Jim Bob Duggar Is Pretty Much the Gatekeeper to His Daughters’ Relationships

If there's one thing I've learned from writing about the Counting On clan literally every day, it's you can't date a Duggar daughter without dating her dad. Yes, with those fun, patronizing courtship rules and his own uniquely obnoxious behavior, Jim Bob Duggar loves controlling every aspect of his kids' relationships — but especially his daughters' relationships — and that puts him in really frightening position. Not to push any of the sons-in-law in a heroic position, but when it comes to guarding his daughters, Jim Bob is Bowser. He's Robotnik. He is the final boss you have to go through for any of those imprisoned-in-the-compound girls, and all the mini-bosses leading up to it.

The tragi-comedy of it all that the Duggar daughters turn to his guidance because, well….I'm not really sure. I guess if you're raised in a basically a cult-like environment and Jim Bob is your leader, what other choice do you have? They frame it a little bit differently though. "The girls have always said they would send any guy who was interested in them to Dad," Michelle has said. "That’s a good thing – that is such good protection for them."

UM, not for anything, but the only thing Jim Bob is big about protecting his family's reputation. The man is just hugely insecure about losing his girls to anything less than a Jim Bob Jr. Scroll down to see all the insane ways Jim Bob monitors his daughters' relationships.