Watching his children grow up on and off-screen, Jim Bob Duggar is keen on giving advice to fellow parents when it comes to raising children. A couple of births have even been featured in the family’s now-cancelled reality show, ’19 Kids and Counting.’ Despite the hit series going off air, the family’s patriarch still prefers to offer counsel for expanding one’s family.
The 50-year-old father took to their official Duggar blog to speak out to other dads about having children and regarding them as blessings.
Jim Bob and Michelle seemingly followed an approach as to when they will have children during the first few years of their marriage. However, they have chosen to hand things over to God and allow Him to control the number of kids that they will have.
The Duggar patriarch also shared the story of when his wife became pregnant with their second child while she was on birth control pills, but miscarried.
“We were so grieved. We did not know that sometimes the pill allows you to get pregnant but then causes a miscarriage,” Jim Bob shared. “We thought we could set our own timetable for having children, for example- when we were ‘financially able,’ or when we ‘had all our ducks in a row.'”
After looking into several passages from the Bible, Jim Bob also explained that he and his wife realized that God is the only being who has the power of giving the gift of children. Therefore, by controlling these blessings, this will certainly go against God’s plans.
The Duggar dad noted that, as a leader in the family, it is crucial for fathers to stay humble and ask for forgiveness from Jesus, their wife and children. He even put forward several suggestions, such as removing “books, magazines, television or Internet that have worldly or sensual content" in one’s home as a means of protection.
"Replace them with good things, like wholesome music, biographies of great Christians, good old-fashioned family fun and games," he advised.
Jim Bob’s counsel comes only days after reports came out that some Duggar family members have been sending letters of encouragement and reconciliation to Josh Duggar. Jim Bob and Michelle’s eldest son checked into a faith-based rehab center three months ago after admitting to a pornography addiction and acts of unfaithfulness against his wife Anna, which turned up during the Ashley Madison hack.
Earlier this year, the 27-year-old also admitted to molesting five minor girls, including sisters Jill and Jessa, during his teenage years.
"It was heartbreaking to hear, what had happened," Anna, Josh’s wife with whom he has four children, said in a ‘Jill and Jessa: Counting On’ teaser- her first public statement since her husband’s controversies.
Drawing attention to Jill Duggar-Dillard and Jessa Duggar-Seewald’s experiences in marriage and motherhood, ‘Jill and Jessa: Counting On’ is set to premiere this December on TLC.
