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

[Joan of Argh]

1 hour ago, Tasya said:

She edited the video, it now stops while Spurgeon is walking over to Henry. 

I was just going to ask where everyone was watching Spurgeon knock Henry's train track over..

Your post explained it. 👍

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, Tasya said:

She edited the video, it now stops while Spurgeon is walking over to Henry. 

No surprise there, that's the Duggar way; just pretend that the unpleasant stuff never happened.

[emma675]

9 minutes ago, Joan of Argh said:

She edited the video, it now stops while Spurgeon is walking over to Henry. 

Ha! I wonder if people were calling her out about not disciplining Spurgeon when he was acting like a brat?

[GeeGolly]

Little Henry vrrooming his little car on the track. His reaction leads me to believe that wasn't the first time its happened. He went right back to pushing his car on the broken track.

[BigBingerBro]

23 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

No surprise there, that's the Duggar way; just pretend that the unpleasant stuff never happened.

Well most of social media is like this.  Most people only show the pretty and not the ugly.  I'm not defending the Duggars but it makes you wonder what other things have been edited out at other times??

[crazy8s]

13 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

Well most of social media is like this.  Most people only show the pretty and not the ugly.  I'm not defending the Duggars but it makes you wonder what other things have been edited out at other times??

agree most of social media is like this. 

that is why i find the old Duggar clips interesting. the contrasts they forget they said or can't edit. they got a free christmas tree and free bikes for all the kids, they don't do christmas trees because they don't focus on a tree because jesus, then back to having a christmas tree. they don't believe in sugar/soda, restaurant soda machine installed at the TTH. we are frugal, avoid debt - josh and anna owed $12,000 in back taxes. ben and jessa paid a penalty for paying taxes late just last year. elijah kaneshiro, who lives with them, has a court order to repay $19,000 in credit card debt while he still flits around the US to visit fundies and is shown at fundie weddings quite often. and the list goes on and on

[emmawoodhouse]

Back to the messy curls. Looks awful.

 

[GeeGolly]

4 hours ago, FizzyPuff said:

Which is weird considering he was her easiest birth, no rush to the hospital where she nearly bled to death. Is that why she resents him? 

Like his namesake Prince Harry (whose actual name is Henry), Henry is the spare, not the heir.

[BigBingerBro]

Has Jessa done any videos or post regarding educating her kids?  Is Splurge old enough for Kindergarden?

[GeeGolly]

If Spurgie's hair was straight this is what his cut would look like.

[emmawoodhouse]

30 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

Has Jessa done any videos or post regarding educating her kids?  Is Splurge old enough for Kindergarden?

Spurge will be 5 next month. He's old enough for Jessa to be doing kindergarten. But you're right; we never see her actually teaching the kids. It's all independent study with their books and bible verses.

[Absolom]

Jessa should be doing letters and their sounds, one to one counting, very, very basic time, shapes, colors, numerals, big holidays, reading to him every day, etc with Spurgeon.  In our state he'd be eligible for transitional kindergarten and it would do him a lot of good.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Absolom

[Churchhoney]

Well, we probably should remember how Jessa likely envisions "teaching," based on her appointment as "head teacher" at Duggar Academy.

I got the impression that pretty much the teacher's sole role there was to knock down and sit on any kids who walked away from their computer terminals before "finishing" their programmed "lessons" that they'd likely learned early on how to game.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Churchhoney

[anna0852]

I was going to go ask on her Instagram if she is returned Jana's jewelry box yet. Unfortunately Jessa still has me blocked after I called her out for a snotty comment about Lauren's miscarriage.

Edited October 2, 2020 by anna0852

[emmawoodhouse]

I learned the hard way not to cross thin-skinned Jessa. She has no problem deleting and blocking anything she sees as dissent.

Edited October 2, 2020 by emmawoodhouse

[Zella]

19 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

I was going to go ask on her Instagram if she is returned Jana's jewelry box yet. Unfortunately Jessa still has me blocked after I called her out for a snotty comment about Lauren's miscarriage.

What did she say about Lauren's miscarriage?

[leighdear]

Jessa must be thrilled that Joy gave birth to a nasal baby for her potato baby to play with......

[Joan of Argh]

JMO but I'm starting to wonder if Spurgeon is like his uncle Smuggar and has a creepy evil streak that he's hiding.

Jessa posted a video with the boys talking about arguing and why it's not nice.. In the video we found out that Spurgeon was jealous of Henry's shoes and told Henry that his shoes were ugly to hurt his feelings...

I've heard Jessa say a few times that jealousy is bad or God doesn't like jealousy without naming anyone but I think she's talking about Spurge

This video fits in nicely with his jealousy problem and the need to smash the train tracks and punish Henry.

I don't think he wanted to participate in the new hairdo video and when he came out and Henry didn't even look at him or say anything it pissed Spurgeon off, he was already cranky from being forced to do the stupid video..... then *BOOM* Spurgeon exploded!

[emmawoodhouse]

Spurgeon is definitely the Golden Child. Does Jessa ever discipline him?

[Zella]

6 minutes ago, Joan of Argh said:

JMO but I'm starting to wonder if Spurgeon is like his uncle Smuggar and has a creepy evil streak that he's hiding.

Jessa posted a video with the boys talking about arguing and why it's not nice.. In the video we found out that Spurgeon was jealous of Henry's shoes and told Henry that his shoes were ugly to hurt his feelings...

I've heard Jessa say a few times that jealousy is bad or God doesn't like jealousy without naming anyone but I think she's talking about Spurge

This video fits in nicely with his jealousy problem and the need to smash the train tracks and punish Henry.

I don't think he wanted to participate in the new hairdo video and when he came out and Henry didn't even look at him or say anything it pissed Spurgeon off, he was already cranky from being forced to do the stupid video..... then *BOOM* Spurgeon exploded!

I don't know that it is really that--he would need to do substantially more psychotic things for me to reach that conclusion--but I do think he is responding in a very natural way to Jessa's poor parenting in these situations. His mother is conveying to him with all of her actions that what he is doing is acceptable, so of course, he's going to double down on it. Why shouldn't he be a little punk to his little brother when his mother doesn't stop him and seems to egg him on by filming him and joking about it? I'd venture to say he's a natural showboat, and Jessa filming him and not checking his nastier side makes him act a lot worse than if his mother would put her fucking phone down and parent him and stop acting like every utterance out of his mouth makes him the next Shirley Temple. 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Zella

[Zella]

I will clarify that I am not a parent. I have no clue how to raise kids. But even I know when my Chihuahua is being a jealous asshole toward my grandmother's dogs (one of whom is actually his brother), it's not something you encourage, even if there is something weirdly funny about the way he goes about it. Would think that's even more true when humans are involved. 

[Joan of Argh]

1 minute ago, Zella said:

I don't know that it is really that--he would need to do substantially more psychotic things for me to reach that conclusion--but I do think he is responding in a very natural way to Jessa's poor parenting in these situations. His mother is conveying to him with all of her actions that what he is doing is acceptable, so of course, he's going to double down on it. Why shouldn't he be a little punk to his little brother when his mother doesn't stop him and seems to egg him on by filming him and joking about it? 

Ya that's why I said "I'm starting to wonder if"...  

I'm not convinced myself and wondered if anyone else would agree or am I way out on a branch by myself..... You make a good point about Jessa's parenting being the problem.

[BitterApple]

I think Spurge needs to be in a structured environment with kids his own age. 

Edited October 2, 2020 by BitterApple

[anna0852]

51 minutes ago, Zella said:

What did she say about Lauren's miscarriage?

 She posted a picture of herself big pregnant with a caption of how sad miscarriage must have been. I just thought it was in terrible taste and called her out on it.

[Zella]

2 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

 She posted a picture of herself big pregnant with a caption of how sad miscarriage must have been. I just thought it was in terrible taste and called her out on it.

Oh I think I remember that now! 

[Joan of Argh]

Just now, BitterApple said:

I think Spurge needs to be in a structured environment with kids his own age. 

Exactly plus I think Spurgeon is bored to death, every day is the same boring shit as the day before.... Go hang around in the backyard dirt and leaves with your little brother and sister, go in the house for some boring food, sit and read another book, take a nap, eat more boring food, play with toys on floor, read another book, put your pajamas on without taking a bath, say prayers go to sleep in your rumpled bed with the dirty bedding.

We have a grandson 3 months younger than Spurge and I've caught myself comparing and it's kind of like night and day.

Spurge sounds very babyish and extremely limited about life outside his bubble, it makes me sad for him.

My grandson often mentions things that surprise me but that's because he's exposed to so much more than Spurge.. Poor Spurge his only source of what life is about comes from the Duggar echo chamber.

[Absolom]

All of this exactly.  Right now there isn't anything wrong with Spurge that four to six hours a day with a pre-school teacher, some order and learning material, and 12 to 15 or so other kids won't fix in fairly short order.  

[leighdear]

56 minutes ago, Joan of Argh said:

JMO but I'm starting to wonder if Spurgeon is like his uncle Smuggar and has a creepy evil streak that he's hiding.

I think he's like his mother, and has HER creepy evil streak.  You aren't alone.  I think there's plenty of pettiness, malice and vindictiveness running through the entire family.  But yes, mostly hidden from the cameras and social media. 

Edited October 2, 2020 by leighdear

[GeeGolly]

First, those kids are on top of each other everyday. Second, any feeling they have, they need to stop feeling because Jesus. Third, the youngest seems to get special privileges all the time and Spurge never has been, nor will ever be, the youngest.

I was/am far, far from a perfect parent but Jessa's got the whole sharing thing wrong. Yes, kids need to share, but they also need to be able not to share. If Spurge was playing with his tools and Ivy comes by and grabs his drill, she needs to give it back, ask if she can use it, or ask if she can play with Spurge. Obviously Jessa would have to steer the conversation because Ivy is young and model for both the kids. But by Jessa's rule, Ivy gets the toy for five minutes, every time because she is younger. But if Spurge grabs a toy from Ivy he has to give it back because she's younger. These kids are close in age and are learning the same lessons.

I used to warn my kids. Asking if maybe they want to play with such and such at the table before baby sibling comes crawling through. Or as they got older, put and/or play with your stuff in your room if you don't want to share right now or want anyone touching it. Because they were allowed not to share at times, they were allowed to have their own things and were allowed to have them devoid of spit-up and baby drool.

[emmawoodhouse]

Unfortunately, that would never work with Jessa's kids since she has given them no private space. Even the boys' room is shared with Ben, giving them even less personal space.

Edited October 2, 2020 by emmawoodhouse

[crazycatlady58]

3 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Unfortunately, that would never work with Jessa's kids since she has given them no private space. Even the boys' room is shared with Ben, giving them even less personal space.

That may because she never had any private space nor a good role model on how to raise kids.

[emmawoodhouse]

1 minute ago, crazycatlady58 said:

That may because she never had any private space nor a good role model on how to raise kids.

Absolutely correct. That's why Jana's jewelry box is such a travesty.

[GeeGolly]

3 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Unfortunately, that would never work with Jessa's kids since she has given them no private space. Even the boys' room is shared with Ben, giving them even less personal space.

They do have a kitchen table. Ivy probably still takes naps. There's higher up shelves. There's creative ways to manage. But more importantly they have two parents to run interference.

[GeeGolly]

6 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

That may because she never had any private space nor a good role model on how to raise kids.

But parenting evolves. My mom lost her mom when she was very young. So she didn't learn much from her mother. I adopted some of my parenting from my mom, including some of her 'mistakes', but I was me, with my children, so it would have been hard to be my mom even if I wanted to. Plus when you know better, you do better.

[emmawoodhouse]

13 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

They do have a kitchen table. Ivy probably still takes naps. There's higher up shelves. There's creative ways to manage. But more importantly they have two parents to run interference.

I don't give Jessa that much credit for creative solutions. 

[lookeyloo]

1 hour ago, Joan of Argh said:

Exactly plus I think Spurgeon is bored to death, every day is the same boring shit as the day before.... Go hang around in the backyard dirt and leaves with your little brother and sister, go in the house for some boring food, sit and read another book, take a nap, eat more boring food, play with toys on floor, read another book, put your pajamas on without taking a bath, say prayers go to sleep in your rumpled bed with the dirty bedding.

We have a grandson 3 months younger than Spurge and I've caught myself comparing and it's kind of like night and day.

Spurge sounds very babyish and extremely limited about life outside his bubble, it makes me sad for him.

My grandson often mentions things that surprise me but that's because he's exposed to so much more than Spurge.. Poor Spurge his only source of what life is about comes from the Duggar echo chamber.

I was about to post how bored those children must be. No real structure and no mental stimulation. 

[emmawoodhouse]

6 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

I was about to post how bored those children must be. No real structure and no mental stimulation. 

Their only structure is bible/hymn memorization. And hopefully, 3 squares.

[whydoiwatch]

I saw this thread was "hot" and figured Jessa was knocked up again.

[DangerousMinds]

4 hours ago, Joan of Argh said:

JMO but I'm starting to wonder if Spurgeon is like his uncle Smuggar and has a creepy evil streak that he's hiding.

Jessa posted a video with the boys talking about arguing and why it's not nice.. In the video we found out that Spurgeon was jealous of Henry's shoes and told Henry that his shoes were ugly to hurt his feelings...

I've heard Jessa say a few times that jealousy is bad or God doesn't like jealousy without naming anyone but I think she's talking about Spurge

This video fits in nicely with his jealousy problem and the need to smash the train tracks and punish Henry.

I don't think he wanted to participate in the new hairdo video and when he came out and Henry didn't even look at him or say anything it pissed Spurgeon off, he was already cranky from being forced to do the stupid video..... then *BOOM* Spurgeon exploded!

Well, I’ve been calling him Damian since he was a toddler, so 🤣.

[Churchhoney]

I hope Jessa will evolve. But just in general she seems to have a pretty strong tendency to defend and dig in, period. I expect to see Jill, Jinge and Joy all question habits they imbibed from JB and M and look for new and better ways to interact with their kids long before Jessa does.

I guess it's because she's the one who keeps making lengthy videos telling us why JB and M are the best parents ever!!!!

I believe she really wants to do a good job raising her family. But I'm pretty sure that requires opening yourself up to some new thoughts, really listening to the kids and what's going on with them, exploring and asking some questions instead of always making explanation videos. etc. And I can't say I've ever heard of her doing any of that. To me, she's the least secure of the oldest girls -- the most like JB and M and their straitjacketed ways. And time's marching on for the kids, especially Spurge these days.

[Temperance]

2 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I hope Jessa will evolve. But just in general she seems to have a pretty strong tendency to defend and dig in, period. I expect to see Jill, Jinge and Joy all question habits they imbibed from JB and M and look for new and better ways to interact with their kids long before Jessa does.

I guess it's because she's the one who keeps making lengthy videos telling us why JB and M are the best parents ever!!!!

I believe she really wants to do a good job raising her family. But I'm pretty sure that requires opening yourself up to some new thoughts, really listening to the kids and what's going on with them, exploring and asking some questions instead of always making explanation videos. etc. And I can't say I've ever heard of her doing any of that. To me, she's the least secure of the oldest girls -- the most like JB and M and their straitjacketed ways. And time's marching on for the kids, especially Spurge these days.

Well Jill is already making changes and so is Jinger. But I actually think Jessa is more likely to change than Joy. This is based on my impressions of them when I watched the show. I also Ben is more likely to want to make changes than Austin. 

[GeeGolly]

5 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I hope Jessa will evolve. But just in general she seems to have a pretty strong tendency to defend and dig in, period. I expect to see Jill, Jinge and Joy all question habits they imbibed from JB and M and look for new and better ways to interact with their kids long before Jessa does.

I guess it's because she's the one who keeps making lengthy videos telling us why JB and M are the best parents ever!!!!

I believe she really wants to do a good job raising her family. But I'm pretty sure that requires opening yourself up to some new thoughts, really listening to the kids and what's going on with them, exploring and asking some questions instead of always making explanation videos. etc. And I can't say I've ever heard of her doing any of that. To me, she's the least secure of the oldest girls -- the most like JB and M and their straitjacketed ways. And time's marching on for the kids, especially Spurge these days.

I agree - to a point. Where I veer off is, Jessa was the first daughter to show she had an inkling that maybe doing things a little different wasn't that appealing to mainstream followers, whereas Jill kept doing parenting the Duggar way and posted and filmed, for all to see, even with negative comments from viewers and followers. So it seems Jessa had some new thoughts from all that tapping her on the shoulder (or iPhone screen), almost daily, long before Jill did. I agree Jessa's insecurities make it harder to change and she didn't have an event to force change, but I think she's awake enough to know there are other options. As I said in an earlier post, part of Jessa's problem is her ego and need to defend JB & M, but I think it also includes laziness and coldness, because if she knows something needs defending and goes to great lengths to hide much of it, her opportunity for change, even a little bit of change, is right there in front of her. So in my opinion, Jessa does, to a degree, know better and she chooses not to do better.

A recent "live" example of this is when Jessa was filmed going house to house to take pictures of the grandchildren. She was filmed at Joy's in a hallway with Joy and Gideon. For a moment it looked as if Joy was going to get firm with Giddy to settle him down for the picture. Jessa's reaction was telling. Its hard to explain, because it took place in a spilt second, but she looked immediately at Joy as if to say, don't, we're being filmed. Its hard to tell from the scene if Joy was going to be firm and stopped short or if that was never her intent. And by firm I mean a tad closer to mean and authoritarian than most would like.

 

[Barb23]

15 hours ago, whydoiwatch said:

I saw this thread was "hot" and figured Jessa was knocked up again.

I'm thinking one of them is. Kind of weird cuz I usually don't have any thoughts about a possible Duggar pregnancy.  Lauren is jumping out now to me. Maybe she wants to be the first to deliver the next round of Duggaretts even tho I don't think her & Si are ready for a new baby yet.  BTW, do we know if any of them are pregnant now?  I'm getting all my fundy families confused with new relationships. 

[Ohiopirate02]

31 minutes ago, Barb23 said:

I'm thinking one of them is. Kind of weird cuz I usually don't have any thoughts about a possible Duggar pregnancy.  Lauren is jumping out now to me. Maybe she wants to be the first to deliver the next round of Duggaretts even tho I don't think her & Si are ready for a new baby yet.  BTW, do we know if any of them are pregnant now?  I'm getting all my fundy families confused with new relationships. 

Jinger and Kendra are the only two who have announced a pregnancy this year.  Ivy is 16 months old now and based on Jessa's timeline so far, she should be carrying #4 right now.  

[emmawoodhouse]

Jessa's new FU Internetz!!!11 is in..

 

[Absolom]

That didn't take long at all.  I'm glad Henry was the lucky recipient of one on one attention.

[BitterApple]

Lol, right after tons of comments about Henry being left out, forgotten and bullied. Jessa is nothing if not predictable.

[DangerousMinds]

26 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Jessa's new FU Internetz!!!11 is in..

 

All that brunching and errand running done sans masks, no doubt.

[Zella]

Poor Henry looks so shocked to be getting any attention at all. Glad his parents finally noticed him, even if they had to be shamed into it. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Zella

[ginger90]

One on one time=pictures, and video. 😞