Jason and Maddie Grace Duggar aren’t the typical Duggar couple.
In a video posted to their YouTube channel yesterday, the young couple answered follower questions about their relationship and plans to start their own family. Unlike many of Jason’s siblings, he and Maddie Grace, who married six months ago, are taking their time before having kids.
“We do not want to have kids for a while,” Maddie Grace said. “I love kids but I don’t want any right now, and I want to savor this and just get to know each other.”
Jason’s own experience of being one of 19 kids has influenced their decision making.
“I do love that my parents, I think that their calling really was having all 19 kids, I really do believe that, and they’re such incredible parents, but for us, we also want to enjoy every stage that the Lord has us in,” he said. “We want to be able to travel too, travel around the world, do a bunch of things, and it’s tough to do that when you have kids.
“Even some of the couples in my family have said, ‘Hey, we wish that we maybe would have maybe waited a little bit, that way we could travel and do different things,’ and so that’s something we both really want to do,” Jason added.
The pair traveled to Greece and Italy on their honeymoon and shared in the video that they’d like to return to Europe for their first anniversary. Jason said he’d also like to visit all 50 states and Israel with his wife.
Once the two are ready to have kids, they’re not interested in having as many kids as Jason’s parents did.
“I would say my max is six, and that’s pushing it,” Maddie Grace said. “I mean, we did get the question, ‘Do you guys want 19 kids?’ Absolutely not.”
Even though she has different plans for her own family, Maddie did express admiration for her mother-in-law, Michelle.
“That’s too many [kids] for me,” she said. “I think your mom is an absolute angel for being able to do that because I couldn’t.”
Since becoming a couple, Jason and Maddie Grace have challenged many of the rules set in his conservative Christian upbringing. The pair admitted to dating, not courting, and even kissing before marriage in their YouTube video.
“Growing up in my family, that was against the rules, but for Maddie Grace and I, that’s not a conviction that we have,” Jason said. “I love my parents, I think they’re great people, but it’s a rule that we set for ourselves in our relationship, through dating and engagement, and it was something we were OK with.”
Check out the full video with Jason and Maddie Grace below.
(Photos: Instagram, TLC)
