The nearly 16 year old Wizzy Arndt & her stuffed animal

[0 kids n not countin]

 

Sigh, just sigh....

[tabitha2]

And? I love stuffed animals and slept with an old stuffed dog till two years ago and i am much older than her.

[clarinetpower]

From that photo and watching the videos, I would have guessed that she was about 8.

She is not typical. Definitely not typical. Especially the braids.

Wow.

[Sunnichick31]

I still have my favorite stuffed cat that I've had since I was a baby. However. I don't carry her around or stick her in my shirt. That's just weird for anyone over 8 years old.

[VVV]

To be fair, I looked just about that young at that age (late bloomer). I would not have worn the braids or posed with the stuffed animal, though.

[JenniferJuniper]

And? I love stuffed animals and slept with an old stuffed dog till two years ago and i am a lot older than her.

She looks like she's 9.

Mommy is probably shooting her up with those puberty delaying drugs they give to transgendered kids.

[Sinister Rouge]

Sigh, just sigh....

I'm no professional, but I maintain that there is something sketchy going on in the Arndt kids' home life, and I fear that it is something pretty sinister. It is just not normal for a whole family teens and young adults to be this... stunted. And it's not just their love for toys; I've watched a couple of episodes of their show, and this childishness is pervasive in their lives and personalities. For all of their kids to maintain such childlike dispositions into adulthood really suggests to me some kind of abuse... maybe emotional abuse, maybe something else. There is something effed up going on there.

[Coconut Flan]

It's definitely peculiar and not normal. I think the parents are nuts for not wanting their children to have actual lives. They keep them cloistered and sheltered without thinking what will happen to them when the parents die or become incapacitated. Such a shame.

[TXDuck]

The thing that concerns me are not the stuffed animals. I kept stuffed animals till I moved in with my now husband. But she developmentally does not look 15. Is there something wrong with her? Her cheeks still the rounded baby fat look of prepubescence.

[Jajajajulie]

I would have guessed she was 9, maybe 10.

[JenniferJuniper]

There is absolutely something very wrong in that house.

The younger kids all speak with some strange accent, so severe is their isolation from the world. I think they're unconsciously mimicking their father's speech impediment.

[swissbeauty]

She's SIXTEEN? Noo...really?

I still sleep and cuddle with my big stuffed animal, though. I think a lot of people do. However, I don't carry it around wearing pigtails and appearing to be 6... :think:

[swissbeauty]

The thing that concerns me are not the stuffed animals. I kept stuffed animals int I moved in with my now husband. But she developmentally does not look 15. Is there something wrong with her? Her cheeks still the rounded baby fat look of prepubescence.

Exactly. Show that picture to most people and they'll say 13. 15-16 is a HUGE developmental jump.

[tabitha2]

I agree-that is creepy and abnormal.

[terranova]

What strikes me as odd about that photo is her hands. They look large and teenagerish. The rest of her looks about 9-10. I'm sure the camera angle isn't helping but her hands look large.

[swissbeauty]

What strikes me as odd about that photo is her hands. They look large and teenagerish. The rest of her looks about 9-10. I'm sure the camera angle isn't helping but her hands look large.

I just noticed that...that's very creepy.

[fedelm]

I'm no professional, but I maintain that there is something sketchy going on in the Arndt kids' home life, and I fear that it is something pretty sinister. It is just not normal for a whole family teens and young adults to be this... stunted. And it's not just their love for toys; I've watched a couple of episodes of their show, and this childishness is pervasive in their lives and personalities. For all of their kids to maintain such childlike dispositions into adulthood really suggests to me some kind of abuse... maybe emotional abuse, maybe something else. There is something effed up going on there.

I watched a video of her, and honestly, I agree. A good friend of mine from high school was similarly childish through college, I'm talking collection of baby dolls on her bed, never dated, and just very young seeming. She also had the most over the top overbearing helicopter mom I've ever met. I never saw anything too awful in that family, but it was pretty clear to almost all of us that her mom's controlling behavior was emotionally stunting her children.

My friend ultimately moved to Japan and seems to be thriving.

[JenniferJuniper]

The younger Arndts all play with stuffed animals. Wizzy carries them around and talks to them and about them like they're real. She's weeks away from her 16th birthday and that picture was posted today.

There's a video on their site with some of the older "boys" (some are in their 30's) pretending one of the stuffed penguins was destroyed in the washer. The 11 year old son had nearly a complete emotional breakdown over it.

Something is really, really wrong with these people and I have no idea how or why they are doing this to their kids.

[emily]

Never heard of this family, and went to their site just to see if the girls age could be confirmed there. I can't find anything that says how old she is, but this comment was posted by her brother Luke regarding the stuffed animal picture:

I think that photo of Wizzy was taken back in the fall of 2010, when we were visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina!

So, if she's nearly 16 now, then she was 13 when this photo was taken. I still think she looks younger, though.

famteam(DOT)com/today

[crassy]

Exactly. Show that picture to most people and they'll say 13. 15-16 is a HUGE developmental jump.

She was 13 when the picture was taken. It says that it was taken in 2010.

[Bbfamteam]

She looks years younger than my 13 year old cousin and I would say she seems about on par with the maturity level of my ten year old cousin, but that would be selling him short. If I hadn't looked again at the title of the thread I would have though this picture was several years old.

[emily]

Why is she called 'Wizzy' if her given name is Mary? Her nickname makes me think of urination.

[Maude]

I wouldn't have pegged her as being a day over eleven or twelve at most. I still enjoy stuffed animals myself, but I don't play with them like a child might. It's more that I love soft, cute things, so I collect them.

[OddlyAmused]

It's not the stuffed animal that I find bizarre, but the fact that she looks about 9 in that picture when apparently she was 13.

[Bethella]

Why is she called 'Wizzy' if her given name is Mary? Her nickname makes me think of urination.

Her given name is Mary-Elizabeth Anne Arndt which probably became Lizzy which became Wizzy.

famteam.com/newfamilyprofiles.html