Parsnips and Parsimony

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I think that Peter is the pick of those kids so far. He has a lovely personality and is always very positive and wiling to help everyone. Poor kid will probably go the way of Charity and John though and turn out really odd. I really wish they would him some help for that lisp too.

John's obsession with marbles is strange for a boy his age. It would be more fitting for a much younger child. The nine and ten year olds that I teach would be really into it, but not someone his age. Yet another example of his strangeness.

Art (by his own admission) is an odd person, but I don't see anything wrong with being a bit odd. I think we all are in our own ways and I actually enjoy being a bit different to other people myself. I think he is a very endearing man and don't see his oddness as a negative thing at all. Janelle, however, is another matter. She isn't so much odd as very insular and selfish. She is out for number one all the time and puts herself before anyone else. When they were shopping she once again used the "I" and "me" and "my" pronouns constantly when talking about what she was buying. It was HER bird feeder, HER garden etc etc etc. She did say though that she would let the kids "help" her with feeding the birds. Lucky kids! LOL

What I do object to is the way they are isolating those kids and forcing oddness upon them by doing so. It is one thing to live your life the way you want to, but to force your kids to grow up being so different and isolated from mainstream society is downright cruel. They are missing out on so much in life and it is so sad to watch because they don't even know what they are missing out on.

Did you notice exactly how many of those pretzels those kids got? It looked as though nearly the entire bag was left on the seat next to Janelle and the three kids had about 4 or 5 each. That bag was probably going to last them a week or so at that rate. Poor kids! It was nice to see them having a whole ice-cream each during their weekend away though. It does really gross me out how they constantly lick and feed off each other's ice creams though. Eww!!

[DoodleBop2]

I don't think it's strangeness I think it's developmental delay either through neglect or some sort of disability or both. Them trying to pass off neurodivergence as being "odd" or "weird" is because they shun differences. All the kids must be the same because you know babies and teenagers have the same interests. Some people truly think ignoring these things help. Janelle tries to be so smart and then shares some meme about the poison in cereal and then continues to buy her children heavily processes food after going on a facebook rant about the poisonous cereal. That's what she chooses to worry about not getting her children the help they need or educating them in a way which will help them. For all the talk about being self-sufficient, they're hobbling the children.

Janelle and Art may not want a diagnosis but it's really really difficult to get diagnosed as an adult [BTDT]. Also if these kids attend college they cannot have access to services in many cases without a DX and I bet they wouldn't even think to ask because they've been taught not to address the problems. Art has done an amazing job to make his world fit him and his self-proclaimed weirdness but most people cannot ever work and stay home to avoid things that they find difficult. I doubt Art will be able to help all 7 of his kids the way his family helped him.

The food rationing is such a power thing.

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They really don't the irony of it, do they?

Quite a few people must be getting the fact that those kids are deprived, because it is being addressed in their communications from their followers. Firstly someone said they didn't want free shipping for some 31 product, but insisted that the kids get some banana splits instead (notice how they shared only two bananas between the whole lot of them and they each only got 1/2 a cookie?) and then someone else sent them a food package of Twinkies (Peter had never even had one before?) and some chocolates (which the kids immediately asked if they could have, but were ignored by their mother and got no reply.)

It is obvious that others can see that those poor kids need some treats in their lives and Janelle and Art don't get that.

[DoodleBop2]

There is another large family on YouTube I watch and people get on them for the house being cluttered yet the kids eat well, they all get treats if treats are had and each birthday is made special. I think Art would do a much better job on his own with the kids they all seemed to relax when she was gone.

[weed]

I agree that Art is a a much more effective parent than Janelle, but I think that he would struggle with feeding them as cooking doesn't seem to be his strong point. Poor Charity would probably end up doing all the meal preparation.

[gibberish]

Awe, I felt for Lydia. When Janelle was passing out the Twinkies, the other kids were handed one, then Art. Lydia still didn't have one. She reached and got one out of the box. Janelle said, And one for mommy. Guess Lydia didn't do a good enough job. :-/

Anyone else notice how often Janelle's mom comments?

[DoodleBop2]

I think she had one in her other hand.

I've never seen kids descend on a box of Twinkies before these kids react oddly to things which should be normal.

I think Art would make do. He'd have to have a better routine bedtime, wake up time, get the kids doing other things. Art struggles because usually when he's trying to do stuff the little girls are trying to hang off him.

[dahell]

Awe, I felt for Lydia. When Janelle was passing out the Twinkies, the other kids were handed one, then Art. Lydia still didn't have one. She reached and got one out of the box. Janelle said, And one for mommy. Guess Lydia didn't do a good enough job. :-/

Anyone else notice how often Janelle's mom comments?

Her mom and aunt Laura comment on every single video. They also interact a ton with the commenters. Laura answers viewers questions all the time and sometimes gets snippy. I haven’t watched a ton lately or read comments but that’s how it always was.

[weed]

Awe, I felt for Lydia. When Janelle was passing out the Twinkies, the other kids were handed one, then Art. Lydia still didn't have one. She reached and got one out of the box. Janelle said, And one for mommy. Guess Lydia didn't do a good enough job. :-/

Anyone else notice how often Janelle's mom comments?

Her mom and aunt Laura comment on every single video. They also interact a ton with the commenters. Laura answers viewers questions all the time and sometimes gets snippy. I haven’t watched a ton lately or read comments but that’s how it always was.

That's how it always goes. Her mother, Aunt Laura, Art ... they all rally around Janelle to protect her. She has been coddled her whole life and doesn't know anything different.

[gibberish]

I think she had one in her other hand.

I've never seen kids descend on a box of Twinkies before these kids react oddly to things which should be normal.

I think Art would make do. He'd have to have a better routine bedtime, wake up time, get the kids doing other things. Art struggles because usually when he's trying to do stuff the little girls are trying to hang off him.

You're right, Lydia did have one. Thanks for pointing that out! I hate that Janelle can be so controlling over the treats/food.

[weed]

If Art (who looks terribly sick in the latest blog) has been sick for nearly three weeks, why didn't he go to a doctor? I have never heard of them going for medical treatment for any of the kids, except for Charity's braces. Janelle uses midwives for her births as well. do they have some aversion to medical intervention, or would it simply be the cost factor? I would be very surprised if they had health insurance due to the cost.

[DoodleBop2]

I think part of it is cost and part of it is Janelle seems very into the "natural medicine" or more likely I bet they got into natural medicine and midwives because it's cheaper. You'd think if that were the case they'd focus more on eating better food instead of rationing discount chicken.

[weed]

Yes I'm sure a big part of it is the cost. Nutrition doesn't seem to be a big consideration in their lives, although they insist that they eat healthily. I have a feeling that Janelle thinks her ambulance training is enough to treat whatever illnesses they may have.

[dahell]

If Art (who looks terribly sick in the latest blog) has been sick for nearly three weeks, why didn't he go to a doctor? I have never heard of them going for medical treatment for any of the kids, except for Charity's braces. Janelle uses midwives for her births as well. do they have some aversion to medical intervention, or would it simply be the cost factor? I would be very surprised if they had health insurance due to the cost.

I know she brings her babies for well-checks. At least she’s mentioned it before. I can’t remember if she brings the older ones. I thought she’s even mentioned them getting vaccines at their well-checks but I could be wrong. I might be confusing them with someone else on YT. But, 3 weeks? That’s a long time! I don’t think the horseradish is going to kill the sickness this time Art.

[weed]

Yes you're right. I had forgotten about the baby checkups. I really can't remember her talking about vaccines though. Not sure if they do those or not.

[DoodleBop2]

Our local health dept parents can sign up to get free childhood vaccines. I dread to think if they're the chicken pox lollipop type.

[weed]

Our local health dept parents can sign up to get free childhood vaccines. I dread to think if they're the chicken pox lollipop type.

I'm not sure what this means .... chickenpox lollipop?

[DoodleBop2]

Our local health dept parents can sign up to get free childhood vaccines. I dread to think if they're the chicken pox lollipop type.

I'm not sure what this means .... chickenpox lollipop?

Some within the anti-vaxx, homebirth, homeschool, against modern medicine etc crowd will find someone online who's kids have chicken pox, have the infected kid eat part of a lollipop then bag it and overnight it to an uninfected child so the parents can attempt to infect their kid by feeding them the rest of the lollipop.

[dahell]

Our local health dept parents can sign up to get free childhood vaccines. I dread to think if they're the chicken pox lollipop type.

I'm not sure what this means .... chickenpox lollipop?

Some within the anti-vaxx, homebirth, homeschool, against modern medicine etc crowd will find someone online who's kids have chicken pox, have the infected kid eat part of a lollipop then bag it and overnight it to an uninfected child so the parents can attempt to infect their kid by feeding them the rest of the lollipop.

Wow! I’ve heard of chickenpox party but not the lollipop. Disgusting.

[weed]

Our local health dept parents can sign up to get free childhood vaccines. I dread to think if they're the chicken pox lollipop type.

I'm not sure what this means .... chickenpox lollipop?

Some within the anti-vaxx, homebirth, homeschool, against modern medicine etc crowd will find someone online who's kids have chicken pox, have the infected kid eat part of a lollipop then bag it and overnight it to an uninfected child so the parents can attempt to infect their kid by feeding them the rest of the lollipop.

That is horrible!

Once again they have deleted some comments on the latest vlog. There were quite a few people commenting on Charity's haircut, which led someone to say how thick her hair was in comparison to Janelle's. They then made the comment that she is just about bald on top, and that thread was all deleted. I don't get it as she has discussed those hair issues before without seeming to have a problem about it and the comments were not nasty at all. She must have been sensitive about it for a reason this time though. I did think that charity's haircut aged her quite considerably ... which is hard considering that she already looks about twenty years older than she really is.