What to Know
There are a lot of things that Duggar critics accuse parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of and, a lot of time, those criticisms include commentary about the couple’s parenting style. They raised their kids largely on reality TV through 19 Kids and Counting for several years before its cancellation. But their practices, including using a “buddy system” to have older kids help care for younger children, modesty standards, and a religion-based homeschool curriculum were often called into question.
Now, there is a renewed criticism for Michelle in particular after daughter Jigner Duggar admitted to seeking out friendships and mentor relationships with older women. She discussed the topic on her podcast, The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, with her sister, Joy-Anna Duggar. They also spoke about friendships in general and how growing up the way they did helped or hindered making friendships outside of sibling relationships.
Jinger Duggar said she looks for mentor relationships with older women.
In the podcast episode, Jinger is pretty honest about how she views friendships with other women, particularly older women now that she is an adult herself. She mentions an “older mentor” who has been helpful for her to know while living in California, far from her family in Arkansas.
“There’s a couple that I’m thinking of that are not in the season with kids and so they already they’ve had kids, or they are beyond, that and it’s really sweet because then I’m like it feels
Like a godly older mentor,” she says. “Not old, but older, mentor and that’s also helpful for me, especially living away from family and working through a lot of things like that. It’s been helpful for me to have the wisdom and the care.”
She also notes the “trustworthiness” of having a friendship like that, which Joy-Anna agrees is important for her too. They want friendships without gossip and false pretences, which, OK, is understandable. But what some took away from the episode was what Jinger says about having an older female mentor who is also “godly.” In other words, Michelle 2.0. At least, according to some.
Duggar family critics blame Michelle Duggar.
In a Reddit post where a user focused on Jinger’s comments about having an older female mentor in her life, users began to address what they might mean for Jinger’s relationship with Michelle. While none of the adult Duggar kids have publicly said anything overtly negative about Michelle specifically, it’s no secret to those who have followed the Duggar family for years that it is almost impossible for Michelle and Jim Bob to have a close relationship with their entire brood.
Now, Jinger’s comments point to that in an even harsher light.
“The environment she grew up in did not allow her to have much time and emotional support from her mother,” a user wrote in the comments. “With that amount of kids, there is no way there was enough time (or enough meech) to provide the emotional involvement that she needed. She learned to find it elsewhere.”
Someone else commented, “I think this isn’t unusual. My parents are difficult to say the least and I have turned to older people for advice. I’ve had older male friends or even my boss who I go to for car or home problems. I have a couple older female friends and have gone to them with parent problems.”
Joy Duggar said she didn’t know what friendship was until she was married.
Perhaps also because of the environment that the Duggar kids grew up in, they found it hard to make friends outside of their sibling friendships. That might not be the case for all of them, of course. However, Joy says in the same podcast episode that she didn’t know she needed real friends until after she was married. She says that she realized she needed “people besides just a sibling.”
She also admits that husband Austin Forsyth helped her “grow up” when they got married and she was “glued to his hip.” That also speaks to the kind of friendships and relationships that the adult Duggar kids had once they left home. It could be another product of the parenting style and, really, lifestyle they dealt with under Jim Bob and Michelle’s roof.
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