I think that I have mentioned my love for “The Duggars: 20 and Counting,” by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, about 17,345 times in the past couple of weeks, and I thought I’d better get all my thoughts about it out of my system in one post because otherwise I will be talking about it for another year and a half, so here we go.
I cam across the book in our local Christian book store. I was starting to freak out about having the responsibility of raising a person, and since I totally and completely respect the way their children behave and act on tv, I thought it couldn’t hurt to purchase the book. They just fascinate me. Anyone who has multitudes of well-behaved children, an organized home and home-schooling routine, and is living virtually debt-free has my complete awe and respect forever.
I didn’t go into the book with any preconceived expectations; I simply thought it would be interesting to learn a little bit about Jim Bob and Michelle, maybe read a little how they came to have so many kids, and how they manage…well, everything.
The first four chapters went into their backgrounds and history as a family…all very interesting. I breezed through those first chapters, but then made myself slow down once I got to chapter 5, which is titled, “Training and Correcting Little Ones.”
If I can be half the mom that Michelle Duggar is, I will consider myself successful. She is just so stinking patient. Jon is always telling me to be more patient. I fully recognize that I have leaps and bounds to go before I could ever be considered a patient person. Something about Michelle Duggar just inspires me to try harder. You can feel her calmness, sweetness, gentleness, and even godliness oozing from the pages of this book. In chapter 5, she includes this quote from Margaret Sangster: “To keep one’s voice sweet, one’s face bright, one’s will steady, one’s patience unperturbed, in the arena of the home, in the light of one’s own family, is no light task.” I love that. Here are a few key quotes from Michelle in this chapter:
- As we started our family, we did a lot of talking together and praying for God’s direction in establishing our philosophy of parenting. I was selective in the books I read, seeking ideas from experienced parents and Christian authors we respect. I shared what I learned with Jim Bob, and we prayed about those ideas and decided on what we believed to be the biblical model for out family.
- We’ve learned that consistency (WOTY!) is one of the most important tools of correction. It makes life much easier when our children know we will be consistent in enforcing the rules, especially the first and most important rule: obeying Mommy and Daddy.
- Another important character quality we want to instill in our children is self-control, and we begin that training early in their lives with something we call “blanket time.” (I cannot wait to try this! It is so simple and brilliant, and this section alone was worth buying the book for.)
- Children learn fastest when training is continual and consequences are consistent. We try our best not to be constantly saying don’t, don’t, don’t. Instead we work hard at focusing on the behavior we expect, and we explain what the consequences will be if that doesn’t happen.
Chapter 6 has just as much helpful parenting info, but I think I’ll just let you read it and absorb it on your own, if you’re interested (and I hope you are, because it is good stuff!). I underlined lots…and lots…and lots.
Chapter 7 is all about organization, such as the tip that I mentioned last week about labeling storage boxes. Tons of good, useful, practical info in this chapter. Michelle includes thrifty recipes for homemade laundry soap and baby wipes, and also provides info on how to better manage money. She also talks quite a bit about their homeschooling routines. Some quotes from this chapter:
- Homes need almost as much storage space as living space. My goal has always been to keep most things like toys, games, books, and equipment out of sight and out of reach but easy to access.
- If you’re busy, make it a goal to work for just 15 minutes at a time. It can be overwhelming if you think you have to organize a whole room at once, but knowing you’re just going to work at it for 15 minutes makes it seem more doable. (I’ve started doing this and it has completely been a success at our house. Totally works.)
- Our main educational goal is to give them as much knowledge and as many skills as possible to prepare them for adult life.
And finally, chapter 8 is all about the process of designing, building and organizing their current home, which is 7,000 square feet. They even included a floor plan showing the layout of their home. Super interesting. Makes me want to have 18 kids of my own. Almost.
Oh, and at the end they list a ton of resources (books and websites) that they use and/or recommend on a variety of topics, from cookbooks to homeschooling resources to other various family resources.
I paid $17 for this book at our local Christian bookstore, but you can find it at christianbook.com for $13.99. (Not sure about shipping costs.) Or you can buy it as an ebook for $12.99..but I prefer to have books like this in print so that I can mark it up and make notes and such in it.
If you just want a little more info about the Duggars, you can check out their family website. Lots of good info, parenting tips and resources there, too.
As soon as I finished this book, I started reading it again. And I’ll probably keep reading it over and over until the baby comes. That’s how much I loved it. If you check it out, I hope you like it, too! Let me know!
