The Duggar Family: 16 Children and Pregnant Again

A few years back, I was scrolling through channels and ended up landing on a show called, "14 Children and Pregnant again." I watched, entranced as a family of two adults and fourteen children showed us what it's like living in a large family. I couldn't believe that a family that big could function. I thought, "And she's pregnant?"

Questions were racing through my head watching this show. What was this family's reasoning in having this many children? Did they make good enough money to support all the children? Are any of the children adopted? How big is their house? How do they travel? And so on.

Well, here I am a few years later still entranced by their story and decided to look them up. I came across their website: www.duggarfamily.com and guess what? Michelle (the mother) and Jim Bob (the father) are currently expecting their 17th child. That's right folks, seventeen kids! And I was just thinking how difficult having a third child was going to be. What are they thinking?

In a July issue of People magazine, Michelle Duggar explains why they chose to have so many children. She said that after her and Jim Bob had their first child, they decided against birth control and decided to let God decide how many children they were going to have.

At first look at the picture of their family on their website, the picture looks like a photo of a family reunion. After reading through the home page the reader finds out that this family does seem to be a typical family but with an extreme love of God and religion. Their enchanting family is consisted of sixteen children, two sets of twins and each one of their names, (excluding Michelle the mother), begins with a "J". The seventeenth child, Jennifer, is due in July.

So how does this family work? Each child has their own chores, what they call jurisdictions. An older sibling and a younger "buddy" do their chores together. The family's main goal is to get their children working and getting along together. They all work together cleaning, cooking, doing laundry and shopping. Michelle home schools and Jim Bob teaches from the Bible (what they like to call the "Owner's Manual for Life.) Together they have built a 7,000 sq ft house and have multiple vehicles for travel.

The family has a set schedule as to when chores and daily living and learning are done. You'd have to plan and organize everything to have this big of a family. There is a time to get up in the morning, to eat, to read and pray, to study, to clean and to go to bed. Much like any other family, the Duggars have their own recipes. Of course, cooking for this many people is a little more difficult. Jill, 15 years-old cooks lunch for everyone and Jana, 17, cooks dinner. Everyone helps clean up.

The children seem to be caring and well-behaved. The girls have an identical look about them: long hair and dresses, while the boys are clean cut and have short hair. It is hard to imagine that having this big of a family is possible without going crazy. They seem to be doing great.