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

[ozziemom]

1 hour ago, Suzn said:

How can these kids be healthy with their diet of pretzels for breakfast?  Henry grabs the pretzels first thing when he gets up and Jessa doesn't even realize how things like this sound.

These were cheddar pretzels so I’m sure Jessa thinks they are ok for a meal. Bin seems to have little to nothing to say about this kind of stuff. He is either checked out or figures feeding the kids is Jessa’s jurisdiction. What he does all day is a mystery to me.

[BitterApple]

3 minutes ago, ozziemom said:

 What he does all day is a mystery to me.

Me as well. There's speculation Bin has a regular job, but I'm not so sure. Given that the Redditers have better intel than the Pentagon, surely someone would've uncovered where he works by now. It's also odd he doesn't promote his church via social media. I doubt he's preaching at a place that's particularly progressive, so any backlash would be water off a duck's back. Maybe he's still tutoring at the TTH, and he and Jessa are too embarrassed to admit it.

[ozziemom]

39 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Me as well. There's speculation Bin has a regular job, but I'm not so sure. Given that the Redditers have better intel than the Pentagon, surely someone would've uncovered where he works by now. It's also odd he doesn't promote his church via social media. I doubt he's preaching at a place that's particularly progressive, so any backlash would be water off a duck's back. Maybe he's still tutoring at the TTH, and he and Jessa are too embarrassed to admit it.

Recently the school aged Duggar kids were on the road for what seemed like a long time, then went to Family Camp in Texas, so not sure how much Bin is tutoring. Unless he’s teaching the M kids. But it looks like Spurge is schooling at the Mold House with Jessa. So like many things with the Duggars, it’s strange. And why Jessa will never answer questions about what Bin does all day is also weird. Unlike Jill and lots of other Instagram and YouTube folks, she hasn’t done a Q&A yet. My guess is she knows there will be loads of Bin related Q’s she won’t A. Which is her right, but her content is lagging and there are only so many SayingsofsomeSeewaldkid posts she can do.

[BigBingerBro]

[BitterApple]

So let me get this straight. Spurgeon is sophisticated enough to use the word "constipated" yet bungles the past tense of "had"? Give it up, Jessa, and find something else to do with your time.

[MargeGunderson]

Apparently Spurg is not the only one full of it.

[CalicoKitty]

Judging by what we have seen of his diet and eating habits, I'm not surprised he knows the word "constipated".

Edited October 20, 2021 by CalicoKitty
left out a letter

[Dustbunny]

8 hours ago, farmgal4 said:

Bullshit!

exactly...

plus Henry is the kid who can barely string a sentence together but now he's suddenly a theologian quoting the bible... there's a better chance of Fern saying it than Henry!

Doesn't Jessa know that we've heard her kids and have a pretty good idea of the type of things they might say?? 🙄

[Westiepeach]

1 hour ago, BigBingerBro said:

Sure, Jan…

[GeeGolly]

Are "bedtime snacks" a thing? When my kids were Spurgeon's age they were in bed by 7:30pm. They ate dinner around 5pm, so just a couple/few hours after dinner they were sleeping. No need for a snack.

Between the Bates, Duggars and IRL, it seems the norm for kids to be equipped with a snack and water bottle at all times. Like why does a kid need that for a trip to Target or to go for a short neighborhood walk?

To me it seems many parents use food for heading off and/or managing moods/behaviors, which sets kids up for using food for self-soothing as adults.

[Scarlett45]

5 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Between the Bates, Duggars and IRL, it seems the norm for kids to be equipped with a snack and water bottle at all times. Like why does a kid need that for a trip to Target or to go for a short neighborhood walk?

I don’t think that’s a fundy thing, it seems to be a generational difference. When I was growing up, we ate when the adults ate, my caregivers didn’t bring snacks on errands. I was always free to eat stuff at home (but I needed permission to use the stove when I was small).

But there are a lot of emotional and social complexities around food so I don’t judge, there are a lot of ways to have a balanced diet. And a lot of ways to develop food issues, that may or may not show up in how much body fat someone has.
 

I was a fat kid and some of the kids who had constant access to snacks were not. So when it comes to things like this, I don’t come to any definite conclusions about Jessa’s habits (now the diaper mountain thing I defiantly judge her on).  

[GeeGolly]

59 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

I don’t think that’s a fundy thing, it seems to be a generational difference. When I was growing up, we ate when the adults ate, my caregivers didn’t bring snacks on errands. I was always free to eat stuff at home (but I needed permission to use the stove when I was small).

But there are a lot of emotional and social complexities around food so I don’t judge, there are a lot of ways to have a balanced diet. And a lot of ways to develop food issues, that may or may not show up in how much body fat someone has.
 

I was a fat kid and some of the kids who had constant access to snacks were not. So when it comes to things like this, I don’t come to any definite conclusions about Jessa’s habits (now the diaper mountain thing I defiantly judge her on).  

Oh my, I hope my post didn't come across as calling anyone fat.

My point was there are many ways to keep kids happy without giving them food. I'm one of 4 kids and we all had different appetites, and my own kids did too. My mom made three meals a day and we had snacks if we wanted them, but honestly only my dad was a big snacker. Pretty much the same for my kids too - 3 meals a day and snacks (within reason) if they wanted them, and honestly they didn't always want them.

But we did not travel around town with snacks and not all outings involved food. And while I occasionally used food to pacify my kids, I made a conscious effort not to. If they got cranky say, in a waiting room, we would play pattycake, or eye spy, or look at Highlights magazine - whatever age appropriate thing we could do.

IRL, I've seen many a time when a kid is crying and a parent reaches into a pocketbook or bag and gives them food. That teaches kids to reach for food when they're unhappy, sad, bored or tired. 

When I see Jessa and her sisters' posts, or the Bates' posts, it hard to find ones without some type of snack food. Not apples or carrots either. Usually some processed packaged food of convenience. I will judge Jessa and others on that. 

 

[Scarlett45]

@GeeGolly no no I didn’t think you were calling anyone fat. I was just expanding on my own experiences around meal time routines for small children and what I see my friends doing for their kids (I am 36). 
 

Based on what I have seen, I don’t think the Bates or Duggars are odd for giving their kids snacks on the go- I see lots of mainstream people doing that too for a variety of reasons. I’m sure some of these reasons are good and some are bad. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

16 hours ago, CalicoKitty said:

Judging by what we have seen of his diet and eating habits, I'm not surprised he knows the word "constipated".

To be fair, my granddaughter uses quite a variety of three and four syllable words (though, in her case, one she frequently uses is "hydrated" as opposed to "constipated"), yet still makes her share of grammatical errors. Then again, she is only three and a half, to Spurgeon's, what? Five? Six?

[Cinnabon]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Oh my, I hope my post didn't come across as calling anyone fat.

My point was there are many ways to keep kids happy without giving them food. I'm one of 4 kids and we all had different appetites, and my own kids did too. My mom made three meals a day and we had snacks if we wanted them, but honestly only my dad was a big snacker. Pretty much the same for my kids too - 3 meals a day and snacks (within reason) if they wanted them, and honestly they didn't always want them.

But we did not travel around town with snacks and not all outings involved food. And while I occasionally used food to pacify my kids, I made a conscious effort not to. If they got cranky say, in a waiting room, we would play pattycake, or eye spy, or look at Highlights magazine - whatever age appropriate thing we could do.

IRL, I've seen many a time when a kid is crying and a parent reaches into a pocketbook or bag and gives them food. That teaches kids to reach for food when they're unhappy, sad, bored or tired. 

When I see Jessa and her sisters' posts, or the Bates' posts, it hard to find ones without some type of snack food. Not apples or carrots either. Usually some processed packaged food of convenience. I will judge Jessa and others on that. 

 

I think they do this partly to avoid having to deal with the child’s specific issues. Especially as they have more and more kids, it’s easy to shove a snack or a drink at them, but it takes time to sit them down and talk to them.

[lookeyloo]

1 hour ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

To be fair, my granddaughter uses quite a variety of three and four syllable words (though, in her case, one she frequently uses is "hydrated" as opposed to "constipated"), yet still makes her share of grammatical errors. Then again, she is only three and a half, to Spurgeon's, what? Five? Six?

Isn't it funny to hear the big words coming out of those tiny mouths.  Oldest grandson is now 21 but when he was 2 he gathered up his halloween candy and told us he was going to "categorize" it.  And he did.  I wish we had a video of that!!

[Absolom]

I enjoyed teaching our children big words as toddlers and pre-schoolers and continued with the grandchildren.  It's lovely to see an 18 month old look up and say no Uncle Jack that is a pelargonium.  If you use the vocabulary regularly and properly it's kind of amazing how much some kids pick up and retain.  If constipation is a big topic in their house, it wouldn't be surprising.  One of grandson's first words was embarrassing to his parents - vodka.  Greatgrandma was a bit of a pistol so every Sunday night he heard the above Uncle Jack ask her if she wanted a vodka martini.  

[emmawoodhouse]

Here's a 💩🚽 gem from #SayingsofSpurgeon 🙄

 

[beckie]

She now has a hashtag Seewald kids say. She really thinks her kids are brilliant.

[Westiepeach]

1 hour ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Here's a 💩🚽 gem from #SayingsofSpurgeon 🙄

 

My very first thought was that Jessa is full of sh!t. Then I saw the irony and laughed and laughed!

Apparently I have no life...

[Churchhoney]

50 minutes ago, beckie said:

She now has a hashtag Seewald kids say. She really thinks her kids are brilliant.

I guess she might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Given how things are going, her kids are likely to end up as pathetically outclassed in adolescent and adult life as Jessa and her sibs are (although Jessa and her sibs don't know that, of course)......

As their tv fame and JB's money-earning momentum and their bubble of Gohardite fans dwindle further and further over the next several decades, I doubt it'll be as easy for her kids' generation to remain as ignorant of how ignorant they are as it seems to be for her generation to remain so. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Churchhoney

[Zella]

2 hours ago, Absolom said:

I enjoyed teaching our children big words as toddlers and pre-schoolers and continued with the grandchildren.  It's lovely to see an 18 month old look up and say no Uncle Jack that is a pelargonium.  If you use the vocabulary regularly and properly it's kind of amazing how much some kids pick up and retain.  If constipation is a big topic in their house, it wouldn't be surprising.  One of grandson's first words was embarrassing to his parents - vodka.  Greatgrandma was a bit of a pistol so every Sunday night he heard the above Uncle Jack ask her if she wanted a vodka martini.  

Yeah, when I was about 4 or so, my grandpa saw I had a love for language, and to amuse himself, he taught me words he'd seen on a list of most common misspelled words in spelling bees. I was then a real terror, spelling Shenandoah and chrysanthemum to any and all persons I met. LOL He had my cousin doing the same thing at the same age about a year or two later. 

I don't believe Jessa's posts, not because I don't think kids can't handle surprisingly big words, but it's mainly the presentation. I also don't think those poor kids are getting the actual mental stimulation they'd need from adults with big-enough vocabularies for some of these exploits. I really do get the impression her kids just run around feral, left to their own devices, most of the day. Of all the Duggar grandkids, they'd probably benefit the most from going to school, not just because it would be an outlet but also because it would provide some badly needed structure. 

[GeeGolly]

My kids had great early vocabularies mixed in with some early-on missed pronounced words. The thing is, we were never impressed or really even noticed until they'd say something in front of others they weren't usually around, and the person would act surprised. 

Kids are listening all the time and repeat what they hear. They hear things from parents, TV, books, etc.

I believe at one point there was a study of how kids thought the word relief was spelled. Many kids spelled it R O L A I D S, because of a popular commercial at the time. I'm not sure if that's true, or a rumor, but stuff like that happens.

That fact that Jessa is impressed with what she thinks are quotable quotes from her children, says more about her than them.

[lascuba]

 

 

1 minute ago, GeeGolly said:

My kids had great early vocabularies mixed in with some early-on missed pronounced words. The thing is, we were never impressed or really even noticed until they'd say something in front of others they weren't usually around, and the person would act surprised. 

Kids are listening all the time and repeat what they hear. They hear things from parents, TV, books, etc.

I believe at one point there was a study of how kids thought the word relief was spelled. Many kids spelled it R O L A I D S, because of a popular commercial at the time. I'm not sure if that's true, or a rumor, but stuff like that happens.

That fact that Jessa is impressed with what she thinks are quotable quotes from her children, says more about her than them.

I don't think Jessa is impressed so much as she's throwing everything kid related at the influencer wall hoping it sticks.

As always, I'm not quite sure which is worse.

[ginger90]

My granddaughter got off the bus one day. She asked my daughter if she could buy a diarrhea.

She actually meant to say diary.

#sayings of Emma

[graefin]

From the DuggarsSnark Subreddit.

[JoanArc]

18 minutes ago, graefin said:

From the DuggarsSnark Subreddit.

"Mommy, why don't you have a job? Or a life?" #sayingsofspurge

[BigBingerBro]

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, BigBingerBro said:

Wonder how long she can keep this up? 

 

 

[JoanArc]

30 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Wonder how long she can keep this up? 

 

 

Just wait until the boys are old enough for social media accounts. She’ll love running them.

[jacourt]

“Boys room”???? They have two bedrooms.   So where is Ivy?  In the hallway?  

[EVS]

4 minutes ago, JoanArc said:

Just wait until the boys are old enough for social media accounts. She’ll love running them.

She will probably still be making up things they say but follow Jill Rod’s example and pretend the kids are posting their thoughts on Jessa’s social media.

“Hi, this is Spurgeon Seewald. I just wanted to get on here…”

[GeeGolly]

For those who drink, you need to take a shot each time Jessa's 'kids' mention food or the Bible.

[EVS]

Depending on how many kids she has, this could go on for a while. 
 

#sayingsoftheologianseewaldnumber
six

#sayingsofflowerseewaldnumberfive

Edited October 22, 2021 by EVS

[BigBingerBro]

[GeeGolly]

Just what I want my four year spouting about - sex and death.

[Bewitched]

She has to be trolling us, right?

[CalicoKitty]

I would be very surprised if Henry could even pronounce some of these words with his speech issues.

[emmawoodhouse]

1 minute ago, Bewitched said:

She has to be trolling us, right?

No, Reddit is trolling her. 😀

[Churchhoney]

34 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

Not a convincing spoof but I still kinda like it. 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Churchhoney

[floridamom]

If their kids have to memorize scripture, why don't they give them pleasant, God-loving-us passages to memorize? Why all these horrible, vengeful God ones? I don't think it's healthy for a little child to hear those awful Old Testament versus let alone memorize them. These two are awful parents.

[Churchhoney]

11 hours ago, jacourt said:

“Boys room”???? They have two bedrooms.   So where is Ivy?  In the hallway?  

Maybe Ivy and Fern sleep on Jessa's new plant shelf. 

[laurakaye]

10 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

I honestly don't know if this is real or a parody....

Edited October 22, 2021 by laurakaye

[Ohiopirate02]

31 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

I honestly don't know if this is real or a parody....

It's a parody from Reddit.  I don't know why the OP did not add that disclaimer over here.  

[Churchhoney]

3 hours ago, floridamom said:

If their kids have to memorize scripture, why don't they give them pleasant, God-loving-us passages to memorize? 

Because if they did, they wouldn't get kids ages three to seven to declare themselves hopeless hellbound sinners? And then spend the rest of their youth talking about how anxious they are that they didn't really get saved and they aren't really right with the correct Jesus, despite getting saved after their confession of hellboundness? And then talk darkly for years about how as teens and young adults they persisted in hideous sin, obviously referring to without naming -- horrors! -- masturbation and any other sexual feelings, such as wanting a front hug? 

Those seem to me to be the only religion-related life events they actually value. 

And, really, a religious tradition that focuses completely on that only exists to give power to the human patriarchs who operate the tradition.

And then you succeed in raising 19 kids in 21st-century America without a single one of them trying to attend college or seek employment offered by someone besides their father or join the army or declare that, yeah, the books I checked out at the library have a lot of strong evidence showing that evolution is most likely true. Because they don't even dare go to the damn library. It might be satanic there! Just like school buses!  So to be on the safe side, I'll stay away. 

Scaring little kids with god doesn't necessarily keep them from doing terrible things as time goes on, but it does seem to keep them eternally performing the tricks that their godly parents most value.

Which in this case seem to be sticking around the home front to give your parents bragging rights about the vast numbers of the saved they're contributing to the heavenly army....and refraining from any activity that might advance you beyond your parents in terms of worldly success.

JB and M: "We created more foot soldiers for Jesus than anybody! But we'll always be the big cheese in this crowd -- if they want money, they have to beg it from us!"

The Duggs, in my opinion, have proven so harmful to the whole bunch of children they've spawned themselves, and they and their ilk are proving to be such an increasingly divisive and destructive force in our culture, that I can't help but see their whole scheme in this way. 

It's depressing that two total dumbasses can team up and become such a destructive force just because of their egos and their fearfulness, but there we are.  

Hopefully some Duggarlings are starting to drift away from robotically following the TTH ways when it comes to their own children . But TLC undoubtedly played a role in extending JB and M's noxious power further in time than it would otherwise have gone, so the next-generation breakaways are delayed in this family. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Churchhoney

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, laurakaye said:

I honestly don't know if this is real or a parody....

The post is a parody. The quotation is a real quotation but not from the "official" books of the Bible.

It's from one of the Gnostic Gospels, called the Gospel of Judas, one of the many other writings about Jesus created in the first few centuries AD, when many many interpretations of the new religion were floating around, and no power structure had yet come into place to pull together the books acceptable to them and then try to destroy all the others. 😈

The others got hidden by people in sects that embraced them and they've slowly crept back into the purview of historians and archaeologists. This quote comes from one that was fairly recently discovered and only translated from a Coptic dialect into English about 15 years ago. 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Churchhoney

[Minivanessa]

3 hours ago, floridamom said:

If their kids have to memorize scripture, why don't they give them pleasant, God-loving-us passages to memorize? Why all these horrible, vengeful God ones? I don't think it's healthy for a little child to hear those awful Old Testament versus let alone memorize them. These two are awful parents.

It's how they do it in their religion. The more legalistic and vengeful the verse, the better. These people are locked in battle with sin and Satan, 24/7/365, and can't let anyone forget it. [As I was writing this @Churchhoney explained it better.]

There used to be a video online, posted by the Duggars in Dec. 2015, called "Watch Josie recite her favorite bible verse!" [capitalization and punctuation in original; page is still there but not the actual video]. I's memorable to me because of how cringey it was. Josie was no more reciting than her mom was chugging beer. It was Josie spitting out a few words in a singsong voice, with Michelle then saying a few more words, and Josie repeating those words, and so forth until it reached a merciful end. I recall this video as showing Josie as a toddler, but the video was posted when she was six years old and I assume had been made shortly before posting.

And, what was her "favorite" verse? Psalms1:1-2 in of course the KJV:

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

I remember it so well because Josie was wriggling around, repeating the words after Michelle in kind of a singsong way, and when she said "sitteth in the seat of the scornful" she did it with IIRC some kind of almost bouncy motion and kind of a backbeat rhythm. Like she enjoyed the sound of that phrase.

I got zero sense from watching the video that Josie understood the verse she was parroting. I remember wondering at the time if the Duggars were so stupid as to believe that was the child's favorite Bible verse, or their fans were stupid enough to believe it was if the Duggars said so. 

Anyway, they gotta get those kids on the right path as early as possible.

[farmgal4]

12 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

She must’ve deleted this one.  I couldn’t find it on FB.  If Henry truly did say that, that’s sick IMO.  I mean, WTH are they teaching these kids?!

[Minivanessa]

3 minutes ago, farmgal4 said:

She must’ve deleted this one.  I couldn’t find it on FB.  If Henry truly did say that, that’s sick IMO.  I mean, WTH are they teaching these kids?!

See above. @Ohiopirate02 said it's a parody somebody posted on, I think, Reddit. I spotted it for a parody when I saw it but didn't know where it came from.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Jeeves

[GeeGolly]

Reading all that about Bible memorization makes me sad.

But on the other hand it makes me glad that my kids quoted Anne of Green Gables every night as my husband and/or I went down the stairs after tucking them in. 

We would ask them, "What kind of day will tomorrow be?" and they would answer, "A fresh day with no mistakes... yet".

To me that feels so much healthier, than the stuff the Duggar/Seewald children are forced to spout.