Is Michelle Duggar Placing Too Heavy Of A Workload On 7-Year-Old Jordyn And Her Other Children?
Michelle Duggar’s second-youngest child just celebrated her seventh birthday, and Michelle marked Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar’s big milestone by revealing that the little girl has some very odd hobbies for a seven-year-old.
On Friday, Michelle Duggar posted a birthday message for Jordyn on the Duggar Family Official Facebook page, and what Michelle had to say saddened a few of her family’s Facebook followers. Michelle Duggar decided to list a few of Jordyn’s favorite activities, but what she wrote was basically a list of household chores.
“You are such a sweet ray of Sunshine! You love God and others and your prayers during family prayer time are such an encouragement!” Michelle Duggar wrote. “You love to hold babies and be a helper anywhere, laundry, dishes, cleaning, organizing, playing with younger ones and helping other mommies with their little ones!!”
A few of Michelle Duggar’s Facebook followers pointed out that the list of Jordyn’s hobbies was noticeably missing any fun activities that don’t involve helping out around the house, like painting pictures, reading books, riding a bike, or playing with toys.
“Is that all you have to say about your children!” Jennifer G. Gantner wrote. “They love chores and holding other mommies babies? She is her own person too. What does she like besides chores?!?!”
Other commenters expressed their concerns that Jordyn Duggar is way too young to be saddled with so much responsibility.
“She is 7. She shouldn’t be doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, organizing, helping other mommies, she’s 7!!!!!!! Let her be 7!!!” Sherri Greene Cable commented. “If you can’t handle your housework, hire some help!”
However, other commenters commended Michelle Duggar for raising a daughter with a “servant’s heart” who will grow up to be “a loving, devoted wife and mommy.”
In the past, Michelle Duggar has admitted that her kids do most of the household chores for her. Her older daughters also lessen Michelle’s workload by acting as “sister moms” to their younger siblings. Michelle rarely talks about what she actually does around the house, but she’s had plenty to say about how much work her children do. During an interview with Parenting.com, Michelle revealed that her children do chores “from morning until bedtime,” and they have a housework schedule that they’re expected to follow. Her older daughters are the leaders of “buddy teams” made up of younger children, and these teams work together to wash clothes, do dishes, and cook meals.
According to Michelle Duggar, her older daughters “have the responsibility to train and teach” their younger siblings while they’re working together. The littlest kids wear “chore packs” clipped on their collars or belt loops, and these packs are filled with cards that serve as reminders for which chores they need to complete before the end of the day. The older kids are tasked with creating the chore schedules for the members of the buddy teams.
In a TLC blog post, Michelle Duggar also admitted that her kids do most of the cooking. They divide up into teams of three or four, and each team includes an older kid who acts as a team leader by instructing the younger ones on what to do. The cooking teams work on a weekly rotating schedule.
Even though the kids do so much work around the house, Jim Bob Duggar says that he does not pay them an allowance.
Michelle Duggar’s life was a lot more stressful before she had her own group of daughter moms to help her take care of her younger children. In a post on the Duggar Family website, Michelle revealed that she couldn’t handle doing all the household chores herself back when she didn’t have a house full of mother’s little helpers.
“It was 1:00 AM in the morning as I stood folding laundry with tears streaming down my cheeks,” Michelle wrote. “Feelings of being overwhelmed flooded my mind. I cried aloud, ‘LORD I NEED YOUR HELP, I can’t do it all! I feel so inadequate! Diapers, dishes, laundry, meals, cleanup, school lessons, baths, hugs, kisses, correction…’ My list seemed to go on and on.”
Michelle says that her prayers were answered when her kids’ piano teacher offered to help her do the laundry, and the piano teacher still comes twice a week to help wash clothes. A Duggar family insider told Radar Online that things became even easier for Michelle Duggar when she started putting her older kids to work.
During an interview with CNN host Soledad O’Brien, Michelle Duggar basically admitted that her life (and her house) would be a disaster without the buddy system. In addition to helping their younger siblings get dressed and complete their chores, the older Duggar kids are expected to help out with the little ones’ homeschooling and music lessons. Michelle also expects the buddy team leaders to find ways to keep their younger siblings entertained.
“This house would not work if we didn’t have the buddy system,” Michelle said. “The older children mentor the younger ones. They help them with their little phonics lessons and games during the day, help them practice their music lessons. They will play with them or help them pick out the color of their outfit that they want to wear that day, and just all of those types of things.”
Jordyn Duggar was a member of Jessa Duggar’s buddy team. In most families, kids grow up and leave their parents, but things work a bit different in the Duggar household – Jordyn essentially lost her mother when Jessa Duggar got married and moved out last year. Because Jordyn is so young, most fans of the Duggar family probably don’t expect her to ever become a sister mom, but she might get the chance to raise a sibling if Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar go through with their plan to adopt a baby next year.
What do you think of Michelle Duggar’s Facebook post about Jordyn? Is Michelle burdening her children with so much work that they don’t have time to be kids?
[Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook]
