The Duggars are obviously no strangers to criticism. It’s one of the less perkier perks about being a family that’s largely famous for being, well, large. In fact, it’s the sheer volume of Duggars making up the Duggar clan that has them under the microscope this time — coupled with accusations that the family has deliberately abused promotions like “Kids Eat Free.”
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This time it’s Jessa who has set the wheels of Duggar-tutting in motion with a blog post that was almost certainly supposed to be a sweet one. Titled To My Dad: 101 Things I Am Most Thankful For , the Father’s Day tribute post is ultimately a pretty bland endeavor, until you get to number 74, which reads:
“For the special times when we went out to eat (yes, we most definitely took advantage of kids-eat-free, the modern day policies of ‘2 children per paying adult’ probably happened because of us???)”
Fans of the show and family know precisely what she’s talking about. The Duggars play pretty fast and loose with corporate promotions when it comes to what they technically offer and what they actually offer. For instance, when a restaurant invites people to bring their kids and feed them for free, it’s likely they’re not expecting much more than three children per family. Four, tops. And when Krispy Kreme invites customers to dress like a pirate and get some free doughnuts for their trouble, they’re typically not expecting this:
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So, do modern-day policies restricting the amount of free crap you can shovel into your mouth or whatever stem from the Duggars’ greed? Not entirely, no, but there’s definitely a connection between huge families taking advantage of these kinds of promotions in a way they’re not really intended to be utilized and the way promotions change over time.
We don’t say this as people who harbor any ill will toward large families. In fact, tons of us come from massive families ourselves. But just like having one kid changes the way you do life, having four or more changes it further. There are trade-offs, of course. Being a part of a big family is amazing, and it has crazy perks, like extra hands around the house, built-in kickball teams and the potential for insanely amazing group costumes at Halloween.
But it also means that while the family the next booth over at Applebee’s gets to have all their kids eat for free, you don’t. Why? Because for that family, the restaurant is footing the bill for two kids — what, like, $12, tops? — and for your kids, they’re 86’ing nearly a full Benny on free chicken fingers and fries.
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It’s not hard to see why the Duggars fudge the rules a little bit. It’s absolutely human nature to try to get as much as you can for as little as you can. But there’s no getting around the fact that abusing kiddie freebies of any sort can (and often does) affect other families.
When you have a big family, you just have to accept that a promotion like Kids Eat Free is really some Kids Eat Free. Use the discounted meals as a coupon toward the end bill, and leave it at that. Yes, other people get to use the promotion as a true freebie, but those other families won’t get to re-enact a scene-by-scene family version of The Sound of Music.
Before you go, check out our slideshow below:
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