Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[Totally]

How old are the spurg, Henry and Ivy ?

[ginger90]

[GeeGolly]

Ben wears fishing waders when baptizing others? In front of a lake mural, no less.

[Notabug]

NM.  Someone else answered it better.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Notabug

[dargosmydaddy]

That video was...interesting. Those poor kids and their feral upbringing. I didn't think Henry was being grabby, just trying to help Fern out like a good young brother-dad. 

I know smash-cakes are a thing at first birthdays, but letting Fern attack her cake at two was an odd choice. It was a tiny cake, but judging by what Jessa and Ben were saying in the background, it was the only cake, and the other kids would get some after Fern was done with it? 

4 hours ago, Totally said:

How old are the spurg, Henry and Ivy ?

Spurgeon will be 8 in November. Henry is 6. Ivy is 4.

[Minivanessa]

35 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

That video was...interesting. Those poor kids and their feral upbringing.

So I'm not the only one who thought "feral" about those kids. I also feel sorry for them. 

[xwordfanatik]

Curiosity got the best of me, so I watched.  Big mistake.  FFS, those unwrapped and opened Amazon boxes are pathetic.  I think Jessa only interacts with those feral kids when filming them, just like JRod.  They must be bored out of their skulls.  Their hair is all tangled and looks awful.  Sad.

[Absolom]

1 hour ago, dargosmydaddy said:

Spurgeon will be 8 in November. Henry is 6. Ivy is 4.

They all seem so immature for their ages.  Duggar big house revisited.  

[EtheltoTillie]

23 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

I’m so happy I’m an only child 🤣🤣🤣

Same!

[jacourt]

Do they ever play outside?  

[SMama]

Spurgeon is definitely checked out, his life is Groundhog Day, and it shows.

Fern is two, how about getting her Duplos and some educational toys? 

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Ben wears fishing waders when baptizing others? In front of a lake mural, no less.

For a second, I thought he had on lederhosen.

[Salacious Kitty]

9 hours ago, ginger90 said:

So they've already baptized him?  I thought the IFB folks didn't do baptisms under like 12. Spurge is 7. 

[AstridM]

Just now, Salacious Kitty said:

So they've already baptized him?  I thought the IFB folks didn't do baptisms under like 12. Spurge is 7. 

Is Bin still IFB?

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, AstridM said:

Is Bin still IFB?

Pretty sure his church would be considered IFB. 

[cmr2014]

37 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

So they've already baptized him?  I thought the IFB folks didn't do baptisms under like 12. Spurge is 7. 

I'm sure it's because Spurgeon is "so advanced for his age."

[babyhouseman]

9 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Ben wears fishing waders when baptizing others? In front of a lake mural, no less.

My church has a similar mural in the baptistry. No fishing waders though.

[ginger90]

I don’t care if Ben is IFB or XYZ. The beliefs of his church suck.

[Jynnan tonnix]

23 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Same!

Sounds as though we have quite a lot of only children here. I'm also an only child, but never liked being one. Though I suppose that might have something to do with the fact that I knew from a very early age that I was born one of a pair of twins, and my sister had not made it. Even as an adult, though, I feel as though I might have grown up with a bit more in the way of people skills if I'd had a sibling or two. At least, that's what Mr. Jyn often says, and he grew up as the oldest of seven.

[oliviabenson]

Ben looks 35 and is resembling a lumber Jack. 

[lookeyloo]

I guess it is good when we are glad we are "only" or a "sibling" because that's what we are.  It's sad because it can't be changed, either way.  I was always grateful for my two younger brothers.  Sweet Son and his brother are close in age and were very very close from the beginning til Sweet Son died.  Brother misses him every day.  Not to say any of these relationships are always sunshine and roses, and there are disagreements, but, we are all willing to get past things that come up and here we are.

[GeeGolly]

I'm the youngest of 4. The first 3 were born within 3ish years and I was born 3 years after the third. So I was kind of both, because all 3 were in college or on their own by the time I was 14. I never remember wishing I was an only child or wishing my siblings lived at home during my teen years.

These Fundy families keep pushing them out at record speed, and they move at one after the other and start the process all over again. Most of them barely know what it feels like to be a childless couple, never mind being an only child. Come from a herd, and start building their own.

Edited August 1, 2023 by GeeGolly

[LilJen]

On 7/30/2023 at 6:46 AM, Dehumidifier said:

Poor Fern, couldn't even "open" her gifts without the other kids breathing down her neck. Especially Henry, who seemed to loose interest with one girly toy after another.

My two year old niece had a birthday recently. I gave her an outdoor play backyard toy with both boys and girls on the box. Winter has plenty of time for the dolls.

If she insists on using the cardboard boxes she should have the other kids decorate them with poster paint or construction paper. Also, tape the tops closed.

What the hell, Jessa? Don’t bother teaching your kids self control or respect for others…

[dargosmydaddy]

53 minutes ago, LilJen said:

What the hell, Jessa? Don’t bother teaching your kids self control or respect for others…

I mean, she was never taught it as a kid, was she? The whole video shows she is raising another pack of feral Duggar children, just like her. The part at the end, where Fern is hanging on the top of the plastic car while Ivy "drives"... I don't have kids, so correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't most parents put a stop to that rather than actively encouraging it? I know we've seen worse (was it one of Jill's boys who stood on top of the same type of plastic car when he was younger?), but it just drives home the point of how little guidance any of the Duggar kids have in terms of normal parenting. And Jessa in particular seems to double down on how her way is just fine and dandy and no one's going to tell her otherwise.

[mimionthebeach]

11 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Ben looks 35 and is resembling a lumber Jack. 

For me,  he's channeling Amish and Shia LaBeouf.

[ozziemom]

Oh no, apparently there are pictures out there of a visibly pregnant Jessa. Ugh. She was at a baby shower recently for the wife of one of the Meddiccorps guys. Ugh. 

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, ozziemom said:

Oh no, apparently there are pictures out there of a visibly pregnant Jessa. Ugh. She was at a baby shower recently for the wife of one of the Meddiccorps guys. Ugh. 

Surprised? No. 

[dargosmydaddy]

For anyone who doesn't feel like slogging through Reddit...

[xwordfanatik]

Yippee.  Another feral kid that won't go to school or have any structure in their life.  

[AstridM]

1 minute ago, xwordfanatik said:

Yippee.  Another feral kid that won't go to school or have any structure in their life.  

And a hateful bitch for a “mother.”

[Minivanessa]

4 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

Yippee.  Another feral kid that won't go to school or have any structure in their life.  

It could be twins, so that's two more feral kids with messy hair and no education.

[Natalie68]

26 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

Yippee.  Another feral kid that won't go to school or have any structure in their life.  

Breedin' future welfare recipients for Jesus.  

[Mindthinkr]

Lord help those children. 

[SnapHappy]

2 hours ago, AstridM said:

And a hateful bitch for a “mother.”

Hey...Don't talk that way about Ivy.....

[anyasmom]

Out of all the Duggar grandkids, I feel the sorriest for Jessa's kids.  I think they have the saddest, loneliest lives.  I guess the only good thing is that they don't fully know what they're missing.  Including a loving mother.

[zoomama]

i am guessing about 5-6 months. when was that miscarriage? december?

[GeeGolly]

24 minutes ago, anyasmom said:

Out of all the Duggar grandkids, I feel the sorriest for Jessa's kids.  I think they have the saddest, loneliest lives.  I guess the only good thing is that they don't fully know what they're missing.  Including a loving mother.

I think Jill's boys have it a little worse than Jessa's. At least the Seewald kids hang with their cousins on occasion. 

I think both Jill and Jessa love their kids though.

[Scarlett45]

49 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I think Jill's boys have it a little worse than Jessa's. At least the Seewald kids hang with their cousins on occasion. 

I think both Jill and Jessa love their kids though.

I think Jill has a gentle spirit and is a natural born caregiver. Likely Jill’s children are getting their emotional and physical needs met at this point in their lives more than Jessa’s are.

Temperament wise I just do not see Jessa as a caregiver- she seems aggravated all the time, Ben likely is the more nurturing of the two (which is fine). 

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

I think Jill has a gentle spirit and is a natural born caregiver. Likely Jill’s children are getting their emotional and physical needs met at this point in their lives more than Jessa’s are.

Temperament wise I just do not see Jessa as a caregiver- she seems aggravated all the time, Ben likely is the more nurturing of the two (which is fine). 

I feel the same. Jessa strikes me as quite gruff and bossy. 

[GeeGolly]

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I think Jill has a gentle spirit and is a natural born caregiver. Likely Jill’s children are getting their emotional and physical needs met at this point in their lives more than Jessa’s are.

Temperament wise I just do not see Jessa as a caregiver- she seems aggravated all the time, Ben likely is the more nurturing of the two (which is fine). 

Going by what was on the show Jill was very matter of fact with her buddies. Very kind but not gentle. She seems to be the same way with her boys. Also what Jill has shown us in her videos, she is not very intuitive when responding to the boys. But overall, I do agree Jill is more low key than Jessa usually is.

With all that said, I've never seen Jessa be overly abrasive with her kids, short a couple times, but not outright mean.

But as far as loneliness, I think the Dillard boys are far more isolated than the Seewald bunch.

[AstridM]

4 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I think Jill's boys have it a little worse than Jessa's. At least the Seewald kids hang with their cousins on occasion. 

I think both Jill and Jessa love their kids though.

I think her boys are much better off with less contact with the cult. 

[Salacious Kitty]

Jill seems to have mom friends outside the cult. I'm sure the boys get socialization.

[Absolom]

4 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

But as far as loneliness, I think the Dillard boys are far more isolated than the Seewald bunch.

I think Jill's boys see more varied relatives rather than the insular ones, they go to swim classes, likely church classes and groups, and meet the children of Jill and Derek's friends.  Israel even went to school so maybe there is hope that more school is in their future.  

[satrunrose]

I feel like we just don't have enough info to really judge which kids are the best parents. Here's my two cents, though.

The Ms, always looked happy and presentable on SM, but we know that J'Inmate was considered father of the year because he knew his own children's names and swept up cracker crumbs. We also know they've been unsupervised enough that one wandered off (by a lot) since FF went to the other big house.

JD: Probably the best, everyone looks happy and well-cared for every time they're on social media. 

Jill: Was certainly looking promising before the move. Things looked pretty chaotic before Iz started school but then seemed to settle down. Really hard to know now (are they in school, do they have social connections, how has Freddy's arrival changed things, have Jill and Derrick dropped the really culty bits of Jill's upbringing?)

Jessa: Seems to have re-created the kids everywhere doing random stuff vibe of X kids and counting. I'm relieved that they seem to have gone with the laissez-faire approach rather than the Jill Rod school of godly children, but I really don't think there's enough structure for the kids to get what they need

Jinger- Hard to say since they've taken the kids off SM. We called Felicity the prop before that, though, because so much of their parenting seemed performative.

Joy- Pro: they're on the ball enough to realize Gideon needed some help. Con: they win the "Barefoot at a construction site, what could possibly go wrong?" prize fairly regularly.

Joe- hard to tell now that they're off social media. They both seemed like sweet people, especially Kendra, but at the rate she's going it would take a saint to avoid laundry room breakdown 2.0.

Josiah - No way of knowing. We've seen few, if any, examples of their parenting. 

Jed! - Mostly too soon to say, but between Katey being constantly pregnant and jaunting all over with newborns, I'm not super optimistic. 

I know I'm forgetting some, but I think they're somewhere between a Josiah and a Jed, it's too soon to tell. 

[Salacious Kitty]

Jer's kid seems well taken care of, but it's just one, and I imagine Hannah does all the work. 

[SMama]

3 hours ago, Absolom said:

I think Jill's boys see more varied relatives rather than the insular ones, they go to swim classes, likely church classes and groups, and meet the children of Jill and Derek's friends.  Israel even went to school so maybe there is hope that more school is in their future.  

They also spend time with their Dillard cousins.

[Absolom]

Indeed.  I considered them in the varied relatives.  :)

[GeeGolly]

Over in the Bates threads homeschooling is being discussed. I wonder if Anna and Ben are still the main Duggar homeschool teachers. I know we've seen Spurge roller-skating during a spelling 'lesson', but it seemed, for a while anyway, some of the kids were being taught together at the TTH.

[GeeGolly]

Jessa recently posted pics of the kids. I wonder if she's gearing up for a shill or a birth announcement.

[AstridM]

7 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Jessa recently posted pics of the kids. I wonder if she's gearing up for a shill or a birth announcement.

Damn it, I was really hoping she’d stay under her rock.