Jim Bob and Michelle Get Weird When the Duggar Kids Are Courting

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Jim Bob and Michelle’s weirdness started back before Josh and Anna were married.

When they first got engaged, the Duggar parents suddenly started acting extra amorous. “Our baby’s growing up!” Jim Bob said after watching the proposal footage. “I know, Daddy!” Michelle crooned back with a kiss. “That brings back memories of when I proposed to you!” he said.

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And when Josh and Anna actually showed up, Jim Bob and Michelle packed on the PDA even more.

“You guys can’t kiss yet but you can hold hands,” Michelle clarified for the couple, which leads to things getting, uh, a little uncomfortable. “We’ll do the kissing!” volunteered Jim Bob. “Feel the urge to kiss, just tell us, and we’ll kiss!” he said in what we can only assume was meant to be a nice gesture but just came off pretty creepy. Although hey, if we were trying to hold off until marriage, there’s nothing that would turn us off quite like being forced to watch our parents makeout, so maybe it was nice after all.

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When Jessa started courting, they were somehow even stricter about the rules.

“No kissing or hand-holding,” Michelle told the cameras. “And, really, hands off!”

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They tried to keep things light with a minigolf double date, but the whole thing became a grilling session.

“Have you talked about kind of rules of engagement?” Jim Bob launched into it immediately, resulting in this extremely awkward moment as Ben stumbled over his words and tried to spit out that they wanted to “maybe be a little bit too safe, too strict, then not be safe enough and have regrets later” and that they were “thinking maybe, like, just kind of make a line.” “What’s the line?” Jim Bob pushed, looking concerned, as Jessa looked like she wanted the date she’d been looking forward to so much to already be over.

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Everyone was super uncomfortable throughout the whole conversation.

Just look at these faces.

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Then Jim Bob and Michelle tried to lighten things up with a joke.

“Michelle and I just handshake. That’s all we do,” he deadpanned. Except we all know that this is the same date where Jim Bob would later end up basically humping his wife in public. “You guys watch this,” he said as he big spooned his wife and wiggled around. “Don’t try this at home until after you’re married!”

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Yeah, Jim Bob and Michelle got super inappropriate in a lot of ways on this date.

Including when the Duggar dad asked his wife, “Does that turn you on?” with a smooch after she complimented his minigolf game. Yikes. “Michelle and I love to kiss. We love to hug,” Jim Bob said in an interview as Michelle laughed, called him “Daddy” again, and announced “Public display of affection!”

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And then there was this moment, too.

After beating the younger couple at minigolf, Jim Bob literally threw his club to the ground so he could sweep his wife up in his arms, spin her around, and kiss her. Which would be sort of sweet if he wasn’t doing it right in front of two hormonal teenagers who were probably trying desperately to not accidentally brush shoulders and inspire their urges. “I think he just teases the ones that are in a courtship to just kind of tell them, ‘This is what you’ve got to look forward to!'” Michelle said about her husband. “‘But you can’t do this yet!'”

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When Jill started talking to Derick, Jim Bob and Michelle somehow got even weirder.

It’s one thing to supervise a video chat. It’s another thing to sit there and smilingly stare at your daughter as she tries to have a conversation with her could-be-future-husband.

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And then, immediately, they also got totally over Derick.

“I feel like I know him because Jill talks about him all the time!” Michelle said, clearly restraining from rolling her eyes. “I figure I’ll just get to actually see him in person now, but of course Jill has explained more than I would ever even need to know about Derick and how wonderful and what a great guy he is.” Considering the degree to which they gave Ben the third-degree, you’d think they’d want to know all there is to know about another potential son-in-law. Especially when Jill was the one slipping up constantly and giving Derick forbidden full-frontal hugs instead of side-hugs.

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But nothing was worse than when Jeremy and Jinger started courting.

Forget making out. Instead of giving them something to look forward to, the Duggar parents were trying to discourage the couple. Jim Bob gave Jeremy his and Michelle’s blessing to ask Jinger to start a courtship, but it was clear he regretted it pretty much immediately, because later that day he was already trying to slow things down. “It’ll be interesting to see over the next few years where it leads in this relationship here,” he said, with Jeremy interrupting, “You keep saying years,” trying to remind Jim Bob that they had sort of discussed being on the fast-track towards engagement. “Yeah,” said Jim Bob. “Instead of 20 years, it might be five.”

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When they went to a pawn shop while visiting Laredo, Jim Bob was visibly dismayed by all the engagement rings on display.

“Now don’t get any ideas now,” he warned, telling the cameras, “I didn’t want them trying on ring sizes or anything at this point.” And we get that there’s such a thing as moving too fast, but considering how much Jim Bob stresses that a courtship is about finding someone to marry, and that it’s basically getting engaged to get engaged, he seemed more than a little hypocritical here. “I think Jeremy’s a great guy but we’ll just have to keep an eye on him,” he said. Sure, Jim Bob.

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At lunch with Jeremy’s family, Jim Bob continued to keep things tense.

First, he grilled Jeremy about his “modest pastor’s salary” and how that would work with Jinger’s “expensive” thrifting habit, then started to point out other reasons why the couple shouldn’t get married and move to Laredo. “It’s also hot down here too,” he said. “You ever thought about moving to Arkansas?” It wasn’t long before things escalated even further with the Duggar dad asking, “Jeremy, do you think this is a safe area? There a lot of crime here?” Jeremy could only reply, “I haven’t seen any.”

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This time around, there was absolutely no PDA.

They didn’t want to give the couple any ideas. “I just don’t think they’re at the place to swap spit yet,” Jim Bob awkwardly insisted at lunch table, which, again, he was eating with not just Jeremy, Jinger, and Michelle, but also Jeremy’s parents. “It’s kinda like you’re on the gas pedal, I’m on the brake pedal,” he said. “We’re still getting to know each other here.” Unfortunately, all his pumping the brakes didn’t stop Jinger from getting engaged just one month after she started courting — and we’ve seen how the story goes from there. Let’s just hope that Jim Bob and Michelle have calmed down by the time the youngest ones grow up. After all, little Jennifer Duggar already has enough reasons to run away.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Get Legit Weird When Their Kids Are Courting