Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[happy atheist]

Posting Photos 101

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1. drag the image to your desktop and give it a name

2. on FJ, click the Post Reply button

3. below the box where you type your message, there are 2 tabs -- click on the Upload Attachment tab

4. click Choose File and navigate to the image on your desktop -- click Choose

5. click Add the File - to the right of the Choose File button

6. type up your message. When you are ready to include the photo, click the Place Inline button under the attachment.

7. the photo will appear wherever your cursor is. If you type the message, then upload, the cursor will reposition itself to the top of the message, so you'll have to click where you really want the image.

8. anything you type in the File Comment blank before you place the photo inline will appear as a caption

[Cheetah]

Still going through archives (beginning of the first NZ trip at the moment)... I found this zinger... the article was about how much baggage they had checked... which included a carseat for Delaney. One of the commenters anonymously wrote, "What about car seats for the other three girls? NZ law requires it for children under seven years." Lauren's reply:

'Dear Anonymous,

If you write with your name and email address, I’ll enter into a personal relationship with you.

Love,

Lauren."

Minor thing, I know, and probably old news to those who have followed this for a long time, but it is so spot-on with how she seems to respond to any hint of criticism.

[lizziesmom]

Why does this woman still have custody of these children? Isn't there any alternative?

[Milka]

First post, but I seem to remember that the girls did have a bath-time when they lived in their house. The Sparkling One called it a 'fire bath'. A bathtub of water suspended by chains, held by a forklift over open flames. Of course, the girls bathed in it by themselves.

I can't decide what's more dangerous for the girls. Her benign neglect, or when she has a Sparkling Idea for a new adventure!

[Bookworm]

I haven't paid attention to Lauren at all until this latest discussion started and I began to follow the threads a bit. She leaves me wordless, a lot of the time I just cannot believe it's possible for a mother to brag about being such a terrible mother. Then I read this (bolded part especially)...

I've read a lot more of the blog (mostly 2010) over the past couple of days (and also the FJ thread from last year) and I see a lot more of the neglect now. At some point I want to go back and read the more recent stuff again.... it seems (to me, at the moment, but I could change my mind) like she's being better with the girls lately.

Some of the things that stood out from the 2010 posts: letting the girls play on a Queensland beach unsupervised ('they know not to go in the water'); playing in all sorts of dirty creeks; playing in the overflow of a dam (and yes the water level was low at the time but still...); climbing barefoot on mangrove trees; and like 2xx1xy1JD mentioned above, letting nonswimmers go in deep water with just a boogie board and no lifejacket or adult close by...

I'm dying to know more about their family backgrounds. I've seen the basics... David has a couple of brothers, his parents live in Grafton, they seem to be separated (?), he had a falling out with his youngest brother at a visit in between the 2 New Zealand trips (David and Lauren stayed there one ngith and then were asked to leave), and they grew up in a very conservative religion. Lauren has 2 sisters, her parents are divorced, her dad is gay and lives with a partner in Sydney, her mom lives in Perth, one of the sisters is or was in Hong Kong and is still quite religious, the other one is in NSW I think and has a number of kids, and they all lived in Ivory Coast when Lauren was growing up... the parents were some sort of missionaries and she was sent to boarding school at age 6 (!). I wonder whether the 2 sets of parents are all still fundamentalists/evangelicals (doesn't really seem like it), or whether they feel much responsibility for how whacked out David and Lauren ended up.

Oh.my.FSM. That explains so so so much about her. All those mission boards and people who participated in the boarding school system of educating missionary kids have so much to answer for. The damage that system did is something that ripples for generations. And yes, one of the VERY common aftereffects is an inability to bond with one's own children properly.

[wild little fox]

It was common requirement for missionaries to put their children in boarding school while they worked in the field. :( I don't know if they still do this. It makes me stabby!

Lauren is a very broken person and narssism is the only way she could survive. I'm in no way excusing her behavior. Those girls need to be removed and put in stable, loving homes.

[KitCatCadillac]

I disagree that children are dumb. They are ignorant, meaning that they don't know the dangers as adults should.

Yes, ignorant is a better word. They're kids. They're not being willfully reckless, and they don't have the devil inside them. They just don't have the years of experience to fully grasp that doing whatever they want can be dangerous, destructive, unhealthy, or hurtful. That's why you are supposed to be an adult when you reproduce, so you can teach them that stuff. We aren't turtles. We don't lay eggs and just leave them.

[ladyaudley]

It was common requirement for missionaries to put their children in boarding school while they worked in the field. :( I don't know if they still do this.

Just an FYI/breaking the lance for boarding schools in general: boarding school in and of itself and even early does not instantly equal messed up person. I went when I was 10 and am a fairly well adjusted adult ^^ saying that, my school was not a missionary school. Just felt the need to throw in a caveat.

[Bookworm]

Just an FYI/breaking the lance for boarding schools in general: boarding school in and of itself and even early does not instantly equal messed up person. I went when I was 10 and am a fairly well adjusted adult ^^ saying that, my school was not a missionary school. Just felt the need to throw in a caveat.

I agree that boarding schools in general may be a good experience - missionary kid boarding schools came with a bunch of special factors that made them very, very bad places for children. In the last decade there have been multiple million dollar lawsuits and the majority of missionaries now homeschool.

[Cheetah]

Just an FYI/breaking the lance for boarding schools in general: boarding school in and of itself and even early does not instantly equal messed up person. I went when I was 10 and am a fairly well adjusted adult ^^ saying that, my school was not a missionary school. Just felt the need to throw in a caveat.

Going at 10 is also not quite like going at 6, I would think.

[Blahblah]

Lauren's recent Instagram shows one of the girls handling a Woma python. Lauren has happily captioned it by remarking how the python loves the smell of her "ratty girls". There is a reason why people who own snakes do not handle the rats/mice used to feed their snakes with their bare hands (they use tongs) and then handle their snake. Snakes don't see well but they can smell very nicely thanks. If something moves, and it smells like food, they will try to eat it. Lauren is lucky that none of the girls were bitten. And yes, I know pythons are not venomous but they can still inflict a nasty, germ laden bite.

[ladyaudley]

Prime Lauren move.

[already hungover]

Yes, ignorant is a better word. They're kids. They're not being willfully reckless, and they don't have the devil inside them. They just don't have the years of experience to fully grasp that doing whatever they want can be dangerous, destructive, unhealthy, or hurtful. That's why you are supposed to be an adult when you reproduce, so you can teach them that stuff. We aren't turtles. We don't lay eggs and just leave them.

I don't think Lauren realizes that doing whatever she wants can be dangerous, destructive, unhealthy, or hurtful.

I predict that at some point Aisha will have one of those "which of us is the parent here?" moments of clarity.

[CheeseDeprived]

Lauren's recent Instagram shows one of the girls handling a Woma python. Lauren has happily captioned it by remarking how the python loves the smell of her "ratty girls". There is a reason why people who own snakes do not handle the rats/mice used to feed their snakes with their bare hands (they use tongs) and then handle their snake. Snakes don't see well but they can smell very nicely thanks. If something moves, and it smells like food, they will try to eat it. Lauren is lucky that none of the girls were bitten. And yes, I know pythons are not venomous but they can still inflict a nasty, germ laden bite.

Classic. She's a strong contender for the Darwin Awards. It would be funny if it wasn't so darn sad and didn't involve small children.

[lilith]

Re Lauren's family payments - when Del/Lana turns 6 Lauren will have to seek work. I imagine she will also have to have a stable address for centrelink correspondence.

I'm betting she will be pregnant again by the time Del is 5.

[ILoveJellybeans]

WHAT? Her kids smelling appetizing to predators is funny to her? Does she want them to get bitten?

Ratty girls is possibly the most accurate way to describe those poor, filthy, unloved little girls.

[CheeseDeprived]

Re Lauren's family payments - when Del/Lana turns 6 Lauren will have to seek work. I imagine she will also have to have a stable address for centrelink correspondence.

I'm betting she will be pregnant again by the time Del is 5.

I just realised that she may be exempt from seeking work because she's homeschooling and because she's got 4 children under a certain age. I don't know if the latter still applies, but I have a friend who used to be exempt because she was a single parent of 5... under 16 I think? It may well have changed. But definitely the homeschooling gives you an exemption... She would however have to be registered with education authorities in whatever state she lives in. Can't imagine that she is at the moment, as she doesn't even officially live in any state. Another pregnancy & child seems more likely...

[lilith]

I just realised that she may be exempt from seeking work because she's homeschooling and because she's got 4 children under a certain age. I don't know if the latter still applies, but I have a friend who used to be exempt because she was a single parent of 5... under 16 I think? It may well have changed. But definitely the homeschooling gives you an exemption... She would however have to be registered with education authorities in whatever state she lives in. Can't imagine that she is at the moment.

I didn't realise homeschooling exempted you. I guess my sister will never need to seek work either.

That really sucks. I have nothing against generous welfare, I was on the Single Parent's pension for a few years and am very grateful it was there. But homeschooling is a luxury, and it shouldn't be taxpayer funded, especially when the kids in question aren't actually being educated.

[CheeseDeprived]

I didn't realise homeschooling exempted you. I guess my sister will never need to seek work either.

That really sucks. I have nothing against generous welfare, I was on the Single Parent's pension for a few years and am very grateful it was there. But homeschooling is a luxury, and it shouldn't be taxpayer funded, especially when the kids in question aren't actually being educated.

Well, personally I look at it this way - I am a single homeschooling parent (though I'm on a different pension so the exemption stuff doesn't apply to me either way, and I do a tiny bit of work from home when I can fit it in), and I'm saving the taxpayer at least $12k a year by not sending my homeschooled child to a public school. ;) Plus extra to cater for her special needs. I do educate her though... at least I try very hard! LOL

But Lauren's travelling non-educating lifestyle at taxpayers' expense is taking it a bit far, especially with her being so scornful of the system that is so generous to her.

[August]

I don't think Lauren realizes that doing whatever she wants can be dangerous, destructive, unhealthy, or hurtful.

I predict that at some point Aisha will have one of those "which of us is the parent here?" moments of clarity.

My heart aches for Aisha.

[Isis]

First post, but I seem to remember that the girls did have a bath-time when they lived in their house. The Sparkling One called it a 'fire bath'. A bathtub of water suspended by chains, held by a forklift over open flames. Of course, the girls bathed in it by themselves.

I can't decide what's more dangerous for the girls. Her benign neglect, or when she has a Sparkling Idea for a new adventure!

Is her neglect benign though? I can't help but think that on some level, she is wishing something would happen to her remaining children with the dangerous situations we've seen her put them in time and time again...

[miffy]

It was at that point that I realised I was no longer part of mainstream white Australia, and I was being given an opportunity to love and make friends within the marginalised groups that inhabit this country. Although my hairstyle promoted tolerance, it took longer for my heart to change, but now I’m so glad that I jump-started the process with my dreads!

WTH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[ladyaudley]

and the story of the old aboriginal man has changed, hasn't it? in the original story iirc he never said "hello sister"??

[wild little fox]

Is her neglect benign though? I can't help but think that on some level, she is wishing something would happen to her remaining children with the dangerous situations we've seen her put them in time and time again...

I agree. I find the things she says and does really really creepy.

There are some pictures of one of the girls standing on top of their van and the next picture she is laying on the ground, pretending to be dead. Creepy!!!

[DaffyDill]

I was on the Single Parent's pension for a few years and am very grateful it was there. But homeschooling is a luxury, and it shouldn't be taxpayer funded, especially when the kids in question aren't actually being educated.

I was glad to claim the SP pension at one point, too. However you and I (and most people) appreciate it as the safety net it is intended to be...not the lifestyle choice Lauren milks for all she is worth.