Monday, December 21, 2009

Individuality in a Large Family

A while back a local blogger wrote a post about a famous large family. She commented about their lack of individuality - that they dress the same and are forced to do the same things. It didn't sit with me very well, I thought a lot about it and couldn't really figure out why it bothered me so much.

Recently, I got my hands on the Duggars' book, 20 and Counting. It was fun to read. One thing that struck me was a email question that had been sent in to the family and was answered by Jessa Duggar, here's a quote from the book:

Q: Seeing how you all dress so much alike, I'm wondering how the children in your family are allowed to express their individuality?

A: "We always laugh when a question like that comes in! As one of my sisters said, 'Mom, when we go out to an event somewhere, we often see groups of teenagers who are all dressed alike - sometimes they're all in black, or they're all wearing jeans, or they're all wearing the same kind of T-shirt. Sometimes they all have nose rings and tattoos!' We're just like them; all us Duggars wear similar kinds of clothes. But instead of being influenced by peer pressure, we're guided by our family's standards of modesty and what we read in the Bible." -Jessa Duggar age 16

Wow. There's the answer that I have been searching for! Does that say volumes?

9 comments:

Maureen said...

Did you enjoy their book? I've been wanting to read it. Great post!

mpence said...

What a great response!

I have a hold for their book from the library! Just waiting for it to come in...how do you like it?

Becki said...

Loved her response and loved the book!

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,
that was great, thank you for sharing that. People are so narrow minded to think that just because people dress alike that their minds stop working or something, that is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I loved this response too. It really does speak the truth! I tend to avoid malls and that sort of "gathering place" but every once in a while, it's unavoidable and I must go because the store I'm wanting to shop at is only in the mall-I'm always amazed at the young people (both the teens and those in their twenties)and how they - in their quest to be different - always end up looking alike. :-)
I loved their book -

Jennifer said...

Maureen and Michelle - I did like it. It was easy and interesting to read. I always wondered about the little details, in reading the book, my questions were answered.

Mindy said...

What a brilliant observation....so true, you do see clumps of teenagers that all dress the same. Grown-ups do the same, check out women that are shopping together. They even live in neighborhoods where the houses look the same and they drive the same cars. Thanks for sharing.

Rachel said...

Good answer and so true!

Shevy said...

What a great answer! I read that Michelle had her latest baby very prematurely a couple of weeks ago. So far as I can find out, Michelle is fine (she had pre-eclampsia) and baby Josie is "doing as well as can be expected" in the NICU. As usual, the haters overwhelm the comments section of any news sites with reports. So sad. She and the baby need people to pray and say Tehillim for them, not say it's her fault and worse. I really hope she doesn't read the horrible things people say.