This week, the Duggars and Bates (as well as a bunch of other Christian families) are gathered in Big Sandy at the annual homeschool conference. (Visit our Duggar blog to view photos.)
In honor of Throwback Thursday, we decided to share this clip from United Bates of America, the short TLC reality TV series that the Bates starred in before being picked up by UP (no pun intended). The video features both the Duggars and the Bates and shows footage from the 2012 homeschool conference.
Photo/video courtesy TLC
Oh, such close friends back then. This family has since distanced themselves from one another. I'm sure that's professional advice given to them by their respective PR departments.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know this?
DeleteOn the Duggar blog they are there at the same place this year! Their families are still very close.
DeleteOr..perhaps just plain wisdom from the Bates.
DeleteWhat a ridiculous statement. How much TV stations choose to focus on their friendship has nothing to do with how dear they are to each other.
DeleteI'm sure they're as good of friends as they always were. Maybe they've mutually decided to have most of their time together off-camera. After all, the more they've been on camera together, the more people speculate about there being a potential future inter-marriage between them.
DeleteHow do you know that they're not closer than ever...
DeleteJust because we don't know their every move and thought.
They may even visit and talk on the phone,,,,and you would never know.....think about that... ! 😳 !
They probably can't show being on camera together because they now have their own shows. If we are going to assume things and speculate seems like they would still be close as Jana was in Michael's wedding wasn't she? And it wasn't long ago on the Bates show when they were doing the question and answer it was asked if they thought a Duggar and Bates would get married. I believe Zach answered that with that many kids someone was bound to. And what about the recent picture of Carlin and Joy. I would guess they are all still close.
Delete#GoodOldNolstalgicMemories!
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 2:26 if the friendship was so strong advice from PR would be disregarded, as surely a long standing frienddhip is more important than what the public think. Also the Bates and Duggars have a very similar fan base so it shouldn't effect their respective shows. I think maybe the bates distanced themselves for a different reason.
ReplyDeleteWhich members of the family attend the ATI homeschool conference? I know kellyJo and Gil and the younger children are there but do Whitney and Zach or Erin and Chad attend? I know both husbands have jobs that might make it difficult to get the time to go.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any of the Bates older children will decide not to home school their children, and instead send them to christian schools?
ReplyDeletePlease don't compare the Bates and Duggars.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing they have in common is 19 kids.
GIl and Kelly encourage their children to excel academically, socially and support their children's goals.
Hang on. Since when do the Duggars not do that? From what I've seen, they have encouraged their children to do such things; and compared to most of today's society, they are much more mature then what the "average standard" is.
DeleteSuperJames526 If you compare the Bates and Duggar families side by side you will see that the Bates have had a number of children attend college but the Duggars to date have none. Their eldest son is a qualified police officer and others have jobs outside of the family tree business, not one of the Duggars has independant employment. I don't think the original post was rude it just stated some differences in the two families. Finally most of my sons friends like him are either at university, working or are in some kind if training. I am so tired of hearing todays young people being run down, many are polite, kind and considerate young people who in this economic climate, are working hard to try and make something of themselves, that is the 'average standard' that I see.
DeleteNone of the duggar kids have graduated college. Multiple bates kids have. Almost all of the bates have gone to post secondary. The bates therefore value post secondary more
DeleteAnon. 8:01 - Oh, all right. I understand.
DeleteYeah. It's sad to see how society's become today.
I would have to disagree. I think their basic beliefs and morals are the same for both the Duggars and the Bates. Their families have different personalities and different ways of doing things, but they are both wonderful families. I believe both sets of parents equally encourage their children academically and socially. The Duggars being in the house and commercial property business have more work that their children can help do. I can't imagine that Gil needs all of his boys to help in his tree business, so they encourage them in other pursuits. How often do people need trees cut down compared to how often people buy and sell houses/ commercial property?
DeleteThe Duggars have also supported their children's goals by helping them purchase houses and property, teaching them how to fix them up, helping them purchase vehicles and fix them up, etc. Both families teach their children to work hard, pay their bills, and be responsible members of society. Those things are more important than college education.
DeletePUBLICLY distancing themselves implies PUBLICLY. No one assumed that they don't speak privately on the phone, can quietly visit one another without cameras and posting their every move. I believe with the Josh thing and being on different networks, it's better for them to carry on more privately and not in front of cameras. That's all, why is everyone getting to riled up? We haven't seen them post photos, speak about one another, etc for quite a while, have we? It makes sense to assume they have distanced publicly.
ReplyDeleteI love this clip, would love to see more. I enjoy watching the Bates Family as I watched the Duggars many years ago. The the faith they show for our father and creator in Heaven. For he is the only Judge we must face. May God protect and watch over everyone as we enter the next chapter of our lives. God bless 💕
ReplyDelete