When it comes to watching television shows that portray how life is raising a huge amount of children, you just can not believe how a couple can have that many kids. Now I have never watched the show "18 Kids and Counting," but found their family story to be quite interesting. In this week's edition of Newsweek there was an article that discussed the religious conviction called Quiverfull. Claiming that the twenty member Duggar family follows this religious conviction, this family believes that any form of birth control is a form of abortion. They also believe that births should not be planned and that only god can control the amount of kids a couple has. Those who follow this are open to all "unqualified blessings."This type of "extreme motherhood" seems to be overbearing and extreme. There is no doubt that the majority of couples are even considering about having a quarter of the amount of children the Duggar family has. When you think about costs having twenty kids is going to tough to handle, especially when you do not get any money for showcasing your life on television.
The link below provides answers for some questions on the issue of Quiverfull. They are answered by a Quiverfull follower who has many kids of his or her own. So, obviously the answers will be supportive to the subject.
http://lotsofkids.com/LOK-Features/quiver/quiverfull.htm
The parent does make decent arguments stating that "Therefore deliberately preventing the conception of a child is saying, in effect, that that child is unwanted and worthless." and that "Age wears your body out along with having babies."
Althoug I am not very religious, I feel that there needs to be a plan in births. Having and raising thirty kids is something I can not fathom and there is nothing that can change my mind about how crazy this conviction is. Especially when the woman said that "Guiness" has a woman with 69 children in Russia.
What do you guys think?
I agree that having so many children is crazy. The Duggar family spends $2000 every time they visit the grocery store, and they are considered frugal! In my opinion, having so many children is irresponsible and almost selfish. It is unfair to the children who will lack individual attention and often have trouble developing an independent identity. In a recent episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 (another TV reality show with 8 children) the parents made an effort to take each child alone to a place of his or her choice. It was shocking to see that many of the children seemed helpless, confused, and even upset that they were separated from their siblings. They just couldn't be alone because they were so used to being one of eight children. Even Kate admitted that she was troubled by their withdrawal and vowed to try to spend more individual time with each child. Children are a gift, but one that must be nurtured and cared for as special.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that it's all a matter of the parents' situation. Take Nadya Suleman. The reason so many people are completely morally outraged by her having her octuplets is that 1) she's living with her parents 2) she was unemployed at the time she underwent IVF 3) her parents filed for bankruptcy and 4) she already has 6 other kids 3 of whom are disabled. Someone taking all of that into consideration would wonder, "How is she going to care for all of those kids?" Well, since a couple of her other kids are disabled and her octoplets are also at risk of being disabled as well, we as tax-payers will be paying for their expenses, a fact that many people are completely against. They see it as, "It was her choice. It should be her problem. I want no part of this."
ReplyDeleteHowever, let's say that the situation was different. Take the Jolie-Pitts or the Duggars. Both families have a stable income (the Jolie-Pitts are millionaires for God's-sake and the Duggars rent out several properties) so tax-payers really aren't directly responsible for their children. Also, having a family that big wasn't some spur-of-the-moment whim that just popped into their brains one day. They thought about it. I'm not saying that the Duggars planned on having 18 kids per se but it's not like either they or the Jolie-Pitts decided on IVF as an option which would've increased the likelihood of twinning or multiple births. Having all those kids just happened and they happened in families financially responsible for all of their expenses.
Hypocrisy? Maybe. But again each situation is different. Just my humble opinion.
-theeconomist
I, too, think having that many kids is asking to go bankrupt. I respect that they have their own beliefs, but you shouldn't have so many kids that you can't support them and give them everything they need. In my opinion, God would want you to have only the amount of kids you can handle, not to just keep having kids until your too old to. I honestly believe these people are taking their faith too literally and extremely.
ReplyDelete