‘OutDaughtered’ Fans Rage Over Busby Kids’ ‘Learned Helplessness’

Recently, the latest episode of OutDaughtered dropped into viewer’s queues. While it is exciting to see the girls growing rapidly, some fans are outraged at their display of “learned helplessness” during the show. Although all the Busby kids are getting taller and smarter, some rudimentary skills are seemingly not being taught along the way.

Danielle Busby Is “Battening Down The Hatches”

Undeniably, the Busby family is staying busy. During the latest episode, Danielle Busby prepares the family for the impending doom of her being gone for multiple days to Dallas. Almost in an eagerness to prepare for war, she has the family marching to lay out clothes and set up supplies for the forwarned “First day of school” madness followed by her jetting off on a work trip. Undoubtedly, it gets very chaotic when eight people are living together and attempting to coordinate all their activities. Picking out clothes, brushing hair and teeth, feeding a crew, and logistically delivering everyone to their places is a race on its own.

For the Busbys, it was “hell week” of sorts. Everything fell on the same week. School starting, soccer and dance for the quints, volleyball tryouts for Blayke, Adam’s photo shoot, and Danielle’s business trip. Without a doubt, the “normal” weeks simmer at a boiling point of near-havoc, so a week like this one was eye-openingly overwhelming for both Danielle and Adam.

OutDaughtered Fans Rage Over Busby Kids’ ‘Learned Helplessness’

On Reddit, fans are raging at the visibly “learned helplessness” among the girls, most notably the Busby quints. During a discussion on a feed, one user states: “Third graders don’t need to be babied, she’s her own obstacle!” Then, they offer suggestions of areas Ava, Hazel, Olivia, Parker, and Riley should be able to assist the household. For instance, the user believes they should do their hair, teeth, and clothes selections for themselves.

OutDaughtered fans think Adam and Danielle Busby need to teach their children to care for themselves. – Reddit

Fans Have Ideas For Addressing The Issues

Likewise, other OutDaughtered fans were in agreement that the Busby family is out of balance right now. While Adam and Danielle are butting heads and looking into finding help, fans believe there’s a closer solution. Specifically, fans think they need to invest in training their children with the necessary skills for growing up.

• “I think that it shows some serious mental health and perfectionism issues when a parent cannot let a child out of the house in an outfit of the kid’s choosing. Putting so much emphasis on appearance is especially damaging for girls. Girls do not have to be sent out into the world as perfect dolls. Plus it builds confidence when kids are allowed to make small decisions each day. Choosing clothing is a harmless way to let a child express them self and also to make them feel confident.”
• “They have created learned helplessness in these kids..stop babying them also that baby talk.. I cant deal!!”
• “That’s why she needs to teach the girls to prepare for school the night before. Pick out the school clothes and lay them out the night before. Set the table for breakfast, cereal bowls glasses and spoons and napkins. Bread and toaster ready to go. There’s no need for all this chaos. I had 3 kids and I was a single mom. I told them we’re family and we’re all in this together everyone pitches in. There are no girl chores or boy chores. Danielle has all girls, she needs get busy and teach them responsibilities and work together to make a family a family.”

OutDaughtered quints share a picnic. – Instagram

Raising Six Busbys Is A Challenge

While Danielle was attempting to ease the burden while she was traveling, it was a big responsibility before she left. In many ways, she was seemingly trying to devote time to direct the girls to find their items in advance, knowing it was going to be challenging for one parent to manage the family. Other OutDaughtered fans were very understanding of Adam and Danielle Busby’s unique situation:

• “Can I just say I know I wouldn’t be coping well enough to function at all if I had 6 kids, and 5 of them were the same age. It’s easy to judge, but it sure as hell isn’t easy raising even one child, let alone 6.
• “Let’s just say I’d be committed if I had 6 kids let alone 6 girls!”
• “So much judgement. Do you have quintuplets? How are you doing with raising them? I saw nothing wrong with the prep for the first days of school. Danielle did have them pick out their outfits, they were going over it all together before she left. It was the first day of school, so I’m sure a lot (if not all!) the girls wanted their hair done up. It seemed like they were doing their hair while they ate, which would take way less time than having all 5 girls do their hair by themselves, then have them all sit down to eat before heading to school. It’s not that serious 😅.”