15 Times Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar Overstepped a Boundary With Their Adult Kids

None of the Duggar women have gone to college or had a secondary education, and it seems to be because Jim Bob discourages it — and his sons aren't exactly encouraged to pursue higher learning, either. The Duggars enforce their belief that women belong in the home as wives and mothers without outside employment, and so far, none of their daughters have broken that trend.

Even if a Duggar child is over 18, if they still live at home, they can forget about any privacy they might have online. Jim Bob and Michelle have admitted to using software called Covenant Eyes, which alerts them to anything their kids are looking at that might not meet their conservative standards.

The Duggars have always been incredibly involved in their kids' romantic relationships, even enforcing a rule that says they cannot date until they're ready to do so with the intention of marriage. On Counting On, we've seen that Jim Bob and Michelle are present for video calls and are looped in on text messages between those who are courting — and of course, there's always a chaperone on dates.

For a while, some Duggar fans might have thought that Jim Bob's legendary 45-question form was an exaggeration, but it definitely isn't. He uses it as an application to date his daughters, and it must be filled out before a suitor can ask to court a Duggar daughter.

In a bombshell interview with People magazine, Jill revealed that her parents tried to control where she worked and where she lived while she was still working on Counting On.

"Our control to choose what jobs we were allowed to accept and even where we were allowed to live was taken away from us," she told the outlet.

Despite the fact that Josh Duggar is in his 30s, his parents haven't stopped trying to clean up after his mistakes. After Josh's 2021 arrest on child pornography charges, Jim Bob seemed to be heavily involved in where Josh was placed while he awaited his trial, and reportedly, he even planned to build a fence at the home where Josh was staying to protect his privacy.

According to what Derick Dillard said in a YouTube video with the channel Without a Crystal Ball, not only was he as a son-in-law kept from taking a job he interviewed for, but Jim Bob also didn't allow his own sons to work outside of the family businesses, supposedly dictating where his adult children are employed.

Even though Jana is an adult, she lives under her parents' roof and she's a woman, so of course she rarely travels without one of her parents. In 2020, Jim Bob even accompanied her and her friend Laura DeMasie to an interior design conference in Las Vegas. Oh, boy.

Jill and Derick have said in the past that they've been banned from Jim Bob and Michelle's house if no adults are present — that certainly makes it difficult for Jill to maintain relationships with her younger siblings who are still living with their parents. She's even said it's been a couple of years since she's even been in the house.

The Duggars are known for their rather restrictive dress code, based on the family's standards of modesty. This code seems to be enforced for anyone still living with Jim Bob and Michelle. Catching a glimpse of Jana in pants is a rare sight, but it's often that we see Jinger and Jill, who have long since moved out, wearing whatever they want.

So far, no Duggar daughter has ever moved out of the house without being married first — Jana included. Though twins Jeremiah and Jedediah did leave the nest to share a home of their own before Jed married Katey Nakatsu in 2021, that was a pretty rare event for members of this famous family.

According to reports, Jim Bob has put some distance between Jana and her best friend Laura after rumors have circulated that they're romantically involved. Though they've never confirmed this, there was a time when Jana and Laura seemed to spend a lot more time together than they do now.

According to past reports from Duggar insiders, Jim Bob encouraged Josiah to marry Lauren because of his behavior online. Supposedly, Josiah secretly created a Facebook page without his parents' permission, and once Jim Bob found out about it, he pulled the plug — and made sure his son was married ASAP.

Though a couple of his sons have gone on to become Realtors as adults, Jim Bob seems to have had a hand in the homes that his adult kids and their families are living in today. Jessa's house once belonged to Josh and Anna, who got it from Jim Bob, while Jill and Derick's first house was one they stayed in until Jim Bob sold it.

According to Derick, Jim Bob negotiated the entire family's contracts with TLC — including the other adults — without consulting anyone else. In fact, he didn't even let them in on the fact that they were making money from the show until Derick and Jill got a lawyer involved to get the paycheck they were owed.