18 [sheltered, brainwashed & ignorant] Children and Counting

There are several hit "way-too-many-kids shows" on TLC currently.  The one I have the most issues with is also the largest family.  It's the documentary-style story of the Duggar family. Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar just had their EIGHTEENTH CHILD on December 18th, 2008 and I don't see them slowing down any time soon.  Here is their reasoning behind having all of the kids:  Michelle was on birth control when they first got married.  She stopped taking it so they could have their first child.  She resumed the birth control.  She then had a miscarriage.  Their Christian doctor told them that birth control posed a risk of miscarriage.  She stopped birth control and they decided to go about their business and allow the lord to decide when they should have children. Ok, so that's their choice to believe.  I don't have a problem with that.  It starts getting weird when you watch the show and see exactly how they are raising the children.  They home-school all of the children with a gentle mix of bible teachings and "regular" education.  This causes the kids to be sheltered from regular life and forced to be best friends with each other. The parents are very open about their conservative Christian values and beliefs.  I feel that they are sincere in the choices that they have made.  Things change when they show interviews of the kids.  You can tell that they have been deeply brainwashed.  They are asked a question and it's almost like their answers are being read from a script that has been ingrained in their mind since infancy. They act very strange too.  The boys all dress similar and the girls all dress similar.  As a cost-saving measure, the children cut each others hair (and hence, share the same hairstyles). From watching a few episodes of the show I catch a bad vibe about what will happen to these kids when they grow up and get out into the 'real world'.  Things can go very bad very quickly to someone that has been so sheltered.  All it would take is one of them to get into a bad situation later in life and not know what to do when someone hands them a shot glass or a joint.  In one episode the parents visited San Francisco and walked around with looks on their faces that made it seem like they were from the 1800's.  The father pointed to glass pipes in a head shop and said "That's some interesting glassware".  He had no idea what he was looking at. It's not all bad, though.  The family makes their money by owning some commercial property that they rent out.  They are obvious great teachers to the kids when it comes to making a good living.  They also do all of their clothes shopping at thrift stores.  These parts of the show are actually quite satisfying to watch.  Most things you see on TV show the average American family living above their means and running up credit card debt. This last part doesn't completely reverse the bad stuff.  I think they would be better off if they relaxed some of the rules and allowed the kids to attend public school.  They would get a good education and also be exposed to the stuff that kids need to be exposed to. [digg=http://digg.com/television/18_sheltered_brainwashed_ignorant_Children_and_Counting]