Friday, August 03, 2007

The General Rule: Hit on 16, Stay on 17

Welcome to the world, Jennifer Danielle Duggar. Jennifer is the latest addition to the Duggar family of Tontitown, Arkansas. She is her parents' seventeenth child.

If the Duggar family and its double-digit brood rings a bell that's because they have been featured on several television programs and in People magazine.

Here are some fun facts on the Duggar family, passed along through Discovery Health and the Associated Press:
  • The 19 member family live in a 7,000 square foot home.
  • Every Duggar child has a first name beginning with the letter "J." Some are run-of-the-mill (Jennifer, Joshua), others not so much (Jinger, Jedidiah)
  • No Duggar child has ever been born in June
  • Jennifer's oldest sibling (Joshua) is 19
  • All Duggar children have been home-schooled
  • 90,000 diapers
  • Parents Jim Bob and Michelle are already thinking of having another
  • Michelle Duggar is 40 years old and has been pregnant for 25% of her life

I worry about being a parent to one child. I worry about being a parent to two children. I cannot imagine being a parent to four or more children. I cannot fathom a reason that I would want to father 17 children. Father Jim Bob Duggar credits God for his healthy children, while mother Michelle admits the couple love "the ruffles and lace" that come when having an infant. I see something else, another reason for the procreation. Something a bit more covert.

Tontitown, Arkasas had a population of 942 according to the most recent census data. Allowing for an annual 1% growth rate (I mean, the Duggar's have to be responsible for that number alone!), the town's population is somewhere around 1,000. The Duggan family is nearly 2% of the entire town's population. Father Jim Bob is a former state representative. Is the Duggar family simply following the Bible's "go forth and multiply" or is Jim Bob Duggar trying to wrest political control of his town by fathering a majority of its inhabitants? Someone check that house for "Vote for Dad" posters!

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