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

[GeeGolly]

6 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

She posted a picture of the three kids on Instagram plugging the show

[DangerousMinds]

Way to exploit your kids Jessa!

[Sew Sumi]

6 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

Way to exploit your kids Jessa!

Well, look at who taught her this behavior.

[BitterApple]

22 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

Way to exploit your kids Jessa!

The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Churchhoney]

39 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

Neither do the nuts. 😁

That said, those kids are adorable. I wish I thought they'd go to school and college, and hang out with friends, and go to non-Duggar birthday parties, and read all kinds of books, and choose their own religions and politics, and act in community theater and play on basketball teams,.....

Edited October 16, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Adeejay]

When Ben said he would love to live in a big city, Jessa seemed very surprised. I have a feeling he is starting to take stock of his life and realizes what could have been.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Adeejay

[Spencer Hastings]

57 minutes ago, Adeejay said:

When Ben said he would love to live in a big city, Jessa seemed very surprised. I have a feeling he is starting to take stock of his life and realize what could have been.

He really should’ve just married Jinger. 

[MsJamieDornan]

If Jessa were thinking clearly, she would send the boys to some kind of preschool. That would be a huge story for her and TLC would eat it up.

[GeeGolly]

3 hours ago, Adeejay said:

When Ben said he would love to live in a big city, Jessa seemed very surprised. I have a feeling he is starting to take stock of his life and realize what could have been.

Jessa probably thinks Ben just wants to live near a WalMart. I'm guessing off camera she told Ben to pray to God to be happy with whatever Jessa God has instore for him.

[MonicaM]

16 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

If Jessa were thinking clearly, she would send the boys to some kind of preschool. That would be a huge story for her and TLC would eat it up.

It could be a hilarious episode with Bin talking to the boys after their first day.  "Daddy, the other kids say their fathers have something they called jobs.  What's a job, Daddy?"

Bin would have to answer, "I don't rightly know, son.  I've never had one."

[Minivanessa]

17 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

If Jessa were thinking clearly, she would send the boys to some kind of preschool. That would be a huge story for her and TLC would eat it up.

I think anything but homeschooling is completely off the radar for a Duggar. Ben was homeschooled, IIRC, although I think his parents signed him up for some kind of coop/league so he could play sports. Ben did have some community college credits, so I assume he actually attended class and mixed with the ungodly heathens you find in public education at all levels. Jill's probably pushing the envelope, for a Duggar, by having play dates for the kids at the public library with friends from (I think) her church. 

[galaxychaser]

1 hour ago, MonicaM said:

It could be a hilarious episode with Bin talking to the boys after their first day.  "Daddy, the other kids say their fathers have something they called jobs.  What's a job, Daddy?"

Bin would have to answer, "I don't rightly know, son.  I've never had one."

No his job is to impregnate mommy. 

[MsJamieDornan]

3 hours ago, Jeeves said:

I think anything but homeschooling is completely off the radar for a Duggar.

I understand that. But if she wants to be the center of attention of the show, she has to think outside the box. And, sending them to a regular, normal preschool would get her the attention she usually craves.

[Nysha]

10 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

I understand that. But if she wants to be the center of attention of the show, she has to think outside the box. And, sending them to a regular, normal preschool would get her the attention she usually craves.

Or even joining a MOPs (mothers of preschoolers) group would help. Most of them are church-based, she'd get out of her rut and the kids would have a chance to play with kids who aren't related to them.

[cmr2014]

8 hours ago, Nysha said:

Or even joining a MOPs (mothers of preschoolers) group would help. Most of them are church-based, she'd get out of her rut and the kids would have a chance to play with kids who aren't related to them.

I think that if you re-read this, you'll see the flaw in your logic. If she joined a MOP group, her children MIGHT PLAY WITH CHILDREN WHO AREN'T RELATED TO THEM!

Can you imagine?

[Sew Sumi]

Even Jill socializes her boys with non-relatives. I never thought that she would be the first to stray from the reservation. Jessa seems as firmly entrenched as ever.

[lookeyloo]

Jessa seems very insecure outside her comfort zone. Walking into a new group of young women cold would probably be too scary for her. Just my opinion. 

[Spencer Hastings]

28 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Jessa seems very insecure outside her comfort zone. Walking into a new group of young women cold would probably be too scary for her. Just my opinion. 

This.  She does her best to appear confident and sure of herself but she’s just a big fish in a small-minded pond.  She would crumble outside of her inner circle.

[Churchhoney]

15 minutes ago, Spencer Hastings said:

This.  She does her best to appear confident and sure of herself but she’s just a big fish in a small-minded pond.  She would crumble outside of her inner circle.

Yeah, and the "big fish" thing is important, too, I'd guess.

Not only would the pond be unfamiliar to her, and thus scary, she'd probably also be terrified of losing her "big fish" status to the unknown people and situation. .....

That status obviously has always mattered to her a lot, so in a way she has a lot more to lose than the ones who didn't spend a lifetime as Queen Bee. Add together fear of the unknown and fear of losing all her cherished status and you've got a fear that's paralyzing, probably. 

(Plus, the Queen Bee may be more of a control freak than the others, too, dirty-diaper piles notwithstanding. So that's another obstacle to trying out new stuff.)

Edited October 18, 2019 by Churchhoney

[leighdear]

16 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Even Jill socializes her boys with non-relatives. I never thought that she would be the first to stray from the reservation. Jessa seems as firmly entrenched as ever.

Jill really didn't have much choice though.  She was the first daughter to give birth, then Derick dragged her off to South America where they had people come to their house & bring their kids.  

When they came back to the US, Derick dragged her into his faux-minister class activities, that again required her to socialize with people and their kids.  Then here comes Sam & he gets shoved into the mix too.  Now she's actually used to being around "strangers". 

We really don't know if Jessa & the kids have to kowtow to Ben's requirements.  Behind closed doors and with no cameras rolling, it could be his way as the only way.  People can show a much different face to the public than they do to their families.  

I know most people are convinced that Jessa is always in charge, but I have a different opinion. 

[JoanArc]

23 hours ago, cmr2014 said:

I think that if you re-read this, you'll see the flaw in your logic. If she joined a MOP group, her children MIGHT PLAY WITH CHILDREN WHO AREN'T RELATED TO THEM!

She'll never join a group she can't be queen bee HBIC of. Ever. Just look how she lives her life - she crumbles the second she's out of her glory.

Even MOPS would eat her alive!

[DangerousMinds]

But is she even Queen Bee of Duggarville anymore?

[JoanArc]

8 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

But is she even Queen Bee of Duggarville anymore?

She’ll always have Jill to kick around.

[Churchhoney]

10 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

But is she even Queen Bee of Duggarville anymore?

Not the way she used to be.

But there she can probably at least dream she's still the queen.....And occasionally sneak up on somebody and tap into their terrified memories of the old regime by momentarily reassembling a little of her old mojo.....

With strangers, though......I expect she'd fear that that would have no chance of working.....And the fear would be well placed, I think. 

[GeeGolly]

10 hours ago, DangerousMinds said:

But is she even Queen Bee of Duggarville anymore?

I think she is. Or at least I think she thinks she is. She's in the top 3 of being married first. And the top 2 of most kids. Two things that are prized in their family and also makes her a seasoned expert.

She still sits around the TTH and orders the last batch of kids around and probably unmarried Jana too.

As long as she stays in her little 5 mile radius of AR, she can continue to rule in comfort.

[65mickey]

On 10/16/2019 at 11:48 PM, MsJamieDornan said:

I understand that. But if she wants to be the center of attention of the show, she has to think outside the box. And, sending them to a regular, normal preschool would get her the attention she usually craves.

Never ever gonna happen. Like all of the Duggar and Bates women they rely on the old standby of pregnancy and childbirth for attention. A secular or even church affiliated preschool no way. 

[MsJamieDornan]

5 hours ago, 65mickey said:

Never ever gonna happen. Like all of the Duggar and Bates women they rely on the old standby of pregnancy and childbirth for attention. A secular or even church affiliated preschool no way. 

I think everyone missed my point. Jessa isn't in the promo pictures and this season has started, she hasn't been active on social media so if she wants the TV cameras back in her life and all the fans attention on her, she has to do something like that. The camera's would follow her every move if she put the boys in preschool.

[Zella]

18 minutes ago, MsJamieDornan said:

I think everyone missed my point. Jessa isn't in the promo pictures and this season has started, she hasn't been active on social media so if she wants the TV cameras back in her life and all the fans attention on her, she has to do something like that. The camera's would follow her every move if she put the boys in preschool.

Yeah I definitely get what you're saying. She needs to up her game with something if she wants to win the Duggar version of Battle Royale. When you've got siblings moving away to Californy and so many other pregnancies in the families, just having cute kids doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to getting attention. 

Edited October 20, 2019 by Zella

[MsJamieDornan]

Just now, Zella said:

Yeah I definitely get what you're saying. She needs to up her game with something if she wants to win the Duggar version of Battle Royale. When you've got siblings moving away to Californy and so many other pregnancies in the families, just having cute kids doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to getting attention. 

Exactly Zella ! I don't watch the show as regularly as I once did, but damn, I would even tune in for that!

[Zella]

3 minutes ago, MsJamieDornan said:

Exactly Zella ! I don't watch the show as regularly as I once did, but damn, I would even tune in for that!

I don't watch--don't have cable so rely on the kindness of folks on this forum to tell me what goes down on the show--but I would certainly be intrigued enough to sneak a peek if any of them put their kids in a non-homeschool setting!

[louannems]

I'm not sure why Benessa weren't featured in the promo.  They were in the show, certainly as much, or more than, the others.

[Zella]

33 minutes ago, louannems said:

I'm not sure why Benessa weren't featured in the promo.  They were in the show, certainly as much, or more than, the others.

I was wondering about that too. They clearly haven't been removed. 

[queenanne]

15 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

I think everyone missed my point. Jessa isn't in the promo pictures and this season has started, she hasn't been active on social media so if she wants the TV cameras back in her life and all the fans attention on her, she has to do something like that. The camera's would follow her every move if she put the boys in preschool.

Which wouldn't happen, because nurture trumps nature, and then they might mingle with heathens.  I'm pretty sure it wouldn't even enter her mind on account of that.

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

I was wondering about that too. They clearly haven't been removed. 

Aaaa....My guess is that because the show exists to make money for TLC, they just cut every possible corner so they can spend as little of the money that comes in as possible -- as the viewing audience slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly dwindles tiny tiny tiny tiny bit by tiny tiny tiny tiny bit....

After all,  they do have to do some work, such as coming up with crap for the Duggars to do that an audience might find entertaining. Because God knows the Duggs don't do anything even vaguely interesting on their own........They're the most boring people on earth. 

So I'd bet that the TLC production staff does as little as they can possibly get away with when it comes to every other aspect of preparing the show, so they can keep the staff and the person hours they have to pay for as lean and inexpensive as possible. 

Like the promos....The promo pic was obviously an old one -- the babies, like Felicity, are little in that picture. So I figure somebody spent about 10 seconds (literally) scanning group-shot Duggar promo pictures from the past year or so and just grabbed the first one they thought looked okay,  without wasting a millisecond making sure it had the actual current cast in it or anything.

Then that worker could go off and earn their paycheck by doing something necessary. So the show's budget is as lean and mean as possible. To help the bottom line. 

Edited October 20, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Zella]

8 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Aaaa....My guess is that because the show exists to make money for TLC, they just cut every possible corner so they can spend as little of the money that comes in as possible -- as the viewing audience slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly slowly dwindles tiny tiny tiny tiny bit by tiny tiny tiny tiny bit....

After all,  they do have to do some work, such as coming up with crap for the Duggars to do that an audience might find entertaining. Because God knows the Duggs don't do anything even vaguely interesting on their own........They're the most boring people on earth. 

So I'd bet that the TLC production staff does as little as they can possibly get away with when it comes to every other aspect of preparing the show, so they can keep the staff and the person hours they have to pay for as lean and inexpensive as possible. 

Like the promos....The promo pic was obviously an old one -- the babies, like Felicity, are little in that picture. So I figure somebody spent about 10 seconds (literally) scanning group-shot Duggar promo pictures from the past year and a half or so and just grabbed the first one they thought looked okay,  without wasting a millisecond scanning it to make sure it had the actual current cast in it or anything.

Then that worker could go off and do something necessary to earn their paycheck. And the show and its budget are operating as lean and mean as possible. To help the bottom line. 

Hehe Yeah that is actually the most likely explanation! 

[Adeejay]

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 7:21 AM, lookeyloo said:

Jessa seems very insecure outside her comfort zone. Walking into a new group of young women cold would probably be too scary for her. Just my opinion. 

I agree.  It was a good thing Jinger was with her during her proposal scavenger hunt, because Jessa seemed annoyed at having to approach total strangers for the clues. I believe she, more so than her siblings, is keenly aware of how her family is perceived.

[lookeyloo]

16 minutes ago, Adeejay said:

I agree.  It was a good thing Jinger was with her during her proposal scavenger hunt, because Jessa seemed annoyed at having to approach total strangers for the clues. I believe she, more so than her siblings, is keenly aware of how her family is perceived.

Could be. But I think her nature is that she stays in her comfort zone. As far as what we can tell from the show she hasn’t really had the opportunity of new experiences without all her siblings. Some people aren’t good at that regardless.  I wonder how aware they are of the negative perceptions since they are mostly in contact with others who share their beliefs 

[Sew Sumi]

Jessa used to delete and block dissenters on IG. She's well aware of what people say about her and her family.

[Adeejay]

3 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

As far as what we can tell from the show she hasn’t really had the opportunity of new experiences without all her siblings.

Jessa, Ben and Spurgeon went to St. Louis to visit DJ Flame and his wife.  

Edited October 21, 2019 by Adeejay

[JoanArc]

1 hour ago, Adeejay said:

Jessa, Ben and Spurgeon went to St. Louis to visit DJ Flame and his wife.  

Wasn't that the one where she crumbled as soon as she actually had to talk to the new people?

[Adeejay]

Surprisingly, Jessa was friendly and personable during their visit to St. Louis.  She seemed to enjoy herself.  It was during the scavenger hunt that she appeared to be a total wreck.   

[Oldernowiser]

On 10/18/2019 at 7:00 PM, DangerousMinds said:

But is she even Queen Bee of Duggarville anymore?

I confess I don’t watch the show on principle but I do very much enjoy great snark, which is why I spend arguably too much time on this forum.

But honestly, I forget Jessa even exists most of the time. In fairness, I forget 40-50% of the Duggars & Adjacents at any given moment, but for some reason Jessa really doesn’t register. She’s a bland, pretty, brainwashed girl with a bland, sad, brainwashed husband and several reasonably photogenic toddlers. The end.

[louannems]

10 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

I confess I don’t watch the show on principle but I do very much enjoy great snark, which is why I spend arguably too much time on this forum.

But honestly, I forget Jessa even exists most of the time. In fairness, I forget 40-50% of the Duggars & Adjacents at any given moment, but for some reason Jessa really doesn’t register. She’s a bland, pretty, brainwashed girl with a bland, sad, brainwashed husband and several reasonably photogenic toddlers. The end.

I'm also tired of Jessa's bland, generic narrative on each new season about You Won't Believe How Busy We Duggars Are!!!! Babies, pregnancy, babies in pregnancy, bla bla bla.

I would love to see Jessa grow.  She could take a class of some sort.  Make friends and do something outside of her bubble.

But Jessa is proud of her insular, Duggar isolated ways to change anything.

[Barb23]

Just a thought of why the Seewalds weren't on the promo.  Maybe TLC left them out on purpose as sort of a teaser to get viewers to tune in.  I doubt it caused that much of an increase in viewership but it did get people talking including us, the snarkers.  

[Snow Fairy]

Last night I had a dream Jessa came to my town, we accidentally met and she was pregnant with number 4.

LOL

[GeeGolly]

On 10/20/2019 at 10:49 PM, Adeejay said:

Surprisingly, Jessa was friendly and personable during their visit to St. Louis.  She seemed to enjoy herself.  It was during the scavenger hunt that she appeared to be a total wreck.   

I thought when she was in St Louis she pulled out a photo album in a restaurant. Or am I mixing up shows?

I thought the photo album showed how little confidence Jessa and TLC had in her ability to make small talk out of her circle.

[Rabbittron]

Let's say that these two are off the show. It reminds me of survivor stay tuned to next season to see which couple is not coming back to Duggar Island.  Just  think about how many more seasons of Duggar Island can they do.

Edited October 22, 2019 by Rabbittron
Damn autocorrect

[Madtown]

[lascuba]

On 10/22/2019 at 5:58 AM, GeeGolly said:

I thought when she was in St Louis she pulled out a photo album in a restaurant. Or am I mixing up shows?

I thought the photo album showed how little confidence Jessa and TLC had in her ability to make small talk out of her circle.

Yes, that's exactly what happened. She was super uncomfortable and--because none of these people can act for shit--obviously just doing "Jessa makes new friends!" scene for the cameras. She brought her damn wedding album to give them something to talk about, and iirc at least one of the other women did, too.

The hilarious part to me was how they were at an Indian restaurant, Jessa stressed that she wanted something not spicy, and they never even showed the food arriving, let alone hereating it. I just know that she made a face when she saw the food and TLC cut the whole thing.

[galaxychaser]

I have been trying Indian food recently. It’s all spicy lol.