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acroyearAs I wrote elsewhere, I have no problem with the family since they obviously are disciplined and able to handle it (as far as public perceptions go). It is not and should never be the governments place to interfere with family size, except through education in demostrating the problems of overpopulation and having that reach the point where smaller familes become the norm by acceptance of reason rather than domination of an oppressive government. This has generally already been happening in this country, where most of our population increase in the last 20 years has been from immigration and longer lifespans, not births which have generally gone down.
I DO have a problem with the media for glorifying this family, however. The view as the Discovery show and Today Show coverage presents it can make it easily seem like multiple kids == panacea for family peace, rather than really showing the level of discipline on the kids and more importantly, self-discipline of the mother, as the reason that family is a success.
The issue is what is perceived as self-discipline. The critics you describe here see "having a million kids" as being undisciplined, because mostlarge families we see are like that, especially in urban areas. I see her as extremely self-disciplined in the way she manages them, almost like an office manager with one-on-ones and tasks lists and things like that so that no kid feels the "middle child(ren) is ignored" aspect that we know happens in families half that size elsewhere.
I also don't like the blanket "thanks to our faith" aspect of some of the promotional materials - yes, her discipline is a doctrine in that particular evangelical church, descendant from classic 17th century Calvanism, but the fact that she MAKES it a success by working at it may be missing - they may make it seem (as some have described it) as "have faith and it will all work", but really it is "I'm going to work at it because I have faith", the original Protestant work ethic that's actually lost in much of the country that still thinks they have it.
Even as much as I hate 17th century religious philosophy (being a child of the Enlightenment, I've discovered), I do believe that the modern (since the 1920s) evangelical movement has allowed the catch-phrases of their origins take over the original dogma and doctrine that had created those churches in the first place, and much of our current problems with that side of our political spectrum stem from that. Sheep have led sheep for so long that the thinkers who knew how those philosophies led to REAL personal and community success are long gone, and the gap is filled instead by, as the Doctor once described, "changing the facts to fit the theory".
This family is an exception to that, but they are few and far between.
I DO have a problem with the media for glorifying this family, however. The view as the Discovery show and Today Show coverage presents it can make it easily seem like multiple kids == panacea for family peace, rather than really showing the level of discipline on the kids and more importantly, self-discipline of the mother, as the reason that family is a success.
The issue is what is perceived as self-discipline. The critics you describe here see "having a million kids" as being undisciplined, because mostlarge families we see are like that, especially in urban areas. I see her as extremely self-disciplined in the way she manages them, almost like an office manager with one-on-ones and tasks lists and things like that so that no kid feels the "middle child(ren) is ignored" aspect that we know happens in families half that size elsewhere.
I also don't like the blanket "thanks to our faith" aspect of some of the promotional materials - yes, her discipline is a doctrine in that particular evangelical church, descendant from classic 17th century Calvanism, but the fact that she MAKES it a success by working at it may be missing - they may make it seem (as some have described it) as "have faith and it will all work", but really it is "I'm going to work at it because I have faith", the original Protestant work ethic that's actually lost in much of the country that still thinks they have it.
Even as much as I hate 17th century religious philosophy (being a child of the Enlightenment, I've discovered), I do believe that the modern (since the 1920s) evangelical movement has allowed the catch-phrases of their origins take over the original dogma and doctrine that had created those churches in the first place, and much of our current problems with that side of our political spectrum stem from that. Sheep have led sheep for so long that the thinkers who knew how those philosophies led to REAL personal and community success are long gone, and the gap is filled instead by, as the Doctor once described, "changing the facts to fit the theory".
This family is an exception to that, but they are few and far between.
