Parenting Porn
Sound the alarm! Something is happening on some of the more innocuous cable television channels! OK, let's not get too worked up, but instead be responsible and reasonable television anthropologists here.
Jon & Kate Gosselin with Mady, Cara, Colin, Joel, Aaden, Hannah, Alexis, and Leah
TLC has a hit show on their hands with Jon & Kate Plus 8 which is a reality show about a family comprised of a set of twins and a set of sextuplets (lots of fertilization science caused these multiple births). It's a pretty fascinating show. Who doesn't want to see how a house like that operates for a while plus the kids are cute (they have a 3 year old with glasses!) and Jon & Kate are just weird enough (Kate freaks out a lot and is a germaphobe, Jon is really good at rollerblading) and have enough trouble communicating that it is endlessly entertaining.
Well, if 8 kids are popular why wouldn't 13 kids be a bigger hit or 17 kids be THE BIGGEST SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION? TLC has followed up the success of Jon & Kate Plus 8 with a show called Kids by the Dozen which profiles families for an hour at a time in a reality, peek into daily life, style. There is the Casons who have 14 kids and the Jeubs who have 13 and the Heppners who have 17. But wait, why stop there, TLC has just debuted a new show called 17 Kids and Counting. This show is about the Duggar's. They're from Arkansas. The Dad's name is Jim Bob and all of their 17 kids' names start with J. The mom is pregnant. So that happened.
The banner from the Jeubs website
I am really enjoying watching these shows. It's certainly a feat of management to be able to handle this many kids. It took me a while to be able to enjoy watching them cause they would really stress me out. There is something about these shows which really disturbs me though. On the surface these shows appear to be the exact opposite of something like a Paris Hilton reality show. These are salt of the earth people who are working hard to provide a good life for their multitudes of children. These people are buried in responsibility and hard work. I find that these shows are actually much closer to a Paris Hilton reality show than you would think. The continuum looks like a circle not a straight line and these opposite behaviors end up right next to each other when the straight line is bent into a circle. These people are representing a pretty irresponsible lifestyle! To bring so many children into this world is crazy and selfish! I think in each case these people mean well and are trying to raise the kids in a way that they think is prudent (a couple of the families the Jeubs and the Duggars are super deep homeschoolin' pentacostals). Why does your family get to have 17 kids? Why are you the people that get to overpopulate our world with your seed? We would be screwed if we had a nation full of Paris Hiltons just like we would be screwed if we had a nation full of Duggars. Is TLC airing this as an example or as an oddity? I'm sure they actually don't care as long as we watch. I have a hard time not watching.
Family Websites:
The Gosselins
The Jeubs
The Duggars
The Heppners
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Wow! Are these "Quiverfull" families? Do you know about this?
http://www.quiverfull.com/
"We exalt Jesus Christ as Lord, and acknowledge His headship in all areas of our lives, including fertility. We exist to serve those believers who trust the Lord for family size, and to answer the questions of those seeking truth in this critical area of marriage."
i think maybe the Jeubs and Duggars are this vibe.
I feel the disturbing questions your entry closed with. Why are you the ones who get to populate the earth with your seed? Recently Andy and I had a weird conversation about having children where we were like, "it may be kind of selfish for people like us NOT to have children, because if all the people like us choose not to have kids, then the only kids born will be insane christian republicans."
Also, I continue to fail to see how "I live my life by God's will" and "tens of thousands of dollars for scientific fertility treatments" go together as life philosophies. God's will is God's will, right? Clearly God doesn't want you to have children. How do people rationalize this behavior? Plus: ADOPTION MAYBE?!?!?!?!?!??
Hi,
I am Christi the Cason Families Mom, we are not quiverful, but in some peoples eyes, we are just nuts, lol.
Christi Mom to 14 Beauties, with #15 on the way.
Congratulations. For one group, either for religious reasons or racial reasons, to perpetuate itself, is the law of survival. Nations or groups with the higher birthrates will eventually overwhelm those with the lower birthrates. If you want your family line or racial group to die out, then stop having sex, or switch. Large families used to be the norm and I've known a number of them with 10, 12 or more children, living happily, loving, and in harmony with nature. If they can manage it, then have good things to say about them, not negative remarks. For those who cannot seem to even have one or two, perhaps they should shut the TV off at night!