My ex was the oldest of six kids; her mom also had 7 miscarriages. In that environment, the oldest kids raised the youngest, because her mom was often in poor health and unable to properly care for the young ones.

You know that the same thing is true of the Duggars. This means that in addition to being a sibling, Josh was in many respects acting as a parent to the younger kids. To me, that makes his betrayal and abuse even worse, since he was taking advantage of a position of power and trust to abuse his sisters.

And this is what I view as one of the biggest failures of the Duggars. There is no way they are giving each child appropriate attention and guidance and love. Instead, much of the parenting is being done by other kids who may feel resentment at being given that role and certainly don’t have the maturity or experience to be proper parents. As evidenced by Josh’s behavior.

I made a point of supporting my kids in every way possible, attending every band concert, every choir concert, every ball game, etc. And with only 3 kids it was often a challenge when also dealing with work and home responsibilities. Of course, the Duggars home school, so the kids can’t take advantage of such resources such as band, sports teams, etc. and if they do, you know the parents just physically can’t show real support by attending all the events.

I think the family is all about Jim Bob’s ego and selfish desires and the rest of the family suffers because of it. Pity they’ve never known anything else and so don’t know how they are being hurt and neglected.

It’s such a terrible shame.