The Duggars, SERIOUSLY, you're kidding right?

I have been sitting on this unpublished Hub for over a year now. Every time I have tried to write it, I end up flabbergasted. I love the word flabbergasted because it does not get used much and it congers up images of a crazed woman trying to go two directions at once. When I think of the Duggars, I am flabbergasted!

20 and counting, minus 1. Yes Michelle Duggard suffered a miscarriage. I am conflicted. On one hand sorry to hear this, a loss of a child is heartbreaking. I know. I suffered 4 miscarriages between my oldest and youngest children (however, I only have 2 children). On the other hand, I feel a certain sense of relief since there will not be another neglected, attention starved child added to the bulging Duggar families' herd.

I can only watch this show during periods of insomnia, which by the way, does not help me to sleep because so much of what takes place on 19 and Counting troubles me. It angers me. It saddens me. It just plain disgusts me! These poor children are being brought up with little attention paid to their emotional well being. The younger ones struggle for mom and dad's attention. The older ones are put into service as free child care givers losing any part of teenager-hood which should be a carefree time of gradual freedom to transition into the burdens of adulthood.

Watching the Duggars brings to mind the old saying "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should". God gave women millions of eggs and men millions of sperm, NOT because you should strive to fertilize all of them but because He wanted to insure the human race had plenty of chances to procreate in an imperfect World. Let's face it, if you have ever watch PBS and the film on conception, you know how the odds are stacked against any egg ever getting fertilized!

I find it disgusting the Duggars forbid their children to watch "evil television" and then make millions by being on television. What message are they sending to their children? I think a very mixed one. The Duggars are a contradiction and I have a hard time understanding how being on TV is better than watching TV . I can only imagine the confusion of their children.

The Duggars have their defenders. Just check youtube.com and you will find an infinite amount of videos supporting the Duggars. One in particular went as far to say anyone who disagrees or finds issue with having so many children is an atheist and compares having children to inanimate objects such as "having too many cars" and states emphatically, there is never "too many". Of course the speaker of that particular video is a man. I would love to hear his opinions once he grows a uterus and has it stretched over his swelled head a few times or suffers the joys of everlasting incontinence from a bladder grown large from pregnancy. I bet his tune would change. More children? "no thanks, twos my limit!"

For the record: I do believe in Jesus Christ. I believe God created us in His image (and gave us intelligence with common sense). A parent's duty is to instill love, discipline, values and nurture a child's ability to grow and develop reasoning skills. There is no way a parent can be a star of a reality show and provide adequate attention and child rearing to 19 children! I do not care what spin fanatics try to put on the Duggars parenting skills--there's just NO way!

When I was growing up in the 1970s the average kid family was 4. I was number 3 out of 3. My friends who were in families of 4 seemed chaotic when you added 2 parents as everything was (and still is) geared toward the family of 4.

I did have a friend who was from a family of 13. He was number 8. I remember my friend was always impressed with my family when he was invited to dinner. His family never sat at the table all together. Dinner was buffet-style. My friend did not participate in any extra circular activities like baseball because his mom had her hands full caring for the smaller children and his dad worked 12 hours a day. No one could pick him up from any activities nor did he have anyway to get there. Safety was another issue too.

One time my friend's baby brother was burned by a pot on the stove. My friend said he found his brother screaming and with horrible burns on his face. The child had apparently grabbed a pot cooking on the stove and the hot contents spilled on him. My friend ran to find his mother, whom he found in the middle of breast feeding another baby. When he tried to tell his mom that his brother was hurt, she shooed him away saying "not now". By the time he was able to get his mother's attention, his baby brother's burns were blistering. The child suffered from 3rd degree burns and was scarred. Imagine adding 6 more children to the mix!

My problem with the Duggars is their believability (yeah, I know that's probably not a word). I don't believe them. They profess God has instructed them to have many and multiple. It sounds to me like a distortion of the Word. If the Duggars truly believe they are missionaries for God as parents, why not adopt a few of the thousands of parent-less children God already created?

The Duggars look to me to be a family ripe for the show "Intervention" as they sorely need an intervention into this obsession of mindlessly and carelessly bring children into this World. The Duggars do not seem to care about the future or realize their own mortality. The babies they produce now, they may never live long enough to see them grow into adults. If the Duggars do manage to live long enough to see their children have children, I cannot blame the Duggars if burn-out hits them and they have little desire to be involved grandparents, or maybe they will if there's a reality show contract in the works.

I do not like the message 19 and Counting is sending to the World. Actually, I am not sure exactly what their point is in airing this show other than the Duggars appear to be more like circus freaks than anythings else. I do not like the factory production of children nor the marketing of the Duggar children as if they were "product" to sell their crappy reality show.

My womb is not a breeding farm. Thank you very much!