The Duggars and Their World: Fashion, Food, Finance, Schoolin’ and Child Rearin'

[GeeGolly]

It's cheaper? Really? All junk/convenience food here is much more expensive, despite the fact that it's basically made from utter crap. Interesting.

Mind you, since they put their barely teenage daughters onto cooking duty, what can you expect? They weren't taught anything real after all

Junk food is expensive, but for a full belly it is sometimes more expensive to eat healthy.

[kokapetl]

It's not necessarily cheaper than making stuff from scratch, at their local Walmart 5 pounds of generic tater tots is $4.50 and 5 pounds of potatoes is $2.80, but the tater tots don't need peeling, cutting etc, and the Duggars are too lazy to even wash plates, let alone peel enough potatoes to feed 20 people. Some processed food can actually be competitively priced with it's unprocessed counterpart if the manufacturer sources produce with blemishes etc, and some processed food can be competitive if the unprocessed ingredients are perishable or need to be refrigerated, and the processed product does not. USDA survey of prices for fresh, frozen and canned fruit and vegetables. Canned peas, 18 cents per serving, fresh peas 91 cents per serving, which sadly explains this:

Edited January 10, 2016 by Kokapetl

[SomePity1066]

MunichNark - I LOVE the conversation your questions sparked ! This gets to the heart and soul of why I find the Duggars so abhorrent...

In this country there is a great disparity of wages and food availability. People who struggle to make ends meet often live in what we call "food deserts", where the only option for food is to shop at a "mini-mart", where the prices are outrageously high, the selection is limited to junk food, processed crap, and candy, chips, etc. The alternative is to spend an hour - or two - on a bus to go to a "real" grocery store where they have fresh fruits and vegetables and more to offer than overly-salted, fat-laden, highly processed gas station fare. Its an untenable situation that the government here has tried to address repeatedly, but to no avail. Our political/agricultural/manufacturing lobbies are simply too strong to break the hold. Thus it's easier, and far, far cheaper, to buy a mass-marketed loaf of processed, starchy, sugary bread than it is to purchase a loaf of healthier grain or whole wheat. We're talking 75 cents versus four bucks or more. If you're poor, you make that choice because it's the only one you have.

Sorry for rambling, but THAT'S why I get so pissed off at the Duggars. They have everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - at their disposal to live and eat in a virtual Valhalla of healthy food ! They have the means, certainly - that TLC money wasn't small change ! They are millionaires, perhaps many times over, so cost shouldn't be an issue. If they want to penny-pinch by throwing shitty weddings and decorate their house like a Sears from 1985 exploded over their land then that's just fine with me, but to put the whole "buy used and save the difference" bullshit into place with the food they buy is just ridiculous. They are gambling with the health and nutrition of their children in order to save a buck.

They have the transportation and labor to buy what they SHOULD be buying ! There are, what ? TEN people in that house with a driver's license ? And a fleet of vehicles capable of large-haul grocery buys ? They are within a reasonable driving distance to many stores where they *could* buy healthy fare, but they choose instead to hunker down with their bomb shelter provisions on a daily basis. Once in a while they'd trot out some mini carrots or a spartan, limp-looking salad, but, for the most part, they reject "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" in favor of "Snap into a Slim-Jim !!!"

They also have the means and labor to create what could be a healthy, sustaining garden on the GIANT parcel of land they own. They did, of course, do an FU Internets episode a few years back where they *pretended* to care about creating a garden, but that was absolutely a one-off, and it disappeared by the very next week. So what is it that stops them from planting a few rows of corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, etc ?!

When I was a kid we planted just about anything we could successfully grow in a NE climate. More often than not we had so much we were actually GIVING it away by the end of the season - even with canning what we could for the fall and winter - and I was one of just TWO kids at home ! If we could make a good run of it with a very tiny backyard in a relatively urban setting with just two "workers", why in the Hell don't the Duggars exploit all the positives they have - means, labor, time, opportunity - to make a kick-ass garden that would actually *save* them money, and be healthy and nutritious to boot ?

I just don't know - this issue just infuriates me ! Like Kokpetl said, maybe it's just too haaaard, y'all, to actually peel potatoes. Can't cut into the time Jana spends being the SisterMomSlave to umpty-whatever number of siblings, of course, while Me-me-meChelle gets her Starbucks and treadmill on in her black tights and denim skirt...

Priorities, people. Priorities.

ETA: Yes, that is a child feeding a toddler cold peas directly from the can. Thank you for the picture, Kokapetl - it's worth a thousand words.

Edited January 10, 2016 by SomePity1066

[MunichNark]

Thanks for the link, that was interesting. I'm quite amazed at the amount of veggies that seem to be sold in tins :-) We don't have that huge a selection of tinned goods.

I agree, I just don't get it that they don't have a lovely fruit n veg garden. They have the space, they have enough indentured slaves, who could actually learn something and be given a work ethic. AND they would have the best possible produce, fresh and healthy.

Feeding a child cold tinned peas is just...........blah.

We don't experience that food desert syndrome much if at all here, I suppose. It's never that far from a supermarket or Farmer's Market. Those kind of expensive wee shops are corner shops here. But the Duggars live near a town, don't they and I believe I've even seen an Aldi there. Not known for the best products, but still.......

[Barb23]

Didn't MEchelle say on the episode where some of the kids went grape picking, that fresh fruit was something they didn't get often? Because of cost? I'm sure that's true cuz whenever they showed them eating fruit, they were all over it like they hadn't had it for months & it was a real treat. Even when they were eating the tart grapes in that episode.

Of course in newer episodes they had the FU internet moments showing fruit platters at different functions. Even one of the Lost girls "chose" to have fruit for her birthday instead of cake.

[queenanne]

Didn't MEchelle say on the episode where some of the kids went grape picking, that fresh fruit was something they didn't get often? Because of cost? I'm sure that's true cuz whenever they showed them eating fruit, they were all over it like they hadn't had it for months & it was a real treat. Even when they were eating the tart grapes in that episode.

Of course in newer episodes they had the FU internet moments showing fruit platters at different functions. Even one of the Lost girls "chose" to have fruit for her birthday instead of cake.

Whether habit or real penny pinching poverty, I think it is ingrained - I seem to remember someone cheerfully trying to make it sound like "fun", or healthy weight loss or savings, that sometimes, for meals the kids get to eat a whole yogurt apiece! for lunch!

Even if you don't want to take the time to eat or cook fresh, there's really no excuse for sticking your tender childrens' growing bodies with canned veg. With the recent leaps-and-bounds advances in "flash freezing" technology, you can get frozen veg with only slightly less nutritional life force than fresh.

[mbutterfly]

Tater tots are like chicken nuggets, they're made out of tiny bits of potato/chicken that are left over from the manufacture of more lucrative chicken/potato products. Ground turkey is made from excess turkey, the parts that aren't more valuable and sellable white breast meat. Prepared food is readily available to the Duggars, but prepared food made out of what's left over from the manufacture of other prepared food is cheaper, and that's why they choose it.

There's chicken in tator tots? I didn't know that. I thought it was just tator.

[GeeGolly]

Thanks for the link, that was interesting. I'm quite amazed at the amount of veggies that seem to be sold in tins :-) We don't have that huge a selection of tinned goods.

I agree, I just don't get it that they don't have a lovely fruit n veg garden. They have the space, they have enough indentured slaves, who could actually learn something and be given a work ethic. AND they would have the best possible produce, fresh and healthy.

Feeding a child cold tinned peas is just...........blah.

We don't experience that food desert syndrome much if at all here, I suppose. It's never that far from a supermarket or Farmer's Market. Those kind of expensive wee shops are corner shops here. But the Duggars live near a town, don't they and I believe I've even seen an Aldi there. Not known for the best products, but still.......

This says its from last year. Don't recall seeing on TV.

http://www.duggarfamilyblog.com/2014/05/duggars-plant-garden.html

[kokapetl]

Thanks for the link, that was interesting. I'm quite amazed at the amount of veggies that seem to be sold in tins :-) We don't have that huge a selection of tinned goods.

I agree, I just don't get it that they don't have a lovely fruit n veg garden. They have the space, they have enough indentured slaves, who could actually learn something and be given a work ethic. AND they would have the best possible produce, fresh and healthy.

Feeding a child cold tinned peas is just...........blah.

We don't experience that food desert syndrome much if at all here, I suppose. It's never that far from a supermarket or Farmer's Market. Those kind of expensive wee shops are corner shops here. But the Duggars live near a town, don't they and I believe I've even seen an Aldi there. Not known for the best products, but still.......

Food Deserts are more of an inability to access supermarkets, they're more a feature of poor urban areas, where there's low levels of car ownership, and lots of convenient fast food, and to a lesser extent some remote rural areas, where people do own cars, but live quite far away from supermarkets. None of that applies to the Duggars. They've always had cars, they've always shopped at supermarkets and larger discount club warehouses. The cost and limited ability to cook for twenty in a normal home kitchen could justify what they ate and cooked in the pre TLC days, but they've now got a huge kitchen full of commercial grade ranges, ovens, refrigerators and plenty of workspace, plus a "pretty" domestic style kitchen with twice as many ovens, stoves and microwaves as a normal home kitchen.

[BOOgen3]

Tater Tots by Ore-Ida ingredient deck:

INGREDIENTS:

POTATOES, VEGETABLE OIL (SUNFLOWER, COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN, AND/OR CANOLA), SALT, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, ONIONS, DEXTROSE, DISODIUM DIHYDROGEN PYROPHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVORING.

[JennyMominFL]

White cake and yellow cake are different. Yellow cake has egg yoked and all purpose flour. White cake has only egg whites and cake flour. I love white cake. Not so much with yellow.

That's the american version. For Brits here it tastes sort of like the yellow portion in a Battenburg cake.

And now I want Battenburg

Edited January 10, 2016 by JennyMominFL

[MunichNark]

Here you go my dear ;-)))

http://www.mrkipling.co.uk/MrKipling/media/Images/Products/Large%20Cakes/hero-largecakes-battenberg.png?width=522&height=300&ext=.png

I see. Infrastructure here is somewhat different of course, with public transport and all, you would be able to get yourself to a supermarket. We do have a lot of smaller shops still that sell fruit n veg.

Aye, I remember then supposedly planting a garden, but that takes discipline and perseverance, none of which the Duggars possess. And since Ma n Pa are more interested in travelling to and fro, it falls by the wayside

[kokapetl]

Here you go my dear ;-)))

http://www.mrkipling.co.uk/MrKipling/media/Images/Products/Large%20Cakes/hero-largecakes-battenberg.png?width=522&height=300&ext=.png

I see. Infrastructure here is somewhat different of course, with public transport and all, you would be able to get yourself to a supermarket. We do have a lot of smaller shops still that sell fruit n veg.

Aye, I remember then supposedly planting a garden, but that takes discipline and perseverance, none of which the Duggars possess. And since Ma n Pa are more interested in travelling to and fro, it falls by the wayside

I live in Australia, and I've travelled recently to the United State and to the UK. I found American supermarkets (Publix) to be bigger than Australian supermarkets, with much more choice of products, but the food they sold was largely similar to Australia, and the heat and eat food they sell is frozen, same as in Australia. The heat and eat food sold in British supermarkets was refrigerated, not frozen, and perished within 4 days. European supermarkets seem to be more focused on, or at least accommodating of consumers who are limited to buying what they can carry in their hands, but shop more frequently. Australian and American supermarkets are more focused on consumers who fill entire shopping carts and are limited only by what they can fit in their car, and shop less frequently as a result.

Would this be able to supply food for twenty people?

Is Bentonville's climate even hospitable enough? The average lows for December, January and February, in Bentonville, are below zero (c°), and lower than the average lows for Hamburg and Stuttgart. The local agricultural industry is focused on orchard fruit, viticulture, and battery hens.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Kokapetl

[Absolom]

The growing season in Arkansas goes from spring through fall.  March through October is definitely warm enough for many crops.  There isn't much gardening in the winter.

[Muffyn]

MunichNark, American cakes are typically what are known as butter cakes. They are meant to be light and fluffy. As JennyMomInFL said, a white cake only includes egg whites. A basic butter cake includes flour, sugar, butter, leavening (usually baking powder), whole eggs (unless it is a white cake in which case it has egg whites only), salt, flavoring. There are many variations and additions that can be made. The recipe that the person made uses a boxed cake mix which has many other things in it to keep the mixture from clumping together and creates a stable shelf life. Boxed cake mixes tend to be sweeter than homemade cakes.

The Duggars choose to use prepackaged ingredients. They have many options. Laziness wins out. On the occasions we have seen a salad it is usually from a bag. I was actually pleased to see that Jessa and Jill had actual fresh fruit and vegetables on their specials. Their husbands were most likely raised with much healthier food choices.

[Churchhoney]

Is Bentonville's climate even hospitable enough? The average lows for December, January and February, in Bentonville, are below zero (c°), and lower than the average lows for Hamburg and Stuttgart. The local agricultural industry is focused on orchard fruit, viticulture, and battery hens.

I grew up with a massive vegetable and berry garden in a place where the average HIGHS -- not even lows -- dipped from just above zero C to a bit below if from late November through February. We grew just about every vegetable imaginable and not infrequently picked second-crop red raspberries into late November. The Arkansas climate isn't an issue. .... I don't think they have great soil in many places. But you can fix that with composting and getting manure from neighboring farmers and the like.

It's just the usual Duggar problem. They're lazy, they're dumb, they don't care.

Is Bentonville's climate even hospitable enough? The average lows for December, January and February, in Bentonville, are below zero (c°), and lower than the average lows for Hamburg and Stuttgart. The local agricultural industry is focused on orchard fruit, viticulture, and battery hens.

I grew up with a massive vegetable and berry garden in a place where the average HIGHS -- not even lows -- dipped from just above zero C to a bit below if from late November through February. We grew just about every vegetable imaginable and not infrequently picked second-crop red raspberries into late November. The Arkansas climate isn't an issue. .... I don't think they have great soil in many places. But you can fix that with composting and getting manure from neighboring farmers and the like.

It's just the usual Duggar problem. They're lazy, they're dumb, they don't care.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Churchhoney

[mbutterfly]

I live in Australia, and I've travelled recently to the United State and to the UK. I found American supermarkets (Publix) to be bigger than Australian supermarkets, with much more choice of products, but the food they sold was largely similar to Australia, and the heat and eat food they sell is frozen, same as in Australia. The heat and eat food sold in British supermarkets was refrigerated, not frozen, and perished within 4 days. European supermarkets seem to be more focused on, or at least accommodating of consumers who are limited to buying what they can carry in their hands, but shop more frequently. Australian and American supermarkets are more focused on consumers who fill entire shopping carts and are limited only by what they can fit in their car, and shop less frequently as a result.

Would this be able to supply food for twenty people?

Is Bentonville's climate even hospitable enough? The average lows for December, January and February, in Bentonville, are below zero (c°), and lower than the average lows for Hamburg and Stuttgart. The local agricultural industry is focused on orchard fruit, viticulture, and battery hens.

I've never understood why they didn't garden. It would have given them some seasonal story bits with the older children. It would have looked so wholesome. Even if they hired help to actually maintain. We have almost the same temperature climate in southern Indiana. The low is 26 F in December which is very typical of most of the midwestern states. All these states are good for vegetable gardening. In fact some root vegetables survive and can be dug even at freezing (turnips, for example). 

[kokapetl]

Food Deserts are more of an inability to access supermarkets, they're more a feature of poor urban areas, where there's low levels of car ownership, and lots of convenient fast food, and to a lesser extent some remote rural areas, where people do own cars, but live quite far away from supermarkets. None of that applies to the Duggars. They've always had cars, they've always shopped at supermarkets and larger discount club warehouses. The cost and limited ability to cook for twenty in a normal home kitchen could justify what they ate and cooked in the pre TLC days, but they've now got a huge kitchen full of commercial grade ranges, ovens, refrigerators and plenty of workspace, plus a "pretty" domestic style kitchen with twice as many ovens, stoves and microwaves as a normal home kitchen.

http://youtu.be/OzTkEqXSvjQ

And here's a good look at the pretty kitchen, with counters long enough for kids to sprint on.

[NikSac]

There's chicken in tator tots? I didn't know that. I thought it was just tator.

 

I've never seen tots that contain chicken. Doesn't mean they don't exist but I think they're usually just potato. (well and preservatives and such,  but no meat)

[kokapetl]

There's chicken in tator tots? I didn't know that. I thought it was just tator.

There's no chicken in tater tots, the source of the chicken used for chicken nuggets is merely similar to the source of potatoes used for tater tots, they're both made out of scraps of food left over from, or unusable in the manufacture of more valuable processed foods.

[MarysWetBar]

And here's a good look at the pretty kitchen, with counters long enough for kids to sprint on.

http://youtu.be/mcZotcR4xjo

I have to be honest. Watching that clip, I was waiting hopefully for MEchelle to get brained by that big spoon when the boys were fighting over it.

Also loved her subtle switching of the word slave to disciple. GOLD, Jerry! GOLD!

Edited January 10, 2016 by MarysWetBar

[SomePity1066]

I have to be honest. Watching that clip, I was waiting hopefully for MEchelle to get brained by that big spoon when the boys were fighting over it.

Also loved her subtle switching of the word slave to disciple. GOLD, Jerry! GOLD!

The whole thing just made me nervous, because the best place for two young boys to have some wrestling adventures is, of course, standing on stools in front of a hot stove with two pots of boiling whatever on them ! Jeez ! And Michelle looked pretty glazed-over, didn't she ? Her reaction times were...poor, to say the least, and it looked like she was moving underwater. I've said it before - if I didn't know better, I'd think Michelle was the biggest pothead this side of Willie Nelson.

 

And she actually said she wants her children to be her "disciples". DISCIPLES ?!? Oh, my God - who talks like that ???

 

Jesus talks like that. Take it down a notch, Xanax Stare. 

[JoanArc]

Michelle was already replaced in the kitchen, about 20 years ago.

[Churchhoney]

I have to be honest. Watching that clip, I was waiting hopefully for MEchelle to get brained by that big spoon when the boys were fighting over it.

 

 

In Michelle's case, though, it'd probably more like just getting hit in the head.

[Muffyn]

And here's a good look at the pretty kitchen, with counters long enough for kids to sprint on.

In their defense, if they use all of that counter space for food prep, poor Josie will have to lick it all clean.  That poor child's tongue would be raw.  

[Guest]

I can't believe that I'm defending the Duggars (ugh!), but they live literally across the street from a landfill. There have been documented issues with methane gas and other chemicals seeping into the groundwater surrounding the landfill, so if I were them, I wouldn't grow a garden in that soil either. No one likes radioactive cabbage. 

 

That being said, I do agree that their diet has more garbage in it than the nearby landfill...

[Churchhoney]

I can't believe that I'm defending the Duggars (ugh!), but they live literally across the street from a landfill. There have been documented issues with methane gas and other chemicals seeping into the groundwater surrounding the landfill, so if I were them, I wouldn't grow a garden in that soil either. No one likes radioactive cabbage. 

 

That being said, I do agree that their diet has more garbage in it than the nearby landfill...

 

This is a good point.

 

Except that I doubt it's the reason why the Duggars don't have a garden! lol   Because that would require, you know, logic. And a concern for food sanitation. ha

 

Just remembered, too, that somebody's recently paid them to graze cows on their land (maybe temporarily), right?  So -- good thinking, Arkansas small farmer. Guess landfill milk is okay!

Edited January 11, 2016 by Churchhoney

[Catlyn]

 

I've never understood why they didn't garden. It would have given them some seasonal story bits with the older children. It would have looked so wholesome. Even if they hired help to actually maintain. We have almost the same temperature climate in southern Indiana. The low is 26 F in December which is very typical of most of the midwestern states. All these states are good for vegetable gardening. In fact some root vegetables survive and can be dug even at freezing (turnips, for example).

They also have the land and money for green houses. IF they had put any energy into that, they could also start a gardening center. Small at first. I've known some pretty small ones in rural Virginia, but they made enough money to be comfortable. But, they would have to learn to garden, and Michelle would learn, yes, you can have too many flowers. You have to thin the beds so the flowers have room enough to grow and blossom! No thin and weedy flowers in a tended bed!

[JoanArc]

They had a greenhouse. It went to the place family pets, accusations of sexual wrongdoing, and ex-courtship partners go.

http://www.duggarfamilyblog.com/2013/04/recap.html

 

 

The middle boys build a greenhouse in the Duggars' backyard, while Jim Bob and Josh set up a home gym in one of Jim Bob's storage sheds. The rest of the family comes by to help clean up and make motivational posters.

[Barb23]

It's a shame they can't even throw some tomato & pepper seeds/plants in pots & grow them. Maybe their new teacher, Miss Tabitha, could incorporate it into a science lesson or two.

[JoanArc]

It's a shame they can't even throw some tomato & pepper seeds/plants in pots & grow them. Maybe their new teacher, Miss Tabitha, could incorporate it into a science lesson or two.

She's busy teaching lessons about how good it is to be single. Jana's her best student!

[Darknight]

I doubt the girls have ever visited a gynecologist. Sadly, we have a family friend who died of ovarian cancer at just 24. The Duggars probably think yearly exams are for the Godless jezebels who have sex before marriage.

What if something is wrong down there and a doc has to look?

[lookeyloo]

What if something is wrong down there and a doc has to look?

Are female doctors allowed or this also considered taboo?

[Wellfleet]

What if something is wrong down there and a doc has to look?

 

They pray it away. Or - actively implement the Denial cure. Nothing to see here, let's move things along, folks...

[Vaysh]

It's a shame they can't even throw some tomato & pepper seeds/plants in pots & grow them. Maybe their new teacher, Miss Tabitha, could incorporate it into a science lesson or two.

 

Well they are obviously throwing some seeds/plants into... whatever that thing is. I can't say I know much about gardening, I usually stick to whatever I can grow in pots, but I've never come across that particular way of planting things. It's like a mini-mountain range with sticks on top. Is it the Duggar version of raised bed gardening? Only without the actual bed? Are they trying to keep their future veg away from the possibly contaminated landfill dirt? Are they too lazy to dig? Is this a perfectly common way to plant things in the US and I've just missed any references to it? One picture, so many questions...

[kokapetl]

Denim, in some form: CHECK✔️

[Churchhoney]

Denim, in some form: CHECK✔️

 

Sometimes I'm surprised they didn't name one of the kids  J'Levi.

[Tabbygirl521]

Sometimes I'm surprised they didn't name one of the kids J'Levi.

Jeanjacket

[louannems]

A half can of AquaNet. √

Edited January 12, 2016 by louannems

[Churchhoney]

Jeanjacket

 

J'Levi and Jeanjacket. The twins.

[MarysWetBar]

Baby Dugg side-eyeing vegetables? CHECK ✔

[scriggle]

J'Levi and Jeanjacket. The twins.

 

J'Levi, Jeanjacket, and J'Wrangler,  The triplets.

[SomePity1066]

Gah ! And who eats/feeds directly from a can ?!?! Old timey cartoon hobos, that's who ! 

 

Not blaming Jana on that account, though - that one has Michelle written all over it. 

[Tabbygirl521]

"Old timey cartoon hobos" = me dying laughing. The lid, with jaggedly edges all around, still attached to the can. Argh!

[SinInTheCamp]

Older daughter on childcare and kitchen duty: CHECK

Daddy-Likes-Long-Hair: CHECK

Blouse oh-so-modestly buttoned to the larnyx: CHECK

Crucifix Necklace on display: CHECK

And, finally, Purity Ring in place : CHECK

Yep, she's a female Duggarette, poor thing.

 

Yes to all of this! But I must mention that she's not wearing a crucifix, just a plain cross. Crucifixes are for heathen, idolatry-loving Catholics, don't you know. Good, righteous J'Christians wear civilized and proper symbols of torture and death as adornment. /s

[kokapetl]

Sometimes I'm surprised they didn't name one of the kids J'Levi.

That's Jackson Levi eating those cold canned peas.

[SomePity1066]

"Old timey cartoon hobos" = me dying laughing. The lid, with jaggedly edges all around, still attached to the can. Argh!

http://www.webcomicalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/spork_n_beans.jpg

 

Poor Little Jackson in 20 years...

[GeeGolly]

http://www.webcomicalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/spork_n_beans.jpg

 

Poor Little Jackson in 20 years...

All long as he is proselytizing all will be okay. He's got 3 targets behind him.

[JennyMominFL]

A cross is just a cross.. A crucifix has a dead body on it. I still have nightmares of my childhood, of staring at dead Jesus, on a cross.

[JennyMominFL]

Well, as a Catholic, on Good Friday, my church would bring out a big cross and we would be given  nails to go put in the cross. This was to remind us that our sin was in part, responsible for Jesus's death. Very family friendly.