Mary-Elizabeth Arndt & her new handbag

[bananacat]

To me, she looks like she is a young-looking 12. Everyone develops differently, but she is really on the extreme end. I wonder if any of her brothers were late developers too. Does anyone who knows them better than me have a picture of the boys on either side of her, agewise? I wonder if it runs in the family.

I'm on the other extreme. I looked like I was 18 when I was 12. I was also very mature mentally for my age so that increased the illusion. One time a boy from high school was flirting with me, and when he found out I was only 12 he was really embarrassed. He asked if I was a senior yet or still a junior and I informed him that I was in middle school.

So it can happen, although I don't think the infantalizing is helping her any. The toy penguins should stay at home.

It also irks me that she has to wear a pink shirt in the softball photo, as if a blue shirt might make her grow a penis or think she's good at math or something. They don't do skirts-only because Mama Arndt likes to show off her body, but the gender essentialism is still there.

[luckystone]

I thought she looked about 12. 15 is surprising, but not too weird.

I'm 24 and got asked if I was 16 the other day. So who knows. I think age is actually really hard to guess.

I don't think the bag is that bad - well it's not my style, but I don't think it's too childish. Then again I buy childish things all the time so I might be biased.

[Didi]

I think she looks like 9 - 11. Asked my husband and he said "between 16 and 22"... he says it's her face... he must see something i dont :)

[moreorlessnu]

She may take after her mother, and has a slim build. There's another picture somewhere, where she is looking over her shoulder, and you can tell she's wearing a bra. So, she is developing. She just might not finished, or maybe won't be as voluptuous as her mother. Her father also has a slim build.

If they sewed the whole bag (as opposed to fashioning it out of a ruffled skirt, etc.), it's nicely done. The top part looks difficult.

It's nice that Mrs. Arndt and her only daughter like to work on these types of projects together. It would be awful if the 2 of them were very different and didn't get along.

[divadivine]

I kinda like the bag (runs and hides).

Me, too.

[divadivine]

I wonder how well they eat? If they don't eat a lot of highly processed foods and eat more organic fruits/veggies, eat little meat and drink organic milk (no hormones given to cows) she is not getting all those things which have been said to contribute to early onset of puberty. She does look young, but Momma Arndt doesn't look too shabby for having so many baybays, so maybe they just have good genes?

[bananacat]

I wonder how well they eat? If they don't eat a lot of highly processed foods and eat more organic fruits/veggies, eat little meat and drink organic milk (no hormones given to cows) she is not getting all those things which have been said to contribute to early onset of puberty. She does look young, but Momma Arndt doesn't look too shabby for having so many baybays, so maybe they just have good genes?

Organic food is mostly a scam. Chemistry and biology don't work the way you think they do. I know organic food is very controversial, but don't start blaming girls with earlier puberty for eating the foods you think are wrong, because eating organic won't magically protect you from it.

[divadivine]

Organic food is mostly a scam. Chemistry and biology don't work the way you think they do. I know organic food is very controversial, but don't start blaming girls with earlier puberty for eating the foods you think are wrong, because eating organic won't magically protect you from it.

I don't care if people eat organic food or not. I don't eat organic. If I could afford it, I would use organic milk (if it weren't so expensive) because it's the only kind I can find in a paper carton in my area. It was just a question I put out there. Dang, take away my birthday for putting that out there. Consider my hands slapped for mentioning organic food.

[emmiedahl]

I think there has been a suspected link between bovine growth hormone and early puberty, but it seems pretty sketchy. Hormones in milk have been banned in WA for a long time and there is plenty of early puberty here. Several states only allow hormone free milk but are in the same boat. And developing before 16 would not be early puberty anyway.

The girl looks healthy to me. She is a healthy weight and has nice skin, nice hair, all the outward signs of health. I looked young for my age in high school and I still get carded to buy cigarettes even though I have been old enough to buy them for almost half of my life..

[JenniferJuniper]

To me, she looks like she is a young-looking 12. Everyone develops differently, but she is really on the extreme end. I wonder if any of her brothers were late developers too. Does anyone who knows them better than me have a picture of the boys on either side of her, agewise? I wonder if it runs in the family.

The boy in the light blue shirt next to her is Peter, who just turned 12. I'm not sure, but the other boy next to her may be Caleb, who is younger than she is. She's child number 11, with 3 younger brothers.

Everyone does develop differently, but she is indeed on the extreme end and I just find it very odd that she happens also to be living amongst a family of infantilized adults. If anyone posting isn't familiar with this strange lot, you may want to take a look at some of their videos to gain some perspective.

Anecdotal, but my now 17 year old daughter has been a strict, organic vegan since she was about 8 (our next door neighbor shuttled our kids to and from school and she put she some expensive notions in her head) and even before then she ate mostly vegtables, nuts and legumes. She's very fit and healthy with not an ounce of body fat and captain of the school’s swim team, but she was fully developed by 12 1/2. I think puberties have been happening earlier in recent decades mostly due to better nutrition (vitamins) combined with higher body fat. But the fact that Wizzy doesn't have much body fat doesn't necessarily explain why she hasn't hit puberty.

If we're still having this conversation next year, there is probably something wrong. But again, I find it a strange coincidence that she belongs to a family that seems determined to never let their kids grow up (grown men playing with cuddly toys, for heaven’s sake) and that she is the lone daughter among them.

[NurseNell]

ANyone else think the bag looks like a Halloween (gasp!) costume?

regarding hormones -- aren't there allegations about the Hephzibah House girls getting some type of hormone to stop periods/delay puberty? I wouldn't put it past some of the "medical professionals" that practice in these circles. Oral Roberts University DID have a medical school at one time....

My 8 y.o. 5' 2", 120 lb granddaughter is followed by an endocrinologist. She is in the midst of a work-up to consider giving her medications to delay puberty. I cannot imagine these medications being prescribed without a complete endocrinology work-up. I know my granddaughter's pediatrician thought she should be considered for treatment but only an endocrinologist can do the prescribing.

[TheJewAmongUs]

Her mom isn't that tall. She may just end up being short. It does sort of look like she's starting to develop hips. (I can't believe I just looked that closely for signs of puberty in a 15 year old. :oops: )

[JenniferJuniper]

My 8 y.o. 5' 2", 120 lb granddaughter is followed by an endocrinologist. She is in the midst of a work-up to consider giving her medications to delay puberty. I cannot imagine these medications being prescribed without a complete endocrinology work-up.

Hard as it may be to believe, there really are doctors in the US who are will do anything patients are willing to pay them to do. And you don't have to be a Michael Jackson to get what you want. You just need to find the really sleazy ones, and they are more prevalent in certain areas than others.

Again, I'm not suggesting this is definitely the case with Mary Elizabeth. But we have to keep in mind that these people are whack jobs cranked all the way to eleven.

[Shoobydoo]

Sometimes skinny girls are just plain skinny. I am grossly underweight and have been more or less since puberty (through no effort of my own, I might add), yet I hit puberty right on track at age 12 and since then have had a period so regular I could use it for a calendar. If I, with a BMI of 15, can manage that maybe she's just short and skinny. I don't exactly a womanly figure, but I still function like one.

I also think the bag is cute, though I wouldn't use it myself. I know people my age who would, though.

[Witsec7]

Her body language in the team photo is that of an awkward twelve year old.

[Sola]

When you look at the entire family, all her brothers look young. She's what, 14? I'd say she looks pretty normal for a 14 year old who isn't plastered in make-up.

[Karsaroni]

It was mostly meant to be tongue in cheek, however, believe me, in places like Florida - where they seem to visit relatives often enough - if you check the right places, you can find a doctor to prescribe literally anything. I deal with the insanity that goes on in certain areas there on a nearly daily basis at work.

It just seems an odd coincidence to me that a family with over a dozen emotionally, psychologically stunted and sexually repressed sons would then end up with a daughter who still hasn't hit puberty 4 months before her 16th birthday.

I actually wonder if the fact that she's being raised in such an environment hasn't in some way contributed to her being developmentally stunted. When you're perpetually treated like a 9 year old it MUST have some psychological effect which in turn could affect someone physically, no? Maybe that's why she hasn't hit puberty yet?

I really feel bad for this girl.

[ElphabaGalinda]

When you look at the entire family, all her brothers look young. She's what, 14? I'd say she looks pretty normal for a 14 year old who isn't plastered in make-up.

IIRC she'll be 16 in January, which makes her seem extra young to me. I've never seen a nearly 16 year old with so little physical developement. Maybe she'll never have big boobs, but most 16 year olds have their nearly adult body by then, in my experience. It'd be different if she looked 13...but I think she looks 10.

[NurseNell]

I also think the bag is cute, though I wouldn't use it myself. I know people my age who would, though.

Yes, those kind of bags are really in style right now for teens and young adults. I don't care for them but if I was 16 I might.

[AuntCloud]

Polled 9yo LittleCloud. "How old does this girl look?" "13" "What do you think about her bag?" "Very cute".

My kids have always been on the small side, but at their (evil public) school there are some truly tiny ones, I guess to balance out the 4th graders whose shoes are bigger than mine. They have a "student of the month" tradition, where you can see students from each grade lined up to receive an award for being honest/brave/punctual/any other "virtue of the month". One second grader was smaller than the kindergartners, and a sixth grader was the size of a small third-grader. In CloudLet's class there are a couple of 11 year old boys who are the size of my 9yo, who isn't big by any measures. (Again, there are

As for puberty - I've known several larger women who got their periods later, and some tiny skinny ones who hit puberty before age 12. Hormones can be wonky.

[pixydust]

I actually wonder if the fact that she's being raised in such an environment hasn't in some way contributed to her being developmentally stunted. When you're perpetually treated like a 9 year old it MUST have some psychological effect which in turn could affect someone physically, no? Maybe that's why she hasn't hit puberty yet?

I really feel bad for this girl.

We don't know that she hasn't hit puberty. My mother has never had hips or boobs, gain weight, loose weight, she is a board. Breastfeeding I think that she was a C cup, maybe. Some people are just built that way. I was an A cup until I got pregnant at 21, then my boobs got really big and never went back down.

[loveandwar]

She looks 10 or 11 to me. But then, I've been told my entire life that I look younger than I really am, so it doesn't strike me as odd. (I'm 23, and when I went to the ER to get my gallbladder looked at a couple days ago, I had 4 different people try to check me into Pediatrics...)

[NurseNell]

She looks 10 or 11 to me. But then, I've been told my entire life that I look younger than I really am, so it doesn't strike me as odd. (I'm 23, and when I went to the ER to get my gallbladder looked at a couple days ago, I had 4 different people try to check me into Pediatrics...)

:o Actually someday you'll appreciate looking younger. I used to get carded all the time when my DH and I were buying alcohol even though he was 2 years younger, and I don't drink. I always looked younger too. I still do. Most people guess me to be around 50. I'm 67.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Her body language in the team photo is that of an awkward twelve year old.

Not really surprising when you consider her 30 year old brothers are still at home and "untouched".....

On the size/development---there's a girl on my daughter's cheer team (high school) who is a junior, drives, works, and is barely able to wear a size 0-- but is healthy as a horse and does actually eat.

IS SHE WEARING SHORTS in the purse picture?

[JenniferJuniper]

Not really surprising when you consider her 30 year old brothers are still at home and "untouched".....

On the size/development---there's a girl on my daughter's cheer team (high school) who is a junior, drives, works, and is barely able to wear a size 0-- but is healthy as a horse and does actually eat.

IS SHE WEARING SHORTS in the purse picture?

She wears shorts and jeans all the time. So does her mother, who looks remarkably fit for someone in her 50's who birthed so many babies.

The Arndts are true fundies, but they are also living in their own private Idaho...or Illinois as the case may be.