Duggar Family Dates: What Courting Looks Like for 'Counting On' Stars

You know what sounds fun? A date night. But do you know what’s probably not as fun as it might sound? A date night with the Duggars. And part of that is because you don’t really date the Counting On stars — you court them. And with courting comes all kinds of conservative rules and chaperones to ruin the fun and make things super awkward.

Things don’t get much better once you’ve actually tied the knot, either. Once you’re finally married and can skip the chaperones and head out to sushi (or Sam’s Club if you’re Derick Dillard and Jill Duggar) by yourselves, well, now you’ve got kids to take care of. You’d better make sure at least one of your siblings doesn’t have a date night of their own planned. But hey, all those restrictions don’t mean that you can’t still get up to some, uh, interesting activities.

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The best part? You get to do it all with your mom and dad by your side. In January, Josh and Anna Duggar managed to score a romantic dinner without their kids — so, of course, they made it a double date with parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. As a bonus, they also brought Maryella, their then-2-month-old daughter, along as a fun fifth wheel. The mom later revealed that was something they intend to do as long as she’s nursing the baby. Only once Maryella is done breastfeeding will the couple get a true adults-only night. But the stars don’t seem to mind the company.

“Thanks Sweetie, Pops and Lolli for such a fun evening — it was great to chat, laugh and have a great night out together!” the mom of six wrote on Instagram. “It means the world to have parents that unconditionally love us and who are there to encourage us along life’s way,” Anna, 31, continued. “The older I get, the more I realize just how much I value and lean on the advice from our parents and the Godly men and women who are a couple [of] decades ahead of us in life.” Now that’s what we call steamy.

Check out the gallery below to see all the fun things you can do on Duggar date night.

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It’s Date Night! If You’re a Duggar, You’re in for a World of Fun(Damental Christian Values)

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You can do manual labor — for free!

You can spice up your relationship with a pair of handcuffs.

You can share a three-way hug with your date and your dad.

You can play dress up with your significant other since you weren’t allowed to play dress up with Barbies when you were younger.

You can fight with your husband about what he’s allowed to eat.

Or watch your sister fight with her husband about what he’s allowed to eat.

You can buy a car.

You can cram a bunch of your brothers into a car with your crush and stare out the window while one of them plays Candy Crush on his phone in the middle seat.

You can force your brothers to switch spots with you once you and your crush finally admit you actually like each other.

You can joke about your age, subtly implying you’re way too young for such a serious relationship.

You can immortalize on camera your parents’ respective looks of disappointment and resentment in regards to your relationship.

You can prank your boo and totally embarrass him in front of his family because he can’t take a joke.

You can use every bit of your brain power to imagine that your brothers aren’t five feet away when your crush finally asks you to court him.

You can write cute notes like “my man” on your man’s cup, only to have your dad read it out loud to the family while wearing a forced smile.

You can watch your parents constantly make out in front of you.

You can take etiquette lessons.

You can hold your arms super, super tight by your sides so that you don’t do any accidental touching.

You can hit up the movies with your fiancée and younger twin siblings.

You can try to will yourself literally anywhere else doing literally anything else as your parents grill your date about whether or not he wants to hold your hand.

You can wave hi to your date who is half-way around the world …

… as your parents look on from three feet away. Who needs privacy anyway?

Very occasionally, you can get lucky with a crush who doesn’t quite know all the courting rules yet.

You can hold hands over Mexican food.

You can pull up a seat for you, your date and your dad so you can Skype the rest of your family members.

If you time your date just right with the weather, you might get to see them sexily take their sweater off!

Touching is off-limits, but ogling is totally cool.

You can squeeze into the cabin of a truck with your date.

You can go for a ride with your honey and as many other relatives as you can fit in the back of a convertible.

You can silently hang out in the background with your siblings.