Thursday, April 22, 2010

Duggar Safety: We Never Had Helmets and We're Still Alive

The constant complainers always bring up safety in the Duggar home. Why doesn't Michelle stop the kids from....being kids? Either these commenters don't have little boys, are totally over-protective, or just have an incessant need to complain about Michelle and will pick any and everything they can.

Little boys play and little boys play hard--that's their job. According to the Duggar interview section on the show only 1 broken (arm?) bone has been had and that was from (i think) falling out of a tree. Seems about right for a boy doesn't it, I mean it's not out of the ordinary--or at least it wasn't before all kids began playing indoors and playing meant sitting in front of a tv with a video game console in front of them or a computer screen glued to their face. The general viewing public is a viewing public that changed with the times--their kids no longer play like Opie and Beaver Cleaver--that is outside with wagons and basketballs and baseballs--kids today aren't satisfied with the simpler toys of yesteryear, while the Duggars, who aren't bombarded with media advertising the latest greatest videogames ARE satisfied with playing outside with swings, homemade forts, scooters, treehouses, and in general, old-fashioned fun that we, in our 40s-50s used to do when we were kids.

For those of us in that generation--now in our 40s and 50s, who had bikes and maybe skateboards---we didn't have helmets or safety gear--the Duggar kids do. We also didn't grow up with seatbelts and car seats--the Duggar kids do. I never lived in a house with an upstairs, but I can bet if I did I'd have played on the steps just like they do--be happy it's carpeted! I'm sure those of us who DID have stairs played on them as well. Who HASN'T riden down a stair handrail at least once in their life?

Frankly, I don't think it's necessary for Michelle or Jim Bob to interfere when the kids get into a scramble every time. At some point they do need to learn to mediate these things themselves. I was very impressed when Jill mediated the spat with Hannah and Jackson (?). Some will say Jill was doing the "mothering" again, but no, she was being a sister--in large families you do learn from your siblings--the good and the bad and it was great to see that a) Jackson didn't retaliate and b) Jill taught her sister that she needed to apologize. Learning that from a sister and not a mother is sometimes a better thing---we always hear things from our moms when we are little, but hearing them from a sister--wow, that's almost like a heroine you want to look up to someday.

And one other thing--they do live in a more rural setting. Like it or not, country kids play differently than city kids. You have the freedom of space, you have the freedom of autonomy, and you have a different lifestyle in general.

4 comments:

  1. I SO agree! That's just how country kids play. I bet they sleep better at night. Fresh air is so much better than playing inside with video games. Then again...video games are ok for a rainy day.

    It's good to see a tantrum or fit every now and then. Hannah and Jackson are so close in age. They appear to get along most of the time. Little kids are going to have their "issues". I bet Jessa and Jinger had a few spats when they were little.

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  2. My biggest issue with their safety is around power tools and earth movers.

    Hades I was Johannh growing up, and I broke my elbow (it was a neat trick not the ARM but the ELBOW). I cracked my head open 5 times between the ages of 3 and 15, I've had more total stitches than I care to count currently. I survived too LOL.

    BUT when they are using power tools I do seriously wish some one would just walk up to those girls and tie that hair back, or put a safety harness on the boys hanging off the scissors lift. There is ONE shot of a bunch of the kids and Dad riding in the front scoop of an earth mover... Much as I love the Duggars THAT WAS INSANE!!!! had ONE of them fallen off they would have been seriously hurt or killed before they could get the machine stopped, and backed off.

    Playing cowboys and Indians, and climbing the outside of stair railings is completely different in my book and is just "kids being kids" and just fine with me LOL, well that and grateful I didn't have camera's following ME when I was little... I wasn't allowed in most of the places I got hurt in LOL.... prolly why I was never supposed to be there to begin with.

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  3. I am full of admiration for Michelle and Jim Bob keeping their cool and not projecting any fears or anxieties onto the kids. Their way of handling them obviously has rubbed off on those older ones, allowing them to be able to gently mediate a little spat.
    Allowing children to be natural, innocent children is just one of the most refreshing sights.
    I agree that hair protected whilst using drills would be recommended though!
    My girls are just like Johanna (sp) and love watching this family. The only time they pause in their tree climbing, make believe, running around, noisy play.
    The Duggars have a wonderful garden (back home I mean) with lots to do and a choice of playmates. They have a great life and they live it to the max.

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  4. I agree that kids need to be kids, and that the toys of today can't compare to the toys of yesteryear/Duggar toys...combined with a little imagination, nothing beats that!

    I think my biggest gripe though is their failure to use safety gear. When they have shown the kids using power tools (like when doing the Bates' addition), NO ONE WAS WEARING SAFETY GOGGLES OR GLASSES! You ALWAYS wear them when working with wood on a chop saw! If you hit a knot by accident, it flies out and you lose an eye! Having a fiance who does carpentry for his hobby, I hear about it all the time that they Duggars need to learn some safety skills, and I am inclined to agree. Pull the hair back, put on safety goggles and hard hats, and wear a safety belt when in a bucket. It's just common sense!

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