Willis Clan Child Rape Allegations
I find this to be very shocking.
Just the other day, I was wondering how this family was doing. I admit, I had become a fan of this family and their show, "The Willis Clan", having watched many episodes.
I've had mixed feelings of these super-sized "factory-like" families, the first being the Duggar family of "19 Kids and Counting". An oddity about both of these families is that all of the 19 Duggar kids and all of the 12 Willis kids' names ALL start with the letter "J"; the Willis family reports that it's merely coincidence and that they just like the letter J.
Anyway, I am all in support of a family that supports the arts, like the Willis family. From what I saw in their show, I felt that the kids appeared to be raised very well, they truly supported each other, and they strived to achieve highly in anything that they did. I certainly noticed that the family patriarch, Toby Willis, was a bit of a strict father figure, especially when it came to his girls, like it states in this article.
What I never really understood was the whole "courting" situation. Isn't that extremely dated? I mean, I don't know anyone in my whole life who's asked their crush's father for permission to date their daughter. It's a nice gesture--shows respect and all. But then in one episode they had what appeared to be get-togethers where it's like they were giving their kids a choice of who to date, and I just thought, "That's such a small circle of people to choose from..." And I am fairly certain the Duggar family does things like this too.
Both families have been homeschooled their entire lives, and I have NOTHING against that: homeschooling appears to be a great thing, and we all know that public school isn't the most admirable institution, with all of its bureaucracy, politics, and time wasting.
HOWEVER, my biggest concern of BOTH of these families (this isn't to compare them, and really the point of this post is about the Willis family), is that several of the kids in both families got into their twenties, and apparently NONE of them had attended college. None. In the Willis family, the oldest children are 22-24 years old, and they still live at home and are pursuing their activities with the rest of the family. There's nothing wrong with living with your parents after you're 18, especially if your goal/intent is to save money. But that usually happens AFTER you've gone to college, and not someone who's never left home. Originally, I didn't see why the parents didn't encourage their older children to attend college, but if they went to a college even in-state, it would take them away from the family dynamic, and I can see how keeping the family close is important. Besides, there's tons you can learn from your parents and from online courses and study and whatnot. But what I found out through research is that neither of the Willis parents attended college, AND if you read later in this article, because of a terribly tragic event that happened to Toby Willis' family in 1994, his family did not have to work because of the whopping $100 million settlement they received.
It's unfortunate that TLC canceled their show; I'm not sure what the reason was, but that was back in May. I still plan on watching the remainder of season 1 and then season 2, of which I haven't seen, but I wonder what is to become of these children, and their mother. I just feel that these kids are too sheltered, if I may throw that out there. If you stick with your family 100% of the time, and never get out into the world on your own, how do you develop true independence? Sure, these kids travel the country with their music group and I'm sure for their dance competitions and wrestling, but how many of them have taken a trip on their own? Delved into a hobby that none of their other family members did?
I've never thought that Toby Willis seemed like a bad man, but I don't understand when this kind of scandal happens in both of these super-size families. It just seems strange. And I can imagine having your family televised for a number of years can taint your image of reality and privacy.
[Posted to my Facebook page on 10/7/16.]
Just the other day, I was wondering how this family was doing. I admit, I had become a fan of this family and their show, "The Willis Clan", having watched many episodes.
I've had mixed feelings of these super-sized "factory-like" families, the first being the Duggar family of "19 Kids and Counting". An oddity about both of these families is that all of the 19 Duggar kids and all of the 12 Willis kids' names ALL start with the letter "J"; the Willis family reports that it's merely coincidence and that they just like the letter J.
Anyway, I am all in support of a family that supports the arts, like the Willis family. From what I saw in their show, I felt that the kids appeared to be raised very well, they truly supported each other, and they strived to achieve highly in anything that they did. I certainly noticed that the family patriarch, Toby Willis, was a bit of a strict father figure, especially when it came to his girls, like it states in this article.
What I never really understood was the whole "courting" situation. Isn't that extremely dated? I mean, I don't know anyone in my whole life who's asked their crush's father for permission to date their daughter. It's a nice gesture--shows respect and all. But then in one episode they had what appeared to be get-togethers where it's like they were giving their kids a choice of who to date, and I just thought, "That's such a small circle of people to choose from..." And I am fairly certain the Duggar family does things like this too.
Both families have been homeschooled their entire lives, and I have NOTHING against that: homeschooling appears to be a great thing, and we all know that public school isn't the most admirable institution, with all of its bureaucracy, politics, and time wasting.
HOWEVER, my biggest concern of BOTH of these families (this isn't to compare them, and really the point of this post is about the Willis family), is that several of the kids in both families got into their twenties, and apparently NONE of them had attended college. None. In the Willis family, the oldest children are 22-24 years old, and they still live at home and are pursuing their activities with the rest of the family. There's nothing wrong with living with your parents after you're 18, especially if your goal/intent is to save money. But that usually happens AFTER you've gone to college, and not someone who's never left home. Originally, I didn't see why the parents didn't encourage their older children to attend college, but if they went to a college even in-state, it would take them away from the family dynamic, and I can see how keeping the family close is important. Besides, there's tons you can learn from your parents and from online courses and study and whatnot. But what I found out through research is that neither of the Willis parents attended college, AND if you read later in this article, because of a terribly tragic event that happened to Toby Willis' family in 1994, his family did not have to work because of the whopping $100 million settlement they received.
It's unfortunate that TLC canceled their show; I'm not sure what the reason was, but that was back in May. I still plan on watching the remainder of season 1 and then season 2, of which I haven't seen, but I wonder what is to become of these children, and their mother. I just feel that these kids are too sheltered, if I may throw that out there. If you stick with your family 100% of the time, and never get out into the world on your own, how do you develop true independence? Sure, these kids travel the country with their music group and I'm sure for their dance competitions and wrestling, but how many of them have taken a trip on their own? Delved into a hobby that none of their other family members did?
I've never thought that Toby Willis seemed like a bad man, but I don't understand when this kind of scandal happens in both of these super-size families. It just seems strange. And I can imagine having your family televised for a number of years can taint your image of reality and privacy.
[Posted to my Facebook page on 10/7/16.]