Jessa Seewald-Duggar spoke at a conference in Orlando recently, and the former reality star and mom-to-be shared some insight into what sort of mom she’ll be. It seems that although she’d like to have some of the characteristics of her own mom, Michelle Duggar, she also wants to steer away from some of her mom’s choices.
Jessa has said before that she doesn’t want to have as many kids as her parents did, although she and husband Ben are open to having a large family that might include adoption at some point. The couple say they don’t want to go the cutesy naming route that Jim Bob and Michelle chose, either.
“We thought to ourselves, if we do that, we’ll kind of limit our name selection. We thought maybe we’ll keep our options open,” Ben said at the conference.
Despite Jessa’s refusal to follow directly in her mom’s footsteps, she does acknowledge that Michelle is a wonderful role model and says she hopes to have her patience when it comes to raising her own children.
“I think I have a great example in my mom. She’s such an amazing woman. She’s so patient, so kind and loving and caring with all the kids. So, I really look to her as my role model, my example,” Jessa said.
Michelle and Jim Bob have garnered quite a bit of criticism over recent months for their parenting strategies, since eldest son Josh was revealed to have sexually abused several underage girls–including some of his sisters–when he was 14 years old. No criminal charges were ever filed, although Josh was reportedly required to attend counseling. Not long after that story broke, Josh was implicated in the Ashley Madison cheating site scandal after hackers broke in and published clients’ personal information, including email addresses. Josh admitted that he had been unfaithful to wife Anna, and since then the entire family has been in the spotlight.
Jessa–who admitted in an interview earlier this year that she was one of Josh’s victims–is now 34 weeks along in her pregnancy and has stayed active on social media, sharing photos with her fans, during all the drama. Rumors that she will be the focus of a spinoff show have not been confirmed, but the media is speculating that TLC will want to replace their hit 19 Kids And Counting.