Generally, if someone only knows one thing about the Duggar family, it's that the girls aren't allowed to wear pants. Michelle Duggar has spoken about the family's choice to keep the girls in skirts before, saying it has to do with how they interpreted the Bible.
As we studied as a family, we found we could come up with our idea of what we thought modesty was, but we really wanted to see what the scriptures said about it. Our interpretation was that from the neck down to the knee should be covered.By keeping those private areas covered, there's not any 'defrauding' going on. My kids are taught the definition of defrauding as stirring up desires that cannot be righteously fulfilled. We don't believe in defrauding others by the way we dress.
We've seen some of the Duggar girls who have gotten married begin to add pants to their own wardrobe, and the explanation is that the husband is more or less allowed to decide whether or not she can. If hubby is okay with some jeans, then it's totally fine.
But we've rarely (if ever) seen the young Duggar kids wear pants out and about, but Josh and Anna Duggar seem to have a different approach to that rule.
Anna posted a picture of her kids at the Silver Dollar City Theme Park and eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that the girls were wearing jeans.
"I love this little girls wearing jeans!" one fan wrote. "I always think you ladies must get so cold with wearing skirts all the time, so I was happy to see the little girls warm and cozy in pants."
But before you go ahead and think that Anna and Josh have loosened the reigns on the Duggar dress code, that's not the case. Anna responded to one of the comments, saying "From the time Mackynzie has been a baby I have always allowed our girls to wear jeans instead of leggings in the winter. The long coat is covering her dress."
So there you have it, Josh and Anna aren't straying from the family values, at least not on this topic. They're sticking to the status quo and making sure their girls stay modest by wearing skirts.
It's weird when you think about it, though. If the family is preaching that the girls must wear pants because of modesty and not wanting to "defraud" the thoughts of others, it means they're looking at even their younger girls as romantic beings. Think about it: a five-year-old girl shouldn't have to worry about giving someone impure thoughts because she's in jeans. She's just a child.
In the end, the family can make whatever rules they want, and we don't have to agree with them.