children's favorite foods and what they want to be when they grow up. The boys of the family have the general firefighter, policeman, father, some of the older boys have aspiring dreams of attorney. The girls, on the other hand, have a majority agreement to be mothers or missionaries. While I was watching their TLC show I heard a question asked by the man filming and interviewing. His question was something along the lines of "Don't you think that by imposing rules on the girls of the house to cook and clean and the boys to do outdoor work and train them to be the money makers of the family, that you're forcing them into severe gender stereotypes?" Michelle Dugger, the Mother, responded with something like "No, we believe that the girls are inate at what they do, they enjoy working in the kitchen and the house. They have been like this since they were young children." The only reason women have been forced into gender roles is because society has pushed them to do so. The Duggars do not allow their children to interact freely with the society outside of their home, homeschooling and controlling TV and internet access. Therefore the microcosm of their family is what forces the children into the life that they are growing into.
All in all, I feel bad for the Duggar children mostly. I take pride in admitting that I am not a religious person but I also take pride in being as open and understanding to all religions as I can possibly become. I ofent enjoy studying the theology of religions of each and every type. The display of the extreme conservative values the Duggar family lives by is, to me, an over obsession with the ideals of Christianity, and can be seen as something of a cult. No child should be denied freedom of choice to learn and live as they grow no matter what they choose to learn and become. The Duggar family openly denies their children to this right, and living in today's world, are completely encouraged and allowed to do so. I love freedom, I just don't love misinterpritations of historical works of fiction.