The Maxwell girls love to bake!

[kpmom]

So after not hearing from NR-Anna ever (I believe) on the blog, we've now heard from her twice in just a couple of weeks.

Are she and Christopher poised to become the next generation's Teri and Steve?

[Jana814]

1 hour ago, albanuadh_1 said:

So what happens if Joshua is really into doing puzzles and wants to continue playing? Tough luck?

I think so. That's just not right he's 3 he should be able to do something he likes for as long as he wants to. 

[Jana814]

21 minutes ago, waterandrocks said:

I just keep coming back to this. Giving preschoolers the freedom to absorb themselves in activities for long stretches of time is such an important part of their development. Allowing kids to just play for a couple hours at a time allows them to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills. I realize that the Maxwells don't want creative and problem-solving offspring but it still makes me so sad!

They want their kids to focus all their energy on Jesus. I think they probably feel if they focus time other things it would take away time thinking about Jesus. 

[usmcmom]

13 hours ago, HoneyBunny said:

Another sales pitch on the blog today, this time by NR Anna, who's so busy with three "littles" and a fourth on the way (but not so busy that she can't write advertising copy for the in-laws) that it's only by the grace of Teri's MOTH that she gets by.

The WTF moment is this revelation: Joshua is only allowed 15 minutes to do puzzles while she is putting the littler littles down for naps. 'Cause he should really be busy learning how to do things like code and use tools so he'll be able to buy his future home with cash. 

The puzzle thing really bothered me too. My daughter absolutely LOVED puzzles when she was three and four. I cannot imagine limiting her time with them. I was always looking for new ones to continue to challenge her and give her variety. What, exactly, does a three-year-old have to do all day that makes it necessary to limit puzzle time to 15 minutes?!? Why not let him do puzzles alone while she gets the girls to sleep and then sit with him and do them WITH him for a while? I will never understand the limits they set on harmless activitites.

I just keep imagining how sad Joshua must be when he sees Mommy walk back into the room to make him put his favorite activity away. He probably secretly hopes one of the girls throws a rip-roaring fit at nap time so Mommy is kept busy for just a little longer. 

[blessalessi]

Yeah, I could understand keeping some special puzzles back that he only gets to play with during that 15 minutes where she needs him busy and interested so she can get on with settling the babies, but I don't see why it should be so hard to let him play with puzzles at other times too.

To be fair to Anna though, we know the blog comments are heavily moderated, I wouldn't be surprised if Anna's blog entry had been edited to say whatever Steve wanted to say about MOTH.  

[molecule]

3 hours ago, kpmom said:

So after not hearing from NR-Anna ever (I believe) on the blog, we've now heard from her twice in just a couple of weeks.

Are she and Christopher poised to become the next generation's Teri and Steve?

That's exactly what I've been wondering. I've been thinking about Steve's fast and wondering if he decided on two things that have seemed different recently.

One is to push sales of all their books ("let's see what happens if we actually try"). They are doing more marketing than I've seen them do before (and by marketing, I don't mean actual marketing as much as I mean self-promotion).

The other is to let NR-Anna and Christopher become the new face of all the books. because they're younger and are raising kids. Steve recognized that he and Teri are considered too old and out-of-touch to be relevant to their target audience, and instead of changing what they have to offer (because who would buy a book about how to parent your adult children, anyway?) or even rewriting what they've already done, they're going to put young and relevant family members out front and center to attract a new generation of readers. And NR-Anna looks so fundie and joyful that she'll naturally appeal to fundie mommies.

[picklepizzas]

i just posted on the morton thread about how odd it seemed that one of the in-laws referred to the patriarch as dad...and then i look at NR anna's post and see her referring to teri as "Mom" in the picture label....what's up with this? Is this a fundie thing, for daughter in laws to start calling their parents in law "mom and dad"?? 

[Foudeb]

One of my aunts used to refer to her in-laws as Mum and Dad (non-fundie, just regular people).

I've always found that beyond weird.

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

5 minutes ago, picklepizzas said:

i just posted on the morton thread about how odd it seemed that one of the in-laws referred to the patriarch as dad...and then i look at NR anna's post and see her referring to teri as "Mom" in the picture label....what's up with this? Is this a fundie thing, for daughter in laws to start calling their parents in law "mom and dad"?? 

I thought that was a fairly common thing with people in general, not just fundies. Funny actually, come to think of it my husband and I call each other's moms by their first names, but dads by different forms of "dad". 

[Hane]

5 minutes ago, picklepizzas said:

i just posted on the morton thread about how odd it seemed that one of the in-laws referred to the patriarch as dad...and then i look at NR anna's post and see her referring to teri as "Mom" in the picture label....what's up with this? Is this a fundie thing, for daughter in laws to start calling their parents in law "mom and dad"?? 

No--I'm nowhere near fundie, and always called my inlaws Mom and Dad. Lots of people I know here in the Northeast do.

[salex]

6 minutes ago, Foudeb said:

One of my aunts used to refer to her in-laws as Mum and Dad (non-fundie, just regular people).

I've always found that beyond weird.

My mother in law,( who was truly a great mother in law to me) once mentioned that I could call her and my father in law mom and dad, but she noticed I called my own parents that (As opposed to what, I"m not sure.  I think my sister in law calls her dad "daddy", but I don't remember what she called her mom other than mom-- possibly "momma" ) 

As it turned out, I callled them by their first names (and their second spouses) and my husband calls my parents by their first  names and no one seemed/seems to be bothered by it.   

But, apparently, it is the norm in some families.

 

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Quote

Joshua loves to work puzzles, but I didn’t often find convenient times for him to do it until I gave him a fifteen minute time block to build puzzles while I get the girls down for their morning naps. He loves that time, and it also keeps him happily occupied with a constructive activity while I am busy elsewhere.

What is he doing when you are cooking dinner?  What about when you are getting the girls bathed and changed?  What about when you are cleaning the house or washing up the dishes from lunch?  What about when you sit down to make up your schedule and write down your grocery list ? 

Quote

I put a story time on the schedule for right after naps, and it has been delightful to once again read old favorites—only now to my own little ones!

Explain to me why you needed to schedule this?  I loved reading stories to my daughter and we didn't need a schedule because it happened naturally all the time-- stories before bed, stories after lunch, stories while waiting for daddy to come home.

Quote

If you’ve thought about scheduling but are just hesitant to jump in, let me just say that one nice thing about a schedule is that you can tailor it to suit your own individual needs and family. Personally, I’m not naturally a super task-oriented person, and having a schedule has helped me keep some order and routine going when otherwise it would tend to fall apart.

"Hesitant to jump in"? My god we are not talking about brain surgery here.  You know what would be the easiest thing in the world?  Just take a piece of paper and write down what you want to accomplish that day or that week.  I do it all the time.  Right now I have a two week  schedule of tasks that need to get done before Christmas (ceiling fans are on there.)  Today I need to go to the card shop and buy my husband an anniversary card and pick up some more wrapping paper...so tata for now.

[Jana814]

My mother called my grandmother (Dad's mom) mom. Her mother died in 1983. My grandmother died in 1993. I didn't know it was not normal till a friend of mine father called her grandfather by his first name. 

[SolomonFundy]

52 minutes ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

What is he doing when you are cooking dinner?  What about when you are getting the girls bathed and changed?  What about when you are cleaning the house or washing up the dishes from lunch?  What about when you sit down to make up your schedule and write down your grocery list ? 

Explain to me why you needed to schedule this?  I loved reading stories to my daughter and we didn't need a schedule because it happened naturally all the time-- stories before bed, stories after lunch, stories while waiting for daddy to come home.

"Hesitant to jump in"? My god we are not talking about brain surgery here.  You know what would be the easiest thing in the world?  Just take a piece of paper and write down what you want to accomplish that day or that week.  I do it all the time.  Right now I have a two week  schedule of tasks that need to get done before Christmas (ceiling fans are on there.)  Today I need to go to the card shop and buy my husband an anniversary card and pick up some more wrapping paper...so tata for now.

Managers of Their Ceiling Fans

[PennySycamore]

2 hours ago, Jana814 said:

My mother called my grandmother (Dad's mom) mom. Her mother died in 1983. My grandmother died in 1993. I didn't know it was not normal till a friend of mine father called her grandfather by his first name. 

I can't recall offhand what my mom or dad called their in-laws, but I do know that two of my sons-in-law call me Mom and one calls me Mrs Sycamore. I call my in-laws by their first names.  As long as we don't have a special term in english for our in-laws, it should just be mutually agreeable.  Btw, I'd love it if s-i-l 3 would call me Mom, too.

[blessalessi]

6 hours ago, molecule said:

The other is to let NR-Anna and Christopher become the new face of all the books. because they're younger and are raising kids.

I don't think Christopher and Anna have ever been involved before now though, have they?  

Nathan and Melanie have become well known on the blog and have turned up at various stops on the conference tours. And Elissa and Joe went a-conferencing after they were married.  But Chris and Anna are the ones that were "given a lot of space" after they were married.

Interesting times....

[princessmahina]

6 minutes ago, blessalessi said:

I don't think Christopher and Anna have ever been involved before now though, have they?  

Nathan and Melanie have become well known on the blog and have turned up at various stops on the conference tours. And Elissa and Joe went a-conferencing after they were married.  But Chris and Anna are the ones that were "given a lot of space" after they were married.

Interesting times....

People have speculated Chris and NR-Anna had some...difficulties adjusting to the physical side of marriage immediately. I get the feeling that Nathan and Joseph didn't have those problems with their respective spouses. Perhaps that's why they got space and the others didn't?

[Jana814]

1 hour ago, PennySycamore said:

I can't recall offhand what my mom or dad called their in-laws, but I do know that two of my sons-in-law call me Mom and one calls me Mrs Sycamore. I call my in-laws by their first names.  As long as we don't have a special term in english for our in-laws, it should just be mutually agreeable.  Btw, I'd love it if s-i-l 3 would call me Mom, too.

I have a friend who calls hers in-laws by their first name. I do think her mother-in-law would love if she called her mom. 

I have another friend, who I have heard her husband call her mother "mom". His mother passed away a few years back. 

[delilahdog11]

Can anyone that is more fluent in Maxwellease translate the first sentence?  What is Sarah trying to say??

I love it when it works. out for you to hear directly from a sister-in-law. Here are Anna Marie’s thoughts on how she’s managed with three littles and morning sickness

[twin2]

21 hours ago, waterandrocks said:

I just came on here to post about this. How old is Joshua? Why is he so busy that she previously couldn't find time for him to do puzzles? How sad that it's limited to the standard 15 minute increment. No need to let him develop those problem solving skills too much...

Me three.  He's three, if he wants to do a puzzle, why can't he just do a puzzle.  When my nephew was 3, if he wanted to do a puzzle, he just went to the toy shelf and got one to do....Clearly, twin1 was doing it wrong, at least I know what to get her for xmas now.

[Arete]

in my culture your parents are Mama and Baba and your in laws are Mother and Father

[Myfanwy]

Aside of lousy photography, what is Christopher's job? Maybe being the New Modern* Titus 2 Leader is going to be his new thing???

 

*Modern is relative. Modern as in no longer Steve. 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, twin2 said:

Me three.  He's three, if he wants to do a puzzle, why can't he just do a puzzle.  When my nephew was 3, if he wanted to do a puzzle, he just went to the toy shelf and got one to do....Clearly, twin1 was doing it wrong, at least I know what to get her for xmas now.

Maxhell books for Christmas? Don't you have to moon an elf or cuss out Santa to deserve that?!? 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Myfanwy said:

Aside of lousy photography, what is Christopher's job?

Filling the quiver, one 15 minute scheduled increment at a time.  Browsing Awkward Family Photos, for creative photography inspiration.

[FloraDoraDolly]

6 hours ago, twin2 said:

Me three.  He's three, if he wants to do a puzzle, why can't he just do a puzzle.  When my nephew was 3, if he wanted to do a puzzle, he just went to the toy shelf and got one to do....Clearly, twin1 was doing it wrong, at least I know what to get her for xmas now.

If a three-year-old wants to stick with the same toy activity for more than 15 minutes, I say let him! Given the epidemic of kids diagnosed with ADHD, it's good when a small child develops a long attention span. Why wouldn't a parent encourage this, especially when Josh wants to do something educational like putting together puzzles?

As for the scheduled story time, a lot of parents read to their kids at a particular time of day, usually before bedtime/naps. That isn't so unusual. In general, I can understand the need for scheduling when a family has a lot of kids and they're homeschooling. Without it, everyone's going to be loafing around in their pajamas all day. But the way the Maxwells schedule their lives is extreme.