My Guilty Pleasure-Part One: ‘19 Kids & Counting’ on TLC

I love the TLC shows ‘19 Kids & Counting’. Really!? Why you ask...good question. I think it has to do with family. Let me explain.

‘19 Kids & Counting’ is a reality show on TLC about the Duggars family. There is SO much I do not have in common with the Duggars.  They have A LOT of kids, deeply religious, fairly conservative and traditional parenting style.  I have no kids, am not religious or traditional and my opinions on parenting are more middle of the road.  So what attracts me to this family?

While I have no kids, I do know that people needed to make babies and raise them to be good people. They really seem to be doing that.  The Duggars really seem to care about each other and the world around them.  They have let the world seem them in good times and some times that have been nothing but heartbreaking.  The kids, even the little ones, seem very together and well-spoken and down to earth. They seem so darn sweet and real. They also seem accepting that not everyone in the world may have the same views. That is what hooked me.

I, for the life of me, cannot imagine living in a house with that many people! But everyone seems to part of the overall ‘machine’ that makes it work on a daily basis.  They seem to have a lot of family together time too.  With that many kids, Jim-Bob and Michelle (mom and dad), still seem all goofy in love with each other.

What I don’t understand is how their show survives on TLC. The network seems to full of shows that are a bit exploitive. Maybe it started out that way for this family, I mean, that many kids they have to be whack jobs, right? But after a show or two, it is easy to see they are kinda normal.

My guilty pleasure part one is 19 Kids & Counting’. I will tell you about my other TCL guilty pleasure later, if I have the courage.