Posted on 05/17/2004 10:06:50 PM PDT by projectile
Michelle Duggar just won the "Young Mother of the Year Award" in Arkansas, which is sponsored by American Mothers Incorporated.
Duggar is like any mom -- multiplied several times over.
Michelle Duggar, 37, and her husband, former state Rep. Jim Bob Duggar, have 14 kids. All of their names start with the letter "J," and number 15 is due this month.
The children: Joshua, 16; Jana and John-David, 14; Jill, 12; Jessa, 11; Jinger, 10; Joseph, 9; Josiah, 7; Joy-Anna, 6; Jeremiah and Jedidiah, 5; Jason, 3; James, 2; and Justin, 1.
"I'm either expecting or nursing," Michelle Duggar says with a laugh. "We actually didn't set out to have a large number of children. I don't think that was our intention when we were first married. But I think we realized children are a gift."
The Duggars are a very religious, Southern Baptist family.
"I just kind of got used to it as they came," says Joshua, the oldest child.
Added together, Duggar has spent almost a whole decade pregnant -- and she's only 37.
She admits to having morning sickness, but mornings at the Duggar house would make anybody go bananas.
From dawn to dusk, each tiny tot has an older buddy who helps them with just about everything
"It's a lot of fun," says Jill.
The little ones have their responsibilities, too. Joseph fetches the laundry. Then, Jill and Joy-Anna take their turn washing clothes the girls have made themselves.
Josiah takes out the trash, while his brother, John, trains the dog, Jasmine.
The Duggars call the chores "jurisdictions," and, they say, it keeps them disciplined. There's an almighty checklist.
"We give them a little reward per check … about 3 cents a check," says Jim Bob.
But the Duggars check more than just chores. Michelle Duggar homeschools all 14 children. Sometimes, they study as a group or on their own. They use workbooks, computers and each other to study.
Michelle Duggar notes, "The older child gets to become a teacher. And it seems like you learn so much more when you're the teacher than when you're just the student."
From math to music, the Duggar kids don't miss a beat.
"We heard a long time ago that it if you play a violin, it helps you work on the left side of the brain," explains Michelle. "Sometimes, there are eight lessons going on at the same time. And you just kind of have to block it out."
That may be hard to do in the modest house of only 2,400 square feet.
There's almost always a line at one of the two bathrooms, but soon that will change.
Dad and the two oldest boys are building a 7,000-square-foot house. The Duggar dream house will have bathrooms galore, a commercial kitchen and one heck of a laundry room.
"We'll have four washers and eight dryers," says Jim Bob Duggar. "Yes, a laundromat."
How do they afford it? Jim Bob Duggar made some smart investments, and they're pretty frugal. The Duggars shop in bulk, basketfuls at a time.
"We spend about $1,500 a month on food," say Jim Bob.
When they do splurge, they go in style -- the family bus. But the bus has a couple of extra seats.
"I would like more," says Michelle Duggar.
Jim Bob Duggar says he has something very special planned for Mother's Day. Michelle says if that means he's cooking, she'll have quite a mess to clean up when he's done.
Whenever you're ready, I'll be happy to add you to my Homeschool ping list!
My sister-in-law is from a family of 17 children. Her mother is now a grandmother of over 110 grandchildren. The younger children are in thier late twenties and early thirties so that means the grandchildren are still coming!! She has about 5 great-grandkids, so far, and if you extrapolate! Wow!
A store clerk said that to me once when I was pregnant with my fifth child. I told her that of course we know what causes it. It's just that we enjoy it so much, we can't stop! That embarrassed her so much it shut her up. I just laughed.
bagpipes ??? *L*
You have patience of a saint
I tell them "You have got to pick one or two to kill, since you think I have too many. We can solve the problem right now. Pick at least one"
Most of the time they are too stunned to even stutter a word.
Shuts them up real quick
BTW, currently have two left at home.
Actually not. It has paid off tremendously over the past few years. Our 14 year old went to Scotland with the Youth band from Vancouver, B.C. and they came back with a World Championship. Beat the United States Pipe Band, BTW. The US fielded all boys. They should have had half the band be girls, like Canada did, then maybe the US would have won! The group from BC is connected with Simon Fraser University. Awesome Talent.
And where else can a 17 year old work for $100 playing a couple of tunes for an event?
Can you imagine how many grandchildren they could have in 20 years?
It's amazing.
God bless them!
I've not heard of them. We're in the midwest and know an abundance of pipers from Ohio and west. Not real familiar with the eastern pipers. Our daughter did compete at Prince Edward's Island a couple of years ago. My husband took her, that was one of the competitions that I didn't get to go to. She was more excited about Anne of Green Gables than the piping competition!
Mother of the Year??? This is the most ridiculous article all morning. It's the flip side of the German couple who didn't know they had to have intercourse to have kids, these are rabbits. As if she has the time or the energy to give each and every one of those 15 (or is it 47 by print time?) kids quality time? The ability to mass produce does not a Mother make. These people have enough money to provide the basics for this brood? Enough money to send each on to college or trade school or will they be using that Mother award and Dad's political ties to get scholarships which should have gone to more deserving students? Ever heard the world is overpopulated?
So only those who believe as you would be reproducing? But the RATS, low life scum, members of terrorist cells located around our nation would remain sterile?
That's the general idea, yep. :-P
Jim Bob?
That picture is just creepy with everyone dressed alike and mom is dressed like the 6 yo. Just like I posted earlier, she doesn't have time to give each one individual quality time. I'm not buying all eight kids wanted to play the violin. What, not one wanted to march to the beat of a different *drum*? If one kid gets an individual idea would there be an intervention?
You've obviously never spent much time around large, homeschooled families.
First off, if Mom is home all the time, she certainly IS spending "quality time" with the kids - a heck of a lot more time than the average working mother who's only with kids a few hours a day. Not to mention the kids all have each other to hang out with, something which my siblings STILL do to this day.
Secondly, homeschoolers are among the most individual, opinionated, outspoken people there are, for better or for worse. People who visit us when we're all home tend to find it a bit intimidating since we usually have at least several loud "discussions" going on, something which was always encouraged. Yes, politically we all pretty much agree...but that's because we happen to be right. ;-)
Until someone points out you had 400 eggs so why didn't you birth all of them.
I don't have studies, no. Just going by personal experience. Sorry that isn't good enough.
As for assumptions, why do YOU assume that these kids couldn't possibly be happy, well-adjusted, intelligent kids?
I never said you were against homeschooling...just that it does mean they spend far more time with their parents than the average kids. Yes, there are lots of them...but in my own experience, I was always able to talk to Mom about anything and everything - which equals "quality time" in my book.
I'm sorry, but immediate disdain for large families and sarcastic, pitying remarks about the pooooor children get my goat, and I feely admit to being overly sensitive on the subject. I've heard my share of "you know what causes that, right?" kind of statements in my time - people just couldn't get it through their heads that people might actually WANT a big family, and that the actual KIDS enjoyed having a big family.
That's a great response.
We have friends with 12 or so kids. I have some relatives who live near them and have nothing but disrespect for their lifestyle. An uncle, who does not even know them has expressed his disgust at them for having 11 more kids than he did and obviously sucking off the public teat. He did not believe me when I told him that they take no aid. I'll have to whip out a family photo of the brood and have my uncle circle with a red pen those who should die.
The ignorance is astounding.
Quality time is a scam. Time is all that's necessary. The kids are probably each others best friends. As the older children are able to help the younger, it frees the mother from the mundane things such as baths, diapers, laundry and allows her to spend time with the kids. each kid.
College is not likely to be much of a problem either. Scholarships abound, start with community college to get the garbage classes out of the way and then move on to a university. A local university is better as you're not dropping $10,000 a year on room and board. Or, as an alternative, the father, a real estate exec. can purchase a small home near the university for his kids to live in while attending college. Save thousands and have an investment at the same time.
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