Derek & Jill (Duggar) Dillards new house - 19 Kids & Countin

I'm curious what you mean by that? I am not a super fan and have really only started watching the show near the end of last season, but from what I can tell, the son that lives in DC is doing fine supporting his family and Jill seems to be planning a future career as a midwife. 

Did you see the previous episode where they were cleaning the house and Jim Bob announced that Derek and Jill would be living in it? The look on Josh and Anna's faces were priceless. I believe their first house was around 1,000 SF and had two bedrooms and one bathroom (I'm pretty sure Jim Bob owned that house as well and let them live in it). Personally, I wouldn't give one kid a tiny house and another a 4,000 SF house. With that many kids, I'd probably just stay out of it altogether!

I think Derek is pretty well educated and has a good job. Not sure about Ben...he is so young!

I don't see why they don't just build a wing onto their house? Seriously, they could utilize the industrial kitchen, have babysitters just steps away and if Jim Bob required, just pay a small portion of the property tax for their "wing".

There is really good money in flipping houses. However, often when you buy one of those homes it has been trashed. It can take a lot of money and time to make a place ready to sell. If you have the time and the talent to do the work yourself you can make some serious profit. Good for them.

Make choices for yourself all day long but when you limit your 19 childrens' education and position them to be dependent upon the family, yeah, I'll judge.

If you can not make choices for how you want to raise your family and the values you want to instill in them, then you can not truly make choices for yourself. 

The truth is that everyone's education is limited.  Do they have an education that could get them into an Ivy League college?  Probably not.  But they certainly will certainly be able to make a living for themselves.  They are all learning trades, which absolutely will prepare them to make a living. 

Any one of them could choose to go to a community college if they wanted to and then move up to a state school after 2 years.  However, I imagine the majority of them will be content with living a simple life close to their family working trades and sharing resources.  That is a good life.  I think many people participating in the "rat race" of modern society would be love to have that choice. 

Julie

How long has that show been running? Don't each of the kids have a separate contract for appearing in the show? I would have thought that each of them has quite a stash of cash from the years they have allowed the world into their lives.

I would think that without the show the children would have had fewer opportunities than they have now.

And how is it ANYBODY'S business how many children they have? How they raise them? What opportunities they have? Y'all are just a bunch of complaining busybodies (so there!)

no matter if you agree with his values or not (I happen not to agree with a lot of it, so I am not coming here to defend that).. but that is his beliefs and at his age, I think he can think for himself.  He has a job (no matter how he got it.. fame or whatever).. has a home, wife and children, I would say they are doing quite well.. just what is wrong with that? 

I wish we could see this kind of concern and judgement with the other religions and cultures that severely limit their children's education and options, based on gender and or religious beliefs. Those threads never seem to get any traction here, when they are seen here.

I agree. those 'kids' will be able to find work when so many 'college' kids can't. Anyone tried to hire a good tile layer lately? Even if it's just to save what they'd have to pay someone to do it for them - they'll save a ton of $s.

Living an honest, clean and simple life is a reward all on it's own.

Interesting how so many think those 'kids' want a different life...

Actually, I have, and I did, and I wouldn't look for a person who's "self-taught."

Those kids never had a choice----they don't know any other way to be and were never given an opportunity to even have the "thought" of being someone different.

I always find it interesting that those who claim to be the most liberal are filled with such loathing towards others choose a lifestyle that is so different than their own.

These kids are still so young. It will be interesting to see where they end up in 10 or 20 years. No family has 19 children who choose to follow exactly in their parents footsteps. When they get out of the house several of them will make choices different from their parents.

The kids don't know that there could be a different life. They are expected to follow what they know, exploration of their own life is out of the question. They are not given the option to explore different life paths. THAT (in my opinion) is one of the worst things a parent can do to a child, smother them and never give them a chance to be anything other than a carbon copy of their parents. They have never had a chance to do anything else or be anything else other than a part of the limited life of a Duggar.

Exactly.

An expectation to attend college is one thing, I think most parents have that expectation, but did they tell you what courses to take? What to major in? What your life will be after college due to the choices they made about your life? There's a difference between expecting a child to attend college and do whatever and the Duggars who limit school choices, school experiences and the courses and majors their child can take. The first is a natural expectation, what the Duggars do is limit the child even before they have a chance to think of anything else.

I have a problem with people who put themselves out there and act as if they are better than everyone else. And that's what the Duggars do. They practically cripple their children into following the exact same screwed up lifestyle. To me, that is wrong. For those kids to not even have a fighting chance at their own lives and to make their own lifestyle choices is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I believe that everyone needs to be able to choose their own life, not the one their parents want and expect. The kids can't date or choose mates without parental interference (or being chosen for them), they can't go to a school they want to go to, the older kids are forced to parent the younger children because it's impossible for the mother to mother that many children, and they just do not have a chance. Period. And that really bothers me. In my world, kids may be influenced by their parents but at the end of the day, the child makes their own decisions about what they want their life to be. I don't know a soul who has been forced into their parent's lifestyle choices like the Duggars. And I'm glad.

And quite frankly, the Duggars put themselves out there. They've put themselves and their superiority filled "we're so great because we live this fucked up lifestyle that no one understands or can comprehend but because we have a million children we're the only people doing things right and we're going to show off and show everyone how they are wrong and going to hell because they can't possible understand how their godless lifestyle is inferior and ruining their lives which is why we are micro-managing our children to within an inch of their lives" mantra.

And I have to say that I wonder if the oldest son really moved out of State from the family because he'd had enough of his parents bullshit, and that hate filled job was an easy out.


Exactly. They can do whatever the hell they want, I'm not going to stop them or get legislation passed to ban them, but if they keep putting out there how they smother their children into submission, I'm going to criticize it. Those kids do not have a fighting chance, and I think that's a shame. Just like any person I know with overbearing parents who don't get it. I particularly feel bad for the girls because their mother is teaching them that the only thing they are good for is having babies. This newly married couple has had no chance to be a couple on their own, now they will have a child. It's a crying shame that the girls are so limited and not through their own choices. If they chose that lifestyle on their own, fine, but they aren't given an option. They can't even go to real schools and discover a life outside their own. How can they make an informed choice when they don't know what's out there?