The Woman has 16 Kids!

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I just finished watching a documentary on Discovery Health about this family called the Duggars. This family has 16 kids! SIXTEEN KIDS!

They're christian, they seem like a really nice and loving family, and all the kids have names that start with the letter "J" (Who would have thought there were that many "J" names in the world, eh?)

Personally, I think that 16 kids is pushing it a bit--I mean, it's a little ridiculious!

I just wanted to get you guys opinion on it.

[Nate]

Actually, I am very fearful of the quality of life of this family if they aren't horribly filthy rich. My mom spent about 150 bucks a week on groceries for a family of 3 kids. Not to mention clothing budgets. As well as water bills for showering, and how do they take family trips? Even an SUV can hold what, 8 people tops?

I'm being serious, if they're not millionaires, I feel very sorry for those poor children.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Actually, I am very fearful of the quality of life of this family if they aren't horribly filthy rich. My mom spent about 150 bucks a week on groceries for a family of 3 kids. Not to mention clothing budgets. As well as water bills for showering, and how do they take family trips? Even an SUV can hold what, 8 people tops?

I'm being serious, if they're not millionaires, I feel very sorry for those poor children.

From what I saw, that family was pretty well off. They're always dressed as if they were going to church or a private school--(Khaki's and dress shoes for the boys, dresses for the girls and mom) They just finished BUILDING their own house, (Which is GIGANTIC), they're all home schooled by mom (I think her name was Michelle) and on Sunday, they all have church services at home with their neighbors and friends.

[Ingemar]

Gah, my aunt's (ex?)boyfriend was 10th in a family of 17 children. Interestingly enough, all 17 kids are named in alphabetical order (his name is Justin).

As for quality of life... well, he grew up in the Philippines so...

[Shadowchild]

No wonder we are having serious overpopulation! Poor trees! T_T Keeping teh species alive is good, but that is just trying to ward off another 16 acres of squirrels! *cries*

[Nate]

No wonder we are having serious overpopulation!

Fo'real, someone needs to tell that woman there's enough kids in the world already.

[Shadowchild]

Fo'real, someone needs to tell that woman there's enough kids in the world already.

Dude! There are like tons of kids in this world that need a home! Take care of what we got here first!!! Your adding to the orphans!

[Radical Dreamer]

Haha, Sounds like a movie (seriously). XD Honestly, I don't care how many kids they have, as long as the parents are able to take good care of them. I am a little curious about how they're all going to pay for college, but I would suppose that the kids would get jobs as they got older and also scholarships, if the parents made them work hard enough. I think that big families are fun, my mom is the youngest of 6, and I enjoy our family gatherings. 16 is over the top, but if that's what the family wants and can afford, then go for it. n_n

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Dude! There are like tons of kids in this world that need a home! Take care of what we got here first!!! Your adding to the orphans!

Technically, they're not orphans--they have a father and a mother.... Who may have rabbit DNA inbedded in their genetic code.

[Arnobius]

I'm suprised by the tone this thread is taking. Presuming this is what the parents felt called to and they are living according to the religious and moral beliefs they hold to, who are we to be condemning them? But this is what I am seeing here. People not knowing what the family's quality of life is, are passing judgements on what they should have done, making it sound as if they have done something wrong.

Every one of those children is a sacred gift of God. Are we to suggest that He does not want them in the world and that He has no plan for them?

[Steeltemplar]

I'm suprised by the tone this thread is taking. Presuming this is what the parents felt called to and they are living according to the religious and moral beliefs they hold to, who are we to be condemning them? But this is what I am seeing here. People not knowing what the family's quality of life is, are passing judgements on what they should have done, making it sound as if they have done something wrong.

Every one of those children is a sacred gift of God. Are we to suggest that He does not want them in the world and that He has no plan for them?

I think that AH hit the nail on the head here. Sure, that many kids is not the norm. But it is certainly not *wrong*.

[Raiden no Kishi]

I have no problem with people having lots of kids. If they feel that's what they're supposed to do and they can reasonably support them, what the hey.

I just feel sorry for the father, who's gotta be working 8 jobs to keep them going. Oi.

.rai//

[Shadowchild]

You are right, AH.
I apologise, my remarks were rude.

[Tenshi no Ai]

I watched a show once where well, not sure HOW many kids there were, but everytime the wife had a new kid the dad would tatoo the kid's name on his arm so he'd remember it (yeah they were kinda a redneck family^^) Think some company generously donated them a new house to properly FIT the family in.

Then on CNN a few weeks back it was some woman in her 60s and just had ANOTHER kid, and already had like 10 kids, 20 grand kids, some odd great grandkids and a couple great great grand kids @_@

[Nate]

Ah, I didn't mean for my remarks to sound harsh. I seriously was concerned about the quality of life of those kids (and am relieved to hear it is adequate). But like I said, considering how my food budget was when I was growing up with two brothers (and my mom bought cheap generic brands), and for them to have more than four times as many kids as my family, it raises concerns about whether or not they are properly caring for their kids. I don't mean that in an accusatory way, sorry if it came out that way.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Every one of those children is a sacred gift of God. Are we to suggest that He does not want them in the world and that He has no plan for them?

More or less, that's what their parents said. Their belief is that these children are gifts from God, and I agree. I didn't say it was wrong, I just saying that it's really strange!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Linksquest has like 5 other brothers, each with J-names. It's common to have all J names for some reason. My other friend Josh, has ELEVEN OTHER SIBLINGS each with a J-name I believe. And he also has like 12 other cousins >_>

[Slater]

eh? only 16? There are two women recorded who had 69 kids each...

[Bobtheduck]

I'm suprised by the tone this thread is taking. Presuming this is what the parents felt called to and they are living according to the religious and moral beliefs they hold to, who are we to be condemning them? But this is what I am seeing here. People not knowing what the family's quality of life is, are passing judgements on what they should have done, making it sound as if they have done something wrong.

Every one of those children is a sacred gift of God. Are we to suggest that He does not want them in the world and that He has no plan for them?

Exactly, AH... I was getting a bit miffed at the responses here, actually. I have a friend who probably has 15 siblings by now (12 or 13 when i last saw them, and the mom was pregnant again) and even when she had FOUR kids, people would come up to her car and like yell at her for contributing to "overpopulation" Seriously, it's just sick the way they got treated, though there was not possible way I'd want that many kids...

Besides that, the overpopulation thing is a really subjective thing... I don't think the world at large is overpopulated... Just certain areas of it, the US as a whole NOT being one of them (though a good portion of the population tends to gather in cities, which become overpopulated). As long as they're all raised to be able to bring something back to the world they're brought into, there's no problem here... It isn't a matter of limited resources, but limited creativity...

I don't remember what it was in the US, but I know in many places in the world, the population is dropping. In europe, the birthrate is very low, and in China, they've lost a significant portion of their populatin because of that 1 child policy (another side effect being a severe ratio problem of men to women)

I've heard some interesting ideas about the mass rush to population control, which I won't share here... Regardless of the truth of that, it is one thing that people don't really have to worry about... Not on a grand scale, anyhow, only localy in large cities and such.

BTW, my friend's siblings don't all have similar names... I think THAT is the crueler practice (taht is, naming your kids all similar names... All the same first letter, or names that rhyme, especially for twins... You may think it's cute when they're babies, but it gets annoying later on)

[Aka-chan]

I think it's awesome, as long as they can care for the kids properly (which seems to be the case). I come from a rather large family myself, and have always enjoyed it immensely. I want to also have a large family someday, whether by birth or adoption (whatever the Lord wills.) ^__^

[Lynx]

personally.... 16 kids is not something i'd want, especially being female... but hey, if the kids are well cared for and the couple wants that many kids, then go for it.

[soul alive]

Personally, I want kids, but 16? Woosh. Not for me. But if you can be financially and emotionally supportive for all of them, more power to you.

Naming kids similarily or super-uniquely can be just mean sometimes, we had a family with four boys near us who were all named with names starting with 'J' and with similar phonetic sounds, I still struggle to remember all their names, even though I've known them for years and years. (Why are multiple 'J' names so popular?)

I'm a strong proponent of seriously thinking through names for your child(ren). Sure, that name may be cute for a baby, but that kid won't think so when they're in school and getting teased for having a wierd name, or in the real world, trying to be taken seriously. lol.

[Radical Dreamer]

Speaking of the J names, I know of a family with 3 (Or was is 5...) kids. They all have J names, their parents have J names, and they're missionaries to Japan. XD I do wonder why J names are so popular! XD

[Reba]

umm having alot of kids is okay god did say : "be fruitefull and mutiply"

[Zilch]

I dated a girl that comes from a family of 9, and I thought that was big enough, but 16? Yeesh.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

XD I do wonder why J names are so popular! XD

Generally most who do it are Christian families. J-names are pretty common throughout the Bible, thus names like "John", "Joeseph", "Joshua", "Joel", and "James" are used alot by families who want their kids to all have "J" names.

[Steeltemplar]

Generally most who do it are Christian families. J-names are pretty common throughout the Bible, thus names like "John", "Joeseph", "Joshua", "Joel", and "James" are used alot by families who want their kids to all have "J" names.

Jehoshaphat?

[Bobtheduck]

Evem though all of those names are mispronunciation of hebrew names that if transliterated more directly into English would be more like Ys than Js: Yohoshua, Yochanen, Yosef, Yoel, etc... And, James isn't even a biblical name... The Jacobs (Ya'akov) in the NT were turned into James, for some reason that escapes me...

[SnowLeopard]

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very disappointed in the tone that this thread has taken, especially since I have personally met this family.
They are kind, loving and very sweet with everyone they come into contact with.
All of their children are very well taken care of (answering someones point) and they are all very social, friendly and outgoing.
They are also much more mature then other kids their age who may only have one or two siblings.
Yes, they are all individuals, with unique and special personalities, just like the rest of us.

And in answer to someones question about the "J" names, that was started when they had their first boy.

The next two children were twins, and they were both named with "J" names too.

After that, they aways named their next kid with a "J" name, because they didn't want him/her to feel left out.


In conclusion, the Duggers are a very sweet family who have been a blessing to me and to many others who have met them.

Please do not judge your brothers and sisters in christ in this way.

[mitsuki lover]

I read about this family some time ago in the newspaper.If I remember correctly originally they didn't plan on having a large family and in fact she had a couple of
miscarriages early on.So it is a rather miracle that they have any children at all,let alone 16.
For myself I would be happy to just have two daugthers when I get married.I figure since my sister Cathryn has to sons and my sister Annette has a son and a daugther that whenever I get married I will end up with two daugthers.
I wouldn't complain if that's all the children I would have either.
Actually,getting back to large families,in the past having a lot of children was a NECESSITY because you didn't know how many would live into adulthood.