In recent ages, reality TV has turned to feature massive families. The Duggars have been the people’s favorite for years.

The head of the Duggar family, Jim Bob, and Michelle Duggar rose to fame along with their 19 kids after being featured in TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting. Over the years, fans have seen the older Duggar kids court, marry and have families of their own. 

As it turns out, the Duggars are not the only ones with a massive family. Another family known as The Bates family has similar circumstances to the Duggar family. Bringing Up Bates features 21 Bates family members!

But the slight changes in the family make fans love the Bates Family more.

Courtship rules

Fans who have known The Duggers family also know about their insanely strict dating rules. The Duggar women are set up on dates by their father and an older Duggar brother. They don’t use the word date but rather use the word courtship because it’s “dating with a purpose.”

While they are courting, all dates are chaperoned and there should be no kissing or touching. The family is always looking for the one to spend the rest of their lives with. The first kiss should only occur on their wedding day and not a day sooner.

The other massive family, the Bates family has a similar view while dating, with a few subtle changes. They want their children to court other Christians and limit all physical contact.

However, Kelly Jo, the mother of 19 wrote to In Touch Weekly that she does not want her children to rush into marriage and trusts her children to make the right decisions while dating.

Ok to go to College?

All the Duggars and Bates children are homeschooled. And what after the kids are over 18 and “ripe” enough to go to college?

For the Duggars, it’s more conserved. Soon after reaching the legal age of 18, they are expected to court, marry and start a family. Just one of the Duggar, John David joined college and dropped out just after a year. While none of the Duggar women have attended college, they have taken husbands who have attended college or are currently college students, father Derick Dillard being one of them.

Bates, on the other hand, encourages their children to go to college and must attend Christian universities. In an episode of Bringing Up Bates, it was revealed that three of their children are graduating from Powell’s Crown College of the Bible.

Reddit discussion

Many fans think that Bates seems happier than the Duggars.

One Reddit user wrote,

“I find the Bates much easier to watch because they seem like happy people. I don’t agree with their beliefs but there is something ‘real’ about them. Like the siblings interact like siblings and they are not just props on a tv show.” 

Another user added,

“The Bates are just more charismatic than the Duggars and the kids are more fundie light in some respects.” 

Yet another Reddit user weighed in,

"The Bates are just more charismatic than the Duggars and the kids are more fundie light in some respects. Didn’t one of the boys admit to kissing before marriage (shock horror. I do think a Duggar will eventually also do this but I highly doubt they will admit it) and in those little YouTube ‘name that Bates’ clips, one of the questions was, ‘who is most likely to have 19 kids?’ 

I remember Tori saying what a scary question that was. Now I could never imagine a Duggar girl saying something like that. They would consider it a sin to say having a lot of children is anything other than a blessing."