My father's one of 12 children; my mother has 5 siblings and had 5 children of her own. I get large families, and I don't think it's so much that people disagree with the Duggars having a large family as the way the family works. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with having 20 children. There is plenty wrong with only being the primary caregiver until you can wean them and then passing the baby off to one of its older siblings as a "buddy" so you're free to conceive again as quickly as possible. Almost as much as that, it's sad and wrong for children to have to make appointments if they want to spend time with their parent instead of their "buddy". Supporters of the Duggars go "but their children are so well-behaved!" and those of us who got stuck parenting siblings while we were children are going "that's because they don't have time or freedom to do anything else!" Who can think up mischief when they're eight years old and full-time caring for an infant or toddler?

And I give a serious side-eye to parading children on TV because you need the income and donations -- what's life going to be like if the viewing public ever comes to its senses and the show is cancelled? (Or, y'know, to paraphrase that, two years after Michelle finally hits menopause and the baby-a-year program comes to a screeching halt...) I'd feel better if they had 800 acres of land or something similar to cultivate together; historically, agriculture is what large families are for, and an estate that large means plenty to split between them.