A pissed-off parent’s reaction to the Fox News Duggar interview
As the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, I was outraged by the Duggar interview with Fox News yesterday.
The Duggars attempted some damage control after it was revealed last month that their 27-year-old son Josh fondled his sisters 12 years ago.
They did a crappy job.
They told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly that Josh approached them at 14 years old, crying, admitting to improperly touching his sisters. The couple said they sought counseling for Josh, removed him from the home, and made him confess to police. This all sounds good on paper.
However, they didn’t do any of these things until the third time he confessed. This is outrageous. They said they tried to handle the problem on their own — by talking to Josh and punishing him. This is ridiculous. He wasn’t caught smoking in the boys’ bathroom or fighting on the school yard. He improperly touched his little sisters — one of them under the age of 10. And, by waiting until his third confession to seek outside help, Josh’s parents allowed their daughters to be victimized again and again.
I am disgusted even further by these two comments made by the Duggars during the interview, which seem like attempts to minimize the seriousness of the abuse.
From Michelle Duggar: “They’ve been victimized more by what has happened these last couple of weeks than they were 12 years ago, because they honestly didn’t even understand or know what happened until after the fact, when they were told about it.’’
From Jim Bob Duggar: “This was not rape or anything like that. This was touching somebody over their clothes. There were a couple of incidents where he touched them under their clothes, but it was like a few seconds.’’
WHAT?
Their daughters deserve better than that. Yes, it complicates matters when the molester is a family member. But it shouldn’t stop a parent from protecting. Should it matter if the girls were asleep or awake, clothed or unclothed? Should it matter if they didn’t understand what was happening to them at the time? No.
We are the eyes and ears and moral compass for our young children — at all times. It’s a job we can’t punch the clock on. These parents’ instincts seemed way off here, as they did when they signed on to a reality show five years later splashing their children’s lives across every TV screen in America.
The Duggar scandal:
[bdc-gallery id=”319614″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com