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| Anna's Beautiful, Custom-Tailored Bridesmaids Dress |
- Fans were able to see the Duggars' church fellowship in action. They meet in a vacant house with several other families for Bible study, to share a "pot-faith" meal, and to visit for several hours. "The food's usually one of the best parts," said Jim Bob, chuckling.
- Josh and Anna explained their thoughts on early education. They have already begun to teach Mackynzie because she enjoys it, and they know that it will set her up for success.
- "I am ready for another baby whenever God chooses to bless us with one," announced Anna, while Josh looked a little unsure.
- Jana and Jill needed uniforms for the formal, EMT side of the volunteer fire department. Anna, an expert seamstress who made all the bridesmaids dresses for her wedding, helped them turn unisex pants into skirts.
- Jim Bob raved over his daughters' new outfits. He called them Mackynzie's "fire aunts." Hahaha!
- "Was more material leftover?" Jim Bob asked the girls. "I saw the little boys running around with some headbands."
- The Duggars explained that they are not judgmental in regards to clothing; it is each person's choice.
What are your beliefs on early childhood education? Do you send your kids to preschool?
What do you believe regarding clothing?
I believe in teaching kids early, everything they can learn. I do not send them to preschool. I teach at home, and cringe at what public schools have become.
ReplyDeleteAs for clothing, I agree that each person should be free to choose, but I would draw the line at skirts for fire-fighting. For an EMT, it should be fine, but I don't think it would be a good idea to go into a burning house wearing a skirt, no matter what it was made of. (I'm not able to watch the show...are they EMT's only?) Whatever they wear, I think they have made a great career choice.
Yes, I believe Jana and Jill are just doing EMT.
ReplyDeleteI believe in teaching children early as well! The earlier the better! At a young age children can soak in tons! Of information, that will stick with them for the rest of there lives. I also am a firm believer in homeschooling. Public school went down hill a long time ago...
ReplyDeleteAs for clothing...well, myself I believe as the Duggar's. I feel modesty is important, and I feel we should practice modesty in our thoughts, actions, and the way we dress daily. If you all would like to read what I feel modesty is...feel free to visit my blog at
http://duggarfamfan08-thewholeiceberg.blogspot.com/
To each there own! God Bless ya'll!
-Tina
As a young person who has worked in two different daycare/nursery school facilities and my late mother having done both elementary substitute teaching and home day care, I have very strong feelings. I think that children should be given lots of stimulating toys-blocks, dolls, cars, puzzles, lots of crayons and paper, and plenty of books. They should also play outside a lot. This is how very young children learn. I have read several very compelling studies that show that forcing children into structured education when they are too young makes them more nervous in regards to education, more afraid to try new things and afraid of failure. I think that what my parents did was just about right-read to me lots and lots, and provided toys where I had to use my imagination, as well as things like alphabet magnets and such. I graduated high school with first class honours, received scholarships, and have been on the dean's list every semester at university. I fully believe that education is very, very important but that it must be approached carefully. There is something called too much of a good thing, or too early.
ReplyDeleteAnna does beautiful work. I think sometimes people hear "homemade clothes" and imagine a mess. I think her lovely work might better be termed "handmade" or "custom tailored". She's very skilled! She could probably have a nice at-home business custom making gowns for special occaisions!
ReplyDeleteI think the whole point of these skirts was for the "dress uniforms". The uniforms the fire department wears for parades, functions, award ceremonies, and other non-fire-fighting formal occaisions. I'm suprised that there aren't standard uniform store skirts for formal uniforms as I'm sure I've seen armed services women in uniform skirts. Strange that there aren't such uniforms for EMTs and Firefighters.
ReplyDeleteI love the phrase "Custom tailored" so much that I will add that to the post! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI think it's fine if they want to wear skirts, but I feel like they are drawing unnecessary attention to themselves by wearing skirts as volunteer fire fighters. I also have to wonder if they ever exercise or play sports, because you can't do those things with skirts on (yes, I know they played broomball, but you can't play competitively in a dress).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel like there are a lot of times when pants are more modest than skirts, such as when you are sitting on the ground, horseback riding, going on amusement park rides, etc. When the Duggar girls did the latter two things in skirts, I was a little appalled that they would think that was modest.
I have to agree that there are times that pants are more modest than skirts. It would be hard to imagine uniform pants inflaming any male's imagination whereas sometimes it would be hard to keep everything covered in emergency situations wearing a skirt, or so I would think. Jeans are my life!
ReplyDeletei do not have anychildren but my major is earlychildhood edu and i am planning on being a preschool teacher and i have observe children and one thing that was taught me me is that children learn though play and movement and music. and also i learn about the developmentally apportiate zone that is you don't how to count if they don't there number . it line upon upon it is important to teacher young child , but it should be done in away where they want to do and young children love to learn and explore and also i think chidren should be guide it learning love love care patenice not force
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with their stance on maintaining modesty, but in this situation, I believe it has gone too far. Wearing their EMS pants/converted skirts is not practical for that job, and will ultimately be immodest, dangerous and prohibit good patient care. (They are only working as first responders, not EMT's) I think the fire chief should have told them no! I work full-time at an ambulance service and am speaking from experience here, btw...
ReplyDeleteI am an EMT and in my country (Canada)and here the law requires the appropriate equipment including steel toed footwear must be worn at all times. You arrive at accident scenes where there is debris and wreckage that you need to work around. Also there have been times where I have had to straddle a patient to perform a procedures....not easy to do in a skirt. I also saw an episode where the girls went horseback riding in skirts.....and the wrong footwear.....very dangerous. I have horses and would say this is irresponsible. The Duggars' are all about moderation but common sense has to be a factor as well.
ReplyDeleteBryttney,
ReplyDeleteYour post is a good argument in favor of homeschooling.
I am a strong believer in teaching a child early on. I myself do not have children, but I am a college student majoring in early childhood education and I plan on using my degree to teach kindergarten. I babysit often a 18 month old, and it's amazing how much he learns just by playing. Learning shapes and colors, animals and the sounds they make, signs, etc, all through playing with him. I grew up in a house where learning was a passion, we were homeschooled as well. I hope that when I have children they will grow up with the same passion for learning as my siblings and I have.
ReplyDeleteAs for modesty, I am a Christian and this is a topic I have done a lot of reading and praying about. My conclusion was not that I had to wear skirts or dresses all the time, but I did need to cover up. I feel I am being told that it's okay to wear jeans and shorts, but the shorts can't be any shorter than four fingers above my knee. And I can wear tanks and other cute, stylish shirts I love, as long as it covers up four fingers below my collar bone all the way to my pants, no skin between the two points I mentioned, and no bra straps showing! That's just trashy. This isn't something that was ingrained in my head growing up, I am much more conservative than my mother, who has final say in what we wear.
I do agree that its not modest to wear skirts while fire-fighting. At some point you need to draw a line and think of your safety before if you think it's right to wear pants. The Bible does say a woman shouldn't put on a man's clothing, but last I checked the jeans in the misses section at the clothing store were woman's clothes, not man's. :)
I believe in teaching children while they are young because they will soak up that information quickly. I am not yet married or have kids, but have thought a lot about the area of education. I am going to college to become a middle school science teacher, but have decided when I have kids I will be a stay at home mom and home school my children. I remember growing up in the public school system and although I did well, I believe I would have done better if home schooled....
ReplyDeleteAs for the clothing aspect, I believe that it is awesome that Jana and Jill stick to their convictions about what they wear. As for the modesty part during the EMT work or for sports and such, wearing a skirt can be done during these activities. What it instills is to be modest and to act modest.
I wear blue jeans, but I do wear skirts sometimes, which might become more prominent. All I have to say is that Jana and Jill are an inspiration to us other girls who try to live as God intended. Whether skirts or not, they stick to their convictions and I commend them for it.
I am a firefighter/EMT and while I believe in modesty, I'm concerned about safety. Auto accident scenes often reqire bunker gear to perform rescue extrication. What are these girls going to do when they are first to arrive on the scene without proper safety gear?
ReplyDeleteI'm a fire captain with 18 years in the fire service. I would like to respectfully leave my comments as a Christian man with experience living and working in a firehouse. Firefighting is inherently dangerous and involves risk to the rescuer. As a firefighter, a woman will be called upon to be strong and courageous and to be a rescuer of other men, women and children. This is not consistent with God's design for a virtuous Christian woman. Titus chapter 2 and 1 Timothy chapter 5 seem to be clear regarding the Lord's will for woman so that His Word would not be blasphemed. The firehouse is male dominated and is no place for a Christian woman to live. A move in this direction is more reflective of feminism and worldly philosophy rather than biblical womanhood.
ReplyDeleteSincerly,
concerned brother
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAs a female and a former EMT-Basic, I have to say that I disagree with your post whole-heartedly. There is nothing wrong with women being strong and being rescuers of men, women and children if they are capable. I am proud to say that I helped people as an EMT and now as a nurse. I did my EMT training with at four different fire stations in two different depts. I even did several overnight shifts at two of the stations(I even slept in an older style open bunk room at one of them)! I LOVED most of my experiences at the stations and even thought seriously about going to fire academy, but unfortunately a fear of heights and a history of asthma made me scrap those plans. During those ride alongs, I met with female firefighters who were every bit as strong as the men and could handle house fires very well. If your stations aren't safe for female firefighters, then there is a problem, but it's not with the women. You are the captain, it's your job to see the men don't step out of line and deal with it if they do. I for one admire strong, courageous women who want to help people. According to an article I read on the JEMS website last month, a dept in southern California appointed it's first female chief this year, so hopefully that means attitudes are changing. I applaud any woman who has the capability and desire to be an EMT for Firefighter. I have a question for you: nursing is a career that requires physical and emotional strength, can be dangerous, and can require you to help rescue people (ie battlefield nursing and med-evac). You are also routinely exposed to some pretty nightmarish sights and "bad" language. Since nursing involves these things, is it wrong for a Christian woman to be a nurse? As I stated before, I am proud of what I did as an EMT and what I do as a nurse. If that means that I don't live up to your idea of a Christian woman, then so be it.
as far as modesty goes in wearing skirts during sports/horseback riding/amusement parks - I've worn them, in shorter lengths than the Duggar girls wear. I wear them with either dance shorts or bike shorts on underneath. By doing so, I'm able to retain my modesty while still wearing a skirt.
ReplyDeleteand as far as not being able to play competitively in dresses or skirts, I have to say that's ridiculous. If you're wearing tight fitting or A-line skirts, yes it's difficult. But if you're wearing something more flowy, it is just as easy as wearing shorts or pants to play in.