Considering all the circumstances with these people, how on earth can the children grow up to be "normal"? Will never happen. It's such a shame. They didn't ask for any of this. I feel sorry for the kids, but am totally disgusted by the whole thing.
However, 19 Kids and Counting is a different story. At first, I was turned off by the whole idea of having so many children, and started watching when it was "only" 18 Kids, and when I see how gentle those parents are, how much they obviously love their children, how well behaved the kids are, how intelligent and well-spoken they are (and they are home schooled), how they have all been trained to help with housework, laundry, cleaning, cooking, taking care of each other, they are church-going, they pray and study the bible as a family, they are completely self-sufficient and totally debt free, generous and helpful to other people, to the church, their community, teach the children through fun-filled educational trips and vacations, but at the same time are frugal, economical and even shop at thrift stores for clothes, shoes and Christmas gifts (so they can take all those wonderful history-laden trips!). Sometimes it all seems too good to be true, but no one can deny the parents' sincerity and knowledge of how to treat each other and the kids and how absolutely devoted they are to their family - seems to me Jon and Kate need to take some lessons from Michele and Jim Bob and learn what a real family is all about and just what the important things really are.