She may have 15 younger siblings she helped raise, but Counting On’s Jill Duggar Dillard admits parenting her own child is another story. “I grew up around little kids a lot,” the 25-year-old mom of Israel, 2, explained in an interview with husband Derick. “But it’s totally different when it’s your own kid.”
In the TLC clip, released Tuesday, April 18, the ultrareligious mom — who believes women should be “helpmeets” to their husbands, wear modest dress and eschew birth control — serenely admitted, “We’re far from mastering any skill of parenting, but we do pick up on little tips here and there from Derick’s mom, my mom. We’re always asking questions of other people.” (Jill’s mom, Michelle, has 19 kids in total.)
The proud parents — back on TV this summer — also bragged that their toddler now says “please” and “thank you” and can catch a ball.
Israel is also learning how to wrap his parents around his little finger. “We know that human nature is still there because he’s very manipulative,” Derick, 28, revealed. “He’ll say, ‘I love you, Papi,’ like if he’s really trying to get something to butter you up right before he asks for something.”
Now pregnant with her second child, Jill recently got slammed for putting her toddler and baby-to-be in possible danger with a mission trip to Zika-virus stricken El Salvador. “We are planning to go back very soon,” Jill who is due in July, wrote in a February blog post, adding that “we will come back for the birth of the baby.”
One follower asked: “What is wrong with Jill?”
Recalling her difficult delivery with Israel, another critic griped, “She nearly died in childbirth last time. know that we are to trust the Lord but He gave us a brain with common sense.”
In an apparent response, Derick later posted a selfie with bug spray on Instagram.
