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Originally Posted by TotalMILF
la petite moi, you cannot argue that the children are, indeed, largely raising each other under the supervision of the parents. I just think that this is a responsibility that children should not have, since they are CHILDREN and not PARENTS, and the fact that the parents more or less force it upon them is absurd. It's one thing to babysit your siblings once in a while, and help out with them as needed, but the older children in the family are doing most of the caretaking of the younger children. I just think that the parents have a responsibility to give individual attention to each and every one of their children, which is impossible when you have 17 children under the age of 19.
Yes, they have fun "playdates" with other ridiculously large families, but I'd bet money that most of those kids are socially stunted and lack any close non-family contacts.
from www.m-w.com
The Duggars are parents in the sense that they procreated and created 17 offspring, but they are not properly fulfilling their role as parents when it comes to actually CARING FOR their children. You just can't do that with 17 kids.
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Only to comment on your quotations as such, I do not see how you can accurately assess that the parents are falling short of their responsibilities in any way other than by your misconceptions of what having a family of that size would affect you. Does the article state that the parents are failing their children in any way? Do any the children speak of negligence due to improper supervision? I only say this because it is a tad unfair to impose one's own opinions into a matter that, barring unseen consequences, merely portrays a family that is getting press for being none the more than what it is: a family.
It is not an institution of labor or an act to show off to the neighbors, but a household in which dominates a belief that the ties that bind are of flesh and blood, which are cared for with love.
An observation of a family should be just left at that. Admire it if you like, but there is certainly no need to become offset by them at all, regardless of what you may have to offer them because in all due respect, how can you suppose to break a family apart or moderate their actions?
A family of nineteen is most intriguing, and I would suppose in this society it would receive attention because of how we are doctrined and predisposed to think; but I would respond "whatever ensures your happiness, seek it out to its extent".