16 Kids
 

Link =http:LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Arkansas woman who has just given birth to her 16th child is ready for number 17.

Michelle Duggar had her first child when she was 21, four years after she and Jim Bob Duggar, a former state lawmaker, were married.

She's now 39 and apparently has gotten the hang of it.

Her husband said the child's birth Wednesday is especially exciting because it's the first time in eight years the family has had a girl.

Duggar said he and his wife, Michelle, "just love children" and his wife said if the "Lord wants to give" them more, she'll accept them.

The Duggars are finishing their new, 7,000-square-foot home, complete with nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms and a commercial kitchen. They also have four washers and four dryers.

Duggar sells real estate, but he said he plans to run next year for the state Senate.

Google "woman has 16 kids" and you'll get about 10 pages about this family.
This morning, Ohshesus saw them on the Today show and they are getting free things. This is ridiculous!! Why is this family getting gifts for crowding their own home by their own choice? They didn't adopt 16 needy kids-they don't stop screwing long enough to give her uterus a rest. And they're rewarded for it.
They're a white family from Arkansas, mom has a mullet and all the kids' names start with 'J'....there are families with more children, natural or adopted, but I can't help but feeling that had this been a black woman, same exact scenario, no one would blink an eye or stick her on tv.
What pisses me off is that people are giving them gifts. Why? Send some to me-I have only two kids and I can't afford a damned thing-this man was a senator, now sells real estate and I should think that if they couldn't afford all these kids, they would not be stupid enough to have them.
And I won't even get to what her insides must be like!!!! Ugh...I need more tea...

I guess as long as they are financially able to afford all these offspring I don't have a problem with it. I still think it is perhaps not the most responsible thing but that's their business I suppose.

As far as the publicity this is getting... He is going to run for office again. I suspect he knows that publicity good or bad is still publicity. He knew how to get this story out I wager.

While I can't speak to her state of mind, I do think the phrase <i>"She's now 39 and apparently has gotten the hang of it."</i> is pretty patronising. I hope she is truly thankful for those gifts as she is already wealthy.

In the rural farming town where I grew up, it was common for the Apostolic Lutheran families to have 12, 16, 20 kids. The older ones often raised the younger ones, they ate in shifts, and they got a lot of free government cheese, (but so did the rest of us - the whole town was dirt poor). If the mothers didn't die in childbirth, they often died young from other medical complications related to being a brood sow. (/snark) It's a hard life to choose, and I can't imagine why anybody would do it. I'm a zero population growth proponent, so I think it's selfish to have more kids than enough to replace yourselves. But what are you gonna do - kill 'em? Enforce a 2 kid rule? Free country, people are free to be as stupid as they wanna be, and if you want to give stuff to support this kind of idiocy, you're free to join in the stupidity.

I don't quite see what the problem is. If you're a lower class family unable to afford to feed yourselves much less a family of 16, you're a drain on tax payers and society, but if you're able to feed and take care of your huge family, like Lurkette said, it's a free country, do as you wish.

In regards to them getting free stuff? It's a t.v. show, people regularly get onto shows like that and just randomly get free stuff. Look at Oprah, people tend to get jewelry, gift cards, etc. I remember Rosie O'Donnel giving some one a new car a while back. It's not really a reward, but a "Hey, you have 16 kids... well, that's cool. Here's something for being unique."

I am puzzled as to your reason to be upset because people are giving her gifts. Do only poor people in need deserve gifts in your eyes?

Hey, people can do whatever they want when it comes to childbirth, and I am of the opinion that the only limiting factor should be the ability to support the children.

I am happy that she is given gifts.

Can you imagine what it is like to be child #8, the one who nobody pays much attention to? Talk about being the "Gray Man".

WRT ZPG, I used to agree with that. Then I started thinking of it more in the sense of Darwin. If the smarter people don't breed, what does that give us but lots of stupid people. This is not a good thing. I'm not casting aspersions on this particular family since I don't know them, but it certainly holds for the US or any other group you're a part of. If you don't breed, the other groups get bigger relative to you, and yours shrinks.

So now I'm a believer in ZPG, but only for groups I don't like. :)

They can afford it, seem like decent people, and if people want to give them stuff, so what? My brother set up a trust fund for our daughter, that was very nice of him, do you (ngdawg) begrudge her getting that because my bro is well to do, also?

What private citizens or corporations do with their cash is up to them.

Wtf?

The only two females responses have been catty.

What exactly is wrong with having that many kids? They can afford them, so who gives a shit. And as for them getting free stuff, so f-ing what? Since when has the world ever been fair? Are you communist or something? You think that since they make more than you, you should be getting free stuff instead of them? Having two kids is hardly remarkable.

Having that many kids is ridiculous, but if you can afford it go for it. I think the whole idea of having to have your kids eat in shifts is totally hillarious, however.

My uterus hurts just thinking about it.

I don't care if you can afford to support them, I still think it's irresponsible. You want 16 kids and can actually take care of them? Adopt. There are tons of kids out there who need a good home. I definitely agree with the idea of not reproducing more than yourselves. If I have kids, and if I end up wanting more than 2 (and let's be honest, I wouldn't), I will adopt. I don't want government telling me what to do with my uterus, but I wish our society had better inclinations (better in my estimation).

And if I adopt them, I can raise them to be intelligent participants in society - I don't have to balance the scales with just my blood.

The snark factor you hear is the disgust intelligent women have for this situation - our opinion is, she's being irresponsible and doesn't deserve special treatment for being a "brood sow". It's not like we're short on population here, people. Gifts are nice for everyone, I'd like free stuff too - but the reason she's getting the free stuff is for helping continue the world's population problem. Wow, that's... great...

The argument would be better served by giving it to all the third world countries out there. If not for so much immigration, the population of the US wouldbe shrinking.

Also, what is your basis for implying that this woman is not intelligent? Because she wants to have her own kids? How exactly is she being irresponsible? Because she's not fixing other people's mistakes? It's not her fault that there are needy kids in the world, so why should she be expected to take them in?

well I consider myself an intelligent woman, and I dont see what the problem is. They are making their own way, my tax dollars arent going to support some woman thats got 16 kids by 16 different fathers who thinks she doesnt have to work to provide for her family.

If I can reproduce children on my own, why should I have to adopt in order to have the family I want? I dont understand the thinking behind that.

I think it's a bit distasteful for her to get free stuff for popping out an inordinate number of children.

I don't begrudge her having the kids. I don't care how many kids she has as long as they being taken care of accordingly. I just think rewarding her for simply for having an active uterus sends the wrong message. We should be rewarding those that tackle the more difficult jobs rather than the couple, who after 16 kids, have finally 'gotten the hang of it.'

but I dont see how they can be blamed because somebody else has the bad taste to give them "free stuff"

They can't, but people are jealous and judgmental anyway.

I don't think it's bad taste either. People do what makes 'em feel good, so long as it isn't illegal, why do people always want to judge that this is right or wrong?

Thats just alot of humping. Like rabbits! If he can afford to feed them fine, but come on now buddy, put a condom on, get fixed or something. My guess would be that they are big bible thumpers, i think i read that? They might be great parents but I truely doubt you can be that involved with your children when you have that many. Someone never learned that quality trumps quantity in some situations.

I am judging based on how much time can you devote to each kid, I bet the older kids get stuck with being semi-parents, instead of just being kids themselves.

That's a helluva lot of tax deductions... :)

/me shrugs...

better her than me is all I can say.

I have my hands full with two, I can't imagine 16. However, it really doesn't affect me. it's none of my business.

I can't say that I think there's anything wrong with this, but I would strongly prefer that people with those kinds of resources consider supplementing the fruits of the their own labor with adopted kids. I could really care less if people give them free stuff. If I set my standard to start getting pissed because some people somewhere are getting crap for making babies, I'd just be too pissed off all the time. that said: DAY-AMN that's a lot diapers and snot and pee. This shit reminds me of the Travellers down in Augusta GA or something.

I've seen several documentaries about the Duggar family over the years, and while I couldn't handle the load, they obviously can.

Jim and Michelle Duggar have systems figured out; every child has a buddy (an older sibling is matched with a younger to help them with homework, daily tasks and such), they have meal plans, buy in bulk and are debt-free. The children all seem to be healthy and happy.

Is it really such a big deal that they're getting a few items free? I'm sure they didn't write in to ask for them, and could most likely afford them on their own. I really don't get why this is such a huge deal.

The thing that would scare me about this is the same that would scare me about giving birth to drug enhanced litter. Some of these kids will be bad. I'm guessin if they do a very good job raising them, maybe three will turn out to be hoodlums. However, one might be president someday I guess.

One overacheiver, onecoddled baby child, and 15 grey men.

Wow. 16 kids and debt free? Here I am struggling with 2 kids and loads of debt. If I were debt free and able to afford more children, I'd probably have at least 1 more. 16? No, I don't think I could physically do that. I am amazed that her body could. I have mixed feelings about the gifts they received. I used to get upset when I saw those parents who chose to use fertility drugs and ended up with multiple kids (more than 3) at once get gifts, this was not a miracle of God, but of man. Now I am not sure my thinking was very fair. I don't know how to explain what I feel properly, I hope not to offend anyone. My opinions about alot of things have changed, and continue to change, the more I read different viewpoints here at TFP. Media does not always tell the whole story, and I try not to judge people by what I read. I am babbling and getting off topic, I apologize.

It's a huge deal in the media. She hasn't even broken any records. The fact that it's 2005, they're white and churning out kids is what is making news, and it's dumb news.
I take issue with that 'jealousy' remark. I sure as hell don't want anything they have. But, I do think people are incredibly dumb for giving free things to a family made its size by choice and can well afford to maintain it without handouts, specially in light of the recent disasters to hit our country. Does it affect me personally? Hell, no, but neither do most of the things we bitch about both in forums and in real life.
A woman in NJ who has adopted and fostered 19 kids just lost her home to fire....anyone see her on the Today show or 10 pages of Google? no....

give her time. that 9 month gestation period is a real bitch...it could only be better if they named them all "george"

It's the year 2005 and it doesn't take any specialized knowledge to know that if one were to adopt 16 existing children rather than siring 16 new ones, you'd be helping the world out. Both the hypothetical adopted kids and the environment would benefit greatly from such a decision.

Does one have the right to have 16 biological children? Of course they do. Does one have the right to buy 3 cars and leave their air-conditioning on all the time? Of course they do.

For my own peace of mind, I'd need somebody to argue successfully why they need to have a biological child as opposed to an adopted one.

Where did I say anyone should begrudge another? I said the fact that people are sending shit to them when they can well do for themselves is dumb, that's my opinion, like it or not. My kids have college trustfunds set up for them as well by their grandmother(not that I'd have been able to, so that's cool)...I don't care what your brother does....but if he'd like to part with some more, just send certified checks to 602 Nassau...... :thumbsup:

aberkok i can make tons of arguments as to why someone might want a couple of their own kids. hell, have five or six of 'em. when you get up to 12 - 15 range, that's like a whole town. i mean, this ain't little house on the prairie, you know?\

oh, biological reason = some people posit that in the act of having children, you achieve a sense of immortality, or an ability to live beyond your own factual death. or, survival of the species, etc.

edit crap. i didn't realize the bank was open. hightheif, i'll set up a paypal donation account, and your brother can pretend i need a college fund. hell, i'd love to go back and study some more stuff. ;)

and on the flip side, I'd like somebody to convince me why, if I want 16 kids, its my "responsiblity" to adopt rather than have my own. Dont get me wrong I have nothing against adopting kids....but I fail to see why the woman should be looked down on because she chose to have her OWN children rather than adopting.

Okay, has anyone been to their website?...

http://www.jimbob.info/

His first name is Jim Bob. Anyway... I am not a social darwinist, but I do agree with denim. Natural selection is no longer operating on most people these days, and as a result, we have situations like this. All the people who are smart enough NOT to have lots of children, aren't reproducing... while all the people who are (sorry) dumb enough to have way too many children, are reproducing WAYYY too much.

Maybe I've offended some people. But it's an interesting topic.. let's hear more (read their website!!!!).

shani,

i personally just think it would be cool...sort of like if i have two kegs of budweiser on the back porch, and one of 'em already tapped, i'd rather go ahead and kill it before tapping the second one. maybe not the best analogy...but i drive by an orphanage every day on the way home from work (i keep telling myself i need to go volunteer there, actually) and i just think there's a lot of kids there that could use a different experience than growing up in a perpetual ymca / barracks. i guess after a certain point, i don't see the point in adding more little varmits that are going to consume the Earth's resources, when we're already swimming in 'em up to our ears. But I don't think it's a hard moral issue like thou shall not (usually in most one-on-one circumstances) kill.

edit denim/abaya/et al: welcome to the perpetual "Gene Theory" lecture I get from my mother any time she's aware I'm looking at a female. "I will have no ugly or stupid grandchildren. The breeders are out there, going at it. What are you doing? Worthless...just worthless I tell you..."

In other words, seemingly model parents are getting criticized for being debt free and raising their kids in an enviable environment where their siblings love and help them.

My Dad was one of 8, my mother in law one of 13 - they'll both tell you they had happy childhoods (despite growing up in the Depression and war years).

I knew someone that just had there 7th and I though 7 was a lot...they stopped after 7 because they finally had a daughter:eek:

I never asked to see how far they would go if they would keep having boys :hmm:

hightheif My grandfather was one of 15 and he'd say the same things.....all his brothers and sisters did.

oh hell yeah, my family just barely made down from the appalachians a generation ago...if you think those people weren't making babies right and left your crazy. and PoppinJay, you might have a point because some of my relatives are shitbag crazy. How many of you know someone who nearly killed themselves using a blowtorch and a kerosene heater to fix their dirttrack go-cart?

I know somoene she is 25 years old, got married at 19 (i am 98% that was her age), she had twins, they then had another set of twins. They then went on birth control, had quad. All girls....

I know another person who has 14, they live fine, great family, really nice people. I know a number of other people like that (not personal friends, but people I know).

abaya, I'm with you...personally, I want to have more than 2 kids, simply to try and restore the balance, haha.

I think the Duggans have the right to have as many kids as they want, as long as they're not putting a strain on the resources of this country. As it seems like they aren't, fine. But I also agree with ngdawg--there's no reason why these people had to receive or accept free gifts for the "miracle" of having 16 kids. There's really nothing special or significant about this. When we have so many in the United States suffering right now because of the hurricane, I think there are definitely people more deserving of free gifts.

Again, how do any of you know the intelligence level of these people? She could have a higher IQ than any of you, yet by the very fact that she chose to have 16 kids she is suddenly unintelligent and a "brood sow?"

They have managed to raise happy kids and be debt free, so something tells me that they may be more intelligent than any of you on your high horses.

But then again, yall may be right. In any case, you don't know them, so who are you to make assumptions about them based on what you read on the internet?

Open minded my ass....

From the site: It was 1:00 AM in the morning as I stood folding laundry with tears streaming down my cheeks. Feelings of being overwhelmed flooded my mind. I cried aloud, ”LORD I NEED YOUR HELP, I can’t do it all! I feel so inadequate! Diapers, dishes, laundry, meals, cleanup, school lessons, baths, hugs, kisses, correction…” My list seemed to go on and on.
She then goes on to say how she prayed and sang, yet she was up again all night and ended up falling asleep during her kids' piano lessons....and they want MORE kids? Obviously, this woman doesn't even have time to get a haircut, having had the same hair since 1988, she's using up 26 hours of a 24 hour day....If someone could explain the joy in this, I'd love to be enlightened.

Social pressure to be judgemental, Carn. And/or jealousy.

My parents will have no stupid or ugly grandkids either, as neither I nor my brother is likely to father any kids at all.

Anyway, back to the topic. Sixteen kids. Wow. That's a lot of diapers, a lot of nose wiping, and a lot of homework. I wonder what their theory of parenting is.

I feel like that some times with school, but I wouldn't want people recommending to me that dropping out is the right thing to do.

Why don't you ask her, Dawg? Some people get joy from their kids, so they want lots of them for more joy. Can't have too much joy, can ya? :)

I dont know about any body else....but there were times I felt that way and I only had ONE child (and for the haircut thing....it may be a "religion" thing....lots of church "doctrines" say women cant cut their hair...church of god and primitive baptists just two name to that I know of personally...if you notice in the family photos, NONE of the girls has short hair)

That's my point, Shanifaye...we DON'T have 16 kids, don't want more and we can still feel overwhelmed. To voluntarily put one's body and mind through this and call it all gifts from God just boggles my mind. Yes, I did notice none of the girls had short hair, but my point was that Mom hasn't changed in 17 years, probably because she comes last....

Carn, you're right, it's rude of me to assume that these people are stupid. And yes, as many have said, this country is free enough that people such as these have every protected right to have this many children. I am not arguing with that. But I still have issues with WHY anyone would do this, if they had ANY awareness of America's population and consumerism impact on the rest of the world. And Carn, I am obviously not open-minded on this topic, and that's fine with me.

Now, people are going to get really mad at me, but intelligence? Anyone with a website like that... I mean, this is how they portray themselves, not how the "Internet" portrays them. Their favorite websites include CREATION SCIENCE EVANGELISM. wtf. (And did anyone see the "Modest Swimwear" link? http://www.wholesomewear.com/page-3.html) I know it's not related, but still, WTF. I saw absolutely no original thought on that whole website. Every other sentence was a Bible verse, and they seemed to chalk everything up to God without considering the demographic impact of their childbearing (and that's coming from me, someone who was a hard-core evangelical for 10 years).

The big question is WHY? The reason they have had so many kids is on their website... because they became convicted that using birth control was a sin. Because someone else TOLD them it was a sin. It all goes back to the church. So they decided to continue fucking like rabbits instead of using periodic abstinence to control their reproduction. This is the problem I have with Catholicism (again, coming from someone who was *very* involved with Catholicism for a while)... it demands that people of whatever economic background NOT use birth control... and while it's fine and good for a rich dude and his wife to pop out 16 and pay for all of them, how does a very poor family in Mexico or the Philippines cope with having that many children, all of them growing up poor? It doesn't help, and it's not realistic, at all.

Another point (I have a few): both of my grandparents had ten kids each. So believe me, I know how "great" it is to have a huge family. Have we forgotten, however, that that was a completely different generation, when people NEEDED a lot of children to help with the work and to bring in more income later in life? These days, at least in middle-class America, NO ONE needs that many children. There is no reason for it. We are no longer an agricultural or even manufacturing economy, and more than a handful of children is going to be a liability to the system, eventually.

I'd like to hear the opinions of the children in about 20 years... unless they're just totally brainwashed and they each have 15 children themselves. Imagine the demographic impact!!

/end rant, and bring on the pot shots, people.

well, it's not a pot shot since it's pretty close to my position, but i thought that was funny. sorry to disappoint.

edit Oh, and Carn...I personally took the discussion of this family getting free shit and the discussion of the perceived fact that people who are less intelligent seem to be multiplying exponentiously, while others are only going binaryish to be separated conversations...except the part about the guy being name Jimbob or whatever, and shit...how's someone supposed to ignore that? I mean, Jim Bob for crying out loud. However, I think there's pretty good evidence (if you believe that whole Evolution crap anyways) that intelligence has a genetic component (some would say heavily tied to the female gene or X, but then again it's often women saying that ;) ) and thus...well, do the math. Then, again, nature has a way of working shit out (thank god for intelligent design!)

pigglet, I know it looked like a typo (is that why it looked funny?), but the word "convicted" is what many evangelicals use to describe what happens when God makes them feel guilty for their behavior. So actually, it was not a typo. You don't know how many times I said in my past life, "God has convicted me that I need to stop masturbating," etc etc.

abaya

Holy Crap, no pun intended!!! That's just crazy talk there....ummm...no..uummmm..offense - to you or any others. i guess i still think it's funny, and yet scary at the same time.

yeah, i assumed it was a slip. i can't decide if i think it's funnier now that i know it was intentional usage or not.

but it doesn't surprise me. i had a former roommate who was evangelical "in his past life" and his mom was still "on the wagon" and she "lived on my couch for three months" and "invited me to handle snakes" and "speak in tongues." we had great debates. I'll give it to her, she was about as open to discussion as anyone could be, considering the strength and inherent nature of her beliefs...but after her son got out of that social group, he had a really hard time. i wish them both well. etc

/end of threadjack.

I'll respond to this the way I responded in chat:

I made a choice to not have children (at least at this point). I want an "I'm not having a baby" shower. You can build me a house and give me a washer and dryer. Oh yea, and I'm registered at Bloomingdale's and Steve Madden. The size for my clothes and shoes are there. Thanks! :D

Did this family ask for these gifts?

Gatorade: I'm sure they didn't, but they agreed to be on television. That is almost like asking for a gift.

I'm not jealous that these people are getting gifts. As ng said, I wouldn't want what they got and I definitely don't want their life. I'm also a very indpendent, proud person and I don't even like getting Christmas or birthday presents. I guess it's just that it's bad that they pick certain families to give things too and publicize. They are not alone in their insanity of giving birth to their own town and raising them. It's nothing that I would ever want to do. However, if they can support them and raise them to be functional human beings, then that is fine. However, many parents these days don't do that. Their kids may be great and grow up to be wonderful citizens. I guess if she's happy, then it's her life.

I am just really upset with the media all together and this is one more reason to throw in the ever growing pile of why media sucks. People sit around and wonder why no one knows what's going on in the world. People don't know what Bush is doing about anything. There is a war going on for no apparent logical reason, imo. Yet the news goes on and on about missing rich white girls, families making choices to breed like rabbits, and other issues that have nothing to do with this country. I think that this is just another sign of the disease that is affecting our country.

/sticks head in

Was that at me?

Oh well, I'll answer it anyway :)

I'm not blaming the families themselves, I mean, what kind of snob am I to turn down free shit? I blame the people who reward them. Reward them for what basically is a relatively routine biological act. It just doesn't seem right.

/off to read the website....

This is where I see a problem. The older children are already parents, and they aren't full grown yet, and certainly didn't choose to be parents at a young age. Having grown up in Utah, I saw this alot. Mormons have big families. Several of my friends were the oldest of 7 or 8 children, and a lot of their time after school and on weekends went towards babysitting and taking care of the younger children. Being a parent isn't just about providing food and shelter for your kids, which this family doesn't seem to have a problem with, it's also about being involved with your child, raising them to be a responsible person, and just being there for them when they have a problem or something. I find it hard to imagine that this is happening in this household between all the chores, meals, diaper changes, and homework.

Its not just "homework" she and her husband teach each of those children themselves....if thats not being involved with your child I dont know what is.

/end of comment from the parent of a homeschooled child

guthmund, unfortunately yes that was for you, I just went back and re read your post and I originally read it in the wrong context....Im sorry :icare:

sheesus

it's not news, it's entertainment.

May I point out that if these gifts are part of what helps sustain their household, then they are not, in fact, capable of caring for all of their children themselves?

If you cannot afford to care for a child yourself, you shouldn't be making one.

I find the media coverage . . . not exactly disturbing, but curious. Is this something to celebrate? Having or not having children is the result of a conscious choice.

I think the contrast with those families who adopt a dozen or more kids isn't between families that have their own children vs. those who don't. It's hard to articulate the difference. Adopting a dozen children helps to relieve the financial and social burden on society represented by children who for whatever reason remain in state care systems, and for those families who do so out of a love for children, I think this is a noble thing.

Having a bunch of kids youself, if you can care for them yourself, is essentially a neutral act as it impacts society, and if it's your choice, that's cool with me.

I guess that's where I see the difference.

I'd kill to be able to have children myself, but I'm far, far from beaing jealous of these people. Adoption of one rather than having 16 of my own? It is to laugh.

Gilda

As an Arkansan I can assure you all that Jim Bob is indeed as stupid as his name implies. He ran for Senate over here and everyone other than the most evangelical Christians knew he was a complete joke.
I don't have a problem with them having all these children if they can take care of them. It's not ideal, but if it works for them and the children aren't in obvious harm, let them be. But as far as random people giving them gifts, that's one of my pet peeves as well. There are plenty of worthwhile causes to give your money to; this isn't one of them.

But the point is that it in ON the news. Isn't E supposed to have the entertainment news? If journalists want their respect back they have to stop spinning the fact, they have to stop reporting entertainment, and inform the society of real news.

Doesn't the today show normally do this kind of thing?

There are several 24/7 news around the clock stations, along with the internet and all. It's not as if in this day and age we're all of the sudden in a media black out of information. You get ten pages on google for this one thing? I'm sure you could find equally as many on any other particularly important subject going on right now.

Our point and I am sure Shesus will correct me if I'm wrong, is-why IS this anywhere ?
A woman in PA is one of 27 children...27!!! Do we read about that family? No... As I mentioned earlier, a woman in NJ lost her home to a fire this week-she's mother to 19....nothing to Google about that either...
This, it would seem, is a publicity stunt by this family. The father wants to run for the senate. They will be featured on no less than two cable channels for extended periods.
The woman in PA? Father is a coal miner...The woman in NJ? She's black and some of those kids were adopted. And she's a lot more newsworthy than some agenda-seeking ultra-religious family. It's great to feature those 'feel-good' stories when they occur-this isn't really one of them. And the fact that people fall for this doesn't do much for our faith in the collective intelligence of the tv-viewing public to be handing baby gifts, etc. to a family that apparently does not need them, yet families displaced by Katrina are still struggling to get the scraps of their lives back, but get pushed out of the 'news' because some woman keeps pumping out kids.

edit: I stand corrected on one point-the woman in NJ was mom to 18, not 19.
Adoptive mom of 18 loses home to fire
Part of this story:
Her story, unfairly short: She has since 1983 taken in 18 children, all disabled in some way, physically or emotionally, sometimes both, including Crystal, now 19, a blind quadriplegic in diapers and a feeding tube who left the house for school just before faulty wiring set it ablaze. Black children, brown children, white children.

Turner, 53, an Army veteran and divorced, adopted nine; others were foster kids. Her body, wrecked in a car crash when she was a teenager, couldn't give birth. Her body betrayed her in other ways -- cervical cancer, now in remission, asthma and myasthenia gravis, a degenerative disease that leaves her looking tired beyond hope for rest.

Nine of her children -- now all teenagers -- were still living with her in the house she bought on Harrison Place in Irvington because it was so big and so cheap. So were five dogs, a frog and a rabbit.
They all got out unharmed. Except the rabbit. It died.

"We were lucky," says Turner and, of course, that's true. Three people died recently in a fire blocks way at the Irvington Motor Lodge.

But, lucky as she is, Turner and her nine children still have no home. They stay with neighbors, the Johnsons across the street, who have five children of their own.

"They've been beautiful, but we can't stay there. It's not fair to them."

So, now she must find temporary housing in a place big enough, with landlords willing enough, to accept 10 people, including Crystal, who needs a hospital bed and other specialized equipment to survive.

"Who has that kind of room?" she asks, knowing the answer. She recites the government and private agencies that have tried to find a place and failed.

There is insurance, but probably not enough to rebuild. "I guess I should have increased the coverage," she says, then blames herself for "not thinking right."

One of her kids, Rochelle, 19, says she believes it will work out. "Mama is so strong," she says. She and her twin, Michelle, were adopted by Turner 15 years ago.

Three days after the fire, Michelle returned home from Russia where she represented the United States in an international boxing competition. Turner had to tell her at the airport that everything was gone.

"But we did find one of her belts," says Rochelle. One of two amateur championship belts Michelle won. "It was burnt and wet, but you can tell what it is."

Nobody should be allowed to have 16 kids. That's sixteen quanta of suffering inflicted on an already agonized and identity-crisis ridden world. I think the evolutionary spray and pray of this approach to reproduction is seriously contemptuous of our collective gene pool. Such blatant lust and selfishness does the species no credit at at all, and unless the parents have some genetic claim to fame like being an athlete and a nobel prize winner the whole family should be stuffed in a sack with 16 kittens and a housebrick and thrown from the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge (For it has sharks) Man.

Please don't be. I went back and re-read it and if I hadn't known what I meant, I probably would've read it that way too.....does that make any sense? :crazy:


brian and Medusa brought up an interesting point that I think I'd like to say something about. 16 kids require a lot of attention, supervision, 'correction' (as Mrs. Jim Bob says so eloquently on the website), I just imagine that somewhere some kid is getting the short end of the parental stick. If he/she isn't being brushed off by Dad, whose busy off running for something somewhere, or Mom, flailing under her mountains of laundry, then it's the bigger kids, who have to spend their time making sure little Timmy brushes his teeth, combs his hair and isn't sticking something dangerous up his nose. From reading the schedule they've set up it seems to me she's not raising kids, but rather her personal troupe of house cleaners, baby sitters and for lucky Jill and Jana, fabulous job-training in the food service industry.

Not to mention the accomodations. 16 kids and two adults in a three bedroom house? Wow. I live in a three bedroom house. With my two roommates it seems cramped come late Saturday night when we're all there. I can't imagine 15 more of us packed in for any extended amount of time.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is... I said earlier that I didn't have a problem with them having dozens of kids as long as they were taken care of accordingly, but if the Jim Bob's are sloughing off their parental duty to the elder kids and stacking them in like cord wood to sleep each night...It just doesn't seem all that responsible to me.

Last...very superficial...Married folks who call each other 'mommy' and 'daddy,' creep me the fuck out.

*loud sigh*

WHY do people need to keep spitting out kids? "ready for #17"???

I will say this- at least they're able to care for all these kids, without putting the burden on the rest of us (via government assistance). As long as YOU can pay for all your spawn, you can have as many as you want. The moment you can't afford to have a kid, and have one ANYWAY, that's when I take issue.

Sorry for the confusion - I was expressing my contempt for the normal crap that calls itself the "news."

The fact that this particular story is getting coverage to the extent it apparently has been is a load of guano, in my opinion. Some chick in AR makes a hobby out of making babies and then gets on the Today Show = huh?

The fact that we can have an interesting discussion on the ethical decisions involving in childrearing in the 21st century based off of it is useful, I suppose.

A family with 16 kids here, a family with 16 kids there, soon we are talking some serious population growth. :)

and that's about $240 worth of puddin love right there.

/because it cooks, then it chills