Doubling Down with the Derricos’ oldest child Darian wants to be with children her own age, How will Karen and Deon deal with her demand for freedom?
Teenage years can sure be awkward. But, for Darian Derrico, being the only teen in a household with 13 other siblings is a whole new ball game! The Doubling Down with the Derricos family is known for their balancing act however, it’s not always possible for Karen and Deon to parent their 1-14-year-olds equally. Teenager Darian’s huge age gap with the rest of the Derrico brood is proving to be a problem. Will Karen and Deon be able to give the eldest Doubling Down with the Derricos child the freedom she demands?
Karen and Deon have always found Darian offer a helping hand whenever managing their army of little Derricos seemed to be a handful. The senior-most sister, 14, is still the baby of the Doubling Down with the Derricos family and it shows. While TLC’s newest stars have a school-time, meal-time, play-time, and bed-time routine planned for each of their 14 children, Karen and Deon at times, forget that Darian is, 14. The Derrico couple walks the tight-rope with ease as the reality show’s fans see them deal with a baby’s surgery and a quintuplet birthday celebration with equal attention. But even Karen and Deon cannot be the superheroes everyone expects them to all the time. The pressure of now having 14 children of varying cages has started a wave of arguments between the Las Vegas couple. And if the last episode dealt with the Doubling Down with the Derricos family hiring a nanny unsuccessfully, this week’s show had their teenager Darian speaking her mind. Looks like the big sis of the Derrico house had enough of being the unofficial “third parent.”
With Karen and Deon both being occupied with the newborn triplets, and Awesome Dawsyn’s heart condition, Doubling Down with the Derricos’ Darian found a friend in her grandmother Gigi. Earlier in the episode during Derrick’s basketball game, Deon tells his daughter that “not this time, there’s too much going on,” when she asks for permission to hang out with her friends. The disappointment on Darian’s face is evident as she tells the camera, “Sometimes I want to be myself and hang out with people my age.” The Derrico sister tries to distance herself during a family mediation exercise and argues with Deon that the place he’s picked for all the children to visit later “is for babies.” Darian confesses, “I’m not a child anymore, so I don’t want t do little kid stuff,” and wishes she could be the “only child again.” Later, when Gigi takes Darian out on a nail-spa date because of her refusal to go to the Kids’ club with her siblings, the teen innocently asks her granny about her “love life.”
Gigi understands what Darian is going through and questions her about “the ‘dreamy’ person.” Doubling Down with the Derricos fans see the lonely teenager tell her grandma about the boy she nicknames “bagel” and reveals that she wants to start a conversation with him, but she’s “shy” and doesn’t “talk to boys.” Darian shares that Karen and Deon have asked her to not date him but become friends instead. She asks Gigi to “tell mommy and poppy that I want to have some time with people my age.”
As Gigi confesses to the cameras, it’s likely that the Doubling Down with the Derricos parents do not understand the feelings that Darian is going through since it’s their first time parenting a teenager. It’s hard for them to focus on each child, especially with one of them having a serious health problem. Fans of the TLC show too wish for Darian to get that little me-time she’s asking for. Tweets like “Let this girl be a teenager” and “the oldest daughter is very quiet but helpful. How is she celebrated?” did the rounds after last night’s episode. Will viewers get to see Deon and Karen find a solution to Darian’s teenage woes next week on Doubling Down with the Derricos?