Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[ladyaudley]

Yeah -.- ridiculous. But I think the girls are vaccinated, so that's at least something.

She also posted this on fb:

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." - Thomas Merton

I actually burst out laughing. Lauren, *all* you are doing is twisting your poor girls' lives so they fit your image of sparkling authenticity.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Flouride in the water doesnt mean drinking water is as good as brushing your kids teeth Lauren. You need to still do that as well.

[rward]

In the US, welfare is punitive. A single mother with a child older than one year is expected to be working or looking for work (and proving that she is looking for work!) or be in school full time. The amount she receives wouldn't cover rent for an efficiency apartment, let alone vacations. I never understood the "welfare queen" stories. How can they be "welfare queens" on $400 a month?

Of course, food stamps are separate and can only be spent on food, and medical assistance is only for medical care.

My sister in law is. She gets disability for bipolar (well controlled), pays $80 per month for section 8 housing, gets food stamps and totally free health care. Meanwhile, her husband works under the table and they go on vacation every other month, eat out daily, and generally live the good life.

I'm a socialist and I think we need to give way, way more to those in need, but 5 minutes with my SIL leaves me foaming at the mouth.

[ohnomoe]

I wonder if Lauren would have taken the girls to see a dentist if it wasn't free...

[August]

My sister in law is. She gets disability for bipolar (well controlled), pays $80 per month for section 8 housing, gets food stamps and totally free health care. Meanwhile, her husband works under the table and they go on vacation every other month, eat out daily, and generally live the good life.

I'm a socialist and I think we need to give way, way more to those in need, but 5 minutes with my SIL leaves me foaming at the mouth.

Planet Money reently did a really interesting show on disability, it's on their podcast.

I thought you had to be working or looking for work at six weeks in the US? I know my friend who was a single mother found it almost impossible to find a doctor who accepted the free medical and the wait to enter the lottery to get on the section 8 waiting list was years long. (a quick google tells the last lottery was two years ago, and they're halfway through that list, so in another two years there will be a chance for another couple of thousand people to maybe win the next lottery).

[happy atheist]

:mouse-shock:

Brioni and her rat got to sit in on a class about animal communication. The class was geared toward adults, so it was perfect for Brioni to wander in and out with her rat, and then fall asleep on the floor. It's the most sparkling way to learn! I'm sure Brioni is well on her way to her degree in veterinary medicine now!

And then they attended a craft fair.

[Melissa19128]

:mouse-shock:

Brioni and her rat got to sit in on a class about animal communication. The class was geared toward adults, so it was perfect for Brioni to wander in and out with her rat, and then fall asleep on the floor. It's the most sparkling way to learn! I'm sure Brioni is well on her way to her degree in veterinary medicine now!

And then they attended a craft fair.

I wonder if the other adults who paid for the class appreciated the distraction of a child and pet rat wandering in and out of the room. :roll:

[happy atheist]

I wonder if the other adults who paid for the class appreciated the distraction of a child and pet rat wandering in and out of the room. :roll:

If they are authentically sparkling they did. :snooty:

[DarkAnts]

If they are authentically sparkling they did. :snooty:

I am not authentic or sparkling. Then again, I get annoyed when parents bring their kids to college classes. I understand that there are times when child care falls through. I don't like it when it happens every class all semester. It can be distracting.

[wild little fox]

I'm one of those childless adults who despises being forced to put up with other's misbehaving children. As an introvert with sensory issues and agoraphobia it is hard enough for me to be away from home :(

[happy atheist]

If you look at the picture she posted with it, Brioni looks bored. I doubt she learned much.

I'm not sure Lauren knows what it was supposed to be about. How to communicate with animals? How animals communicate with each other? Normally she blathers on about what they're "learning," but on this she's strangely silent. Just something about a pig.

[Shoes Grace]

Gee, big surprise that a kid who loves animals might not be interested in hanging out with a bunch of grown ups pretending to have telepathic connections with animals. Yep, Google Jodi.

I believe all kinds of woogity woogity, and would have no trouble believing someone saying, "I'm very in-tune with animal body language, it's almost like they're talking to me," but to say, "oh, I met a cow in Switzerland who told me what it was like to give birth," WHAT? And then she goes on to explain that the cow got in touch with her before she went to Switzerland. Right.

(not breaking because YouTube)

It is interesting, there are studies that show that dogs bark in different accents in different parts of the world, and also that dogs will pick up traces of their family's "accent." Presumably, a Swiss cow is going to have a certain amount of trouble connecting with an Aussie (even if she can get her on the same time zone), but, I suppose if the cow can determine the gender of her offspring by sheer willpower (seriously, watch the video, but I couldn't make it past minute 8)...

And these are the relatively sane people Lauren leaves her kids with.

[lilith]

Oh good god..... If Brioni does have a genuine love of and connection with animals she must have been giving these people a massive side eye......

[smokeonthewater]

:mouse-shock:

Brioni and her rat got to sit in on a class about animal communication. The class was geared toward adults, so it was perfect for Brioni to wander in and out with her rat, and then fall asleep on the floor. It's the most sparkling way to learn! I'm sure Brioni is well on her way to her degree in veterinary medicine now!.

Oh surely a degree is far too mainstream for the little sparkles? I am sure that Lauren would prefer Brioni to just use her 'connection' with critters in an animal faith-healery way...

[Blahblah]

It's also a way to palm off one of the kids onto a bunch of strangers while roaming around their property with the other three. I wouldn't leave my 11 year old in a room with a bunch of adults we'd just met, let alone a 7 year old.

But, hallelujah, there are SHOES being worn.

[Anonthemouse]

Gee, big surprise that a kid who loves animals might not be interested in hanging out with a bunch of grown ups pretending to have telepathic connections with animals. Yep, Google Jodi.

I believe all kinds of woogity woogity, and would have no trouble believing someone saying, "I'm very in-tune with animal body language, it's almost like they're talking to me," but to say, "oh, I met a cow in Switzerland who told me what it was like to give birth," WHAT? And then she goes on to explain that the cow got in touch with her before she went to Switzerland. Right.

(not breaking because YouTube)

It is interesting, there are studies that show that dogs bark in different accents in different parts of the world, and also that dogs will pick up traces of their family's "accent." Presumably, a Swiss cow is going to have a certain amount of trouble connecting with an Aussie (even if she can get her on the same time zone), but, I suppose if the cow can determine the gender of her offspring by sheer willpower (seriously, watch the video, but I couldn't make it past minute 8)...

And these are the relatively sane people Lauren leaves her kids with.

You stopped too soon and missed when her dog dissed her... :lol: :cray-cray:

[jingerissaved]

I am not authentic or sparkling. Then again, I get annoyed when parents bring their kids to college classes. I understand that there are times when child care falls through. I don't like it when it happens every class all semester. It can be distracting.

I just wanted to chime in that not all children are annoying little butt-tards around adults. I was quiet, reserved and very mature for my age. Some of my favorite times with my mom were going to class with her. It made me want to get a degree too, when I grew up. I remember discussing "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" with her at ten years old, after reading the book by myself. She once told me that one of her favorite things to do in college was discuss class assignments and reading material with me, as it gave her a different angle to view things at.

I would also read her history text books, and discuss classes with her afterwards. I believe I was even allowed to comment in class as I brought an intelligent reply to the debates. My mom is the one who got me to read "Catcher In The Rye" at ten and Nabokov's "Lolita", at thirteen which I still loathe. I also read, "Lovers And Friends" a 3,000+ page fictional account about the sexual relationships of friends. No idea why my private school had copies of that book at the book sale, and it was NOT approved reading for home. I was ten, and I had to sneak and read it over the space of a month and of course when my mom found out, she chewed me out about it. I could read any book, just not overly sexually explicit ones. My vocabulary on the school bus became peppered with "c4nt", which got me into trouble lol!

Not all kids act crazy around adults. Just had to put that out there. I could barely deign to be around children as a kid, and hated playing with them. I really did see myself as a little adult. My own kids are much more like actual children than little adults. They spend more time with other kids, and they're boys. I really thought I was going to have poetry readings in the wildflowers with my sons before their births. :? :lol:

[ohnomoe]

I'm pretty sure we established that the class about about communicating with animals telepathically? It sounds to me like there was enough crazy going on in that class that the presence of a small child wouldn't be too bothersome, she might have even been a welcome distraction.

Those girls really need some conventional education though, not even necessarily from a conventional school but at least some idea of how/what other kids learn and how other people form their world views. If they are learning about the world from these kinds of experiences they are going to struggle a lot down the track :(

[lilith]

Fucking Lauren. Basking in the "joy" of the homeless and dispossessed. Cause homeless people are just props for her to sparkle in front of........

[Blahblah]

They were probably handing out free tea and biscuits.

[happy atheist]

I just watched that animal telepathy video. What a load of shit!

And so distracting, too. Why do they need subtitles in 18 languages, plus a crawl at the top, plus pop-up messages, plus identifying Jodi repeatedly, plus notices identifying where all the footage came from, plus their logo? There was just a tiny window to see the video. Not that it showed anything important. Just lots of cows wandering around.

I feel really ripped off that she didn't even demonstrate her "powers." :?

[Isis]

I just wanted to chime in that not all children are annoying little butt-tards around adults. I was quiet, reserved and very mature for my age. Some of my favorite times with my mom were going to class with her. It made me want to get a degree too, when I grew up. I remember discussing "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" with her at ten years old, after reading the book by myself. She once told me that one of her favorite things to do in college was discuss class assignments and reading material with me, as it gave her a different angle to view things at.

I would also read her history text books, and discuss classes with her afterwards. I believe I was even allowed to comment in class as I brought an intelligent reply to the debates. My mom is the one who got me to read "Catcher In The Rye" at ten and Nabokov's "Lolita", at thirteen which I still loathe. I also read, "Lovers And Friends" a 3,000+ page fictional account about the sexual relationships of friends. No idea why my private school had copies of that book at the book sale, and it was NOT approved reading for home. I was ten, and I had to sneak and read it over the space of a month and of course when my mom found out, she chewed me out about it. I could read any book, just not overly sexually explicit ones. My vocabulary on the school bus became peppered with "c4nt", which got me into trouble lol!

Not all kids act crazy around adults. Just had to put that out there. I could barely deign to be around children as a kid, and hated playing with them. I really did see myself as a little adult. My own kids are much more like actual children than little adults. They spend more time with other kids, and they're boys. I really thought I was going to have poetry readings in the wildflowers with my sons before their births. :? :lol:

I had a friend that read Roots every day on the bus when we were in the 4th grade... She'd carefully wrap the book up and hide it in her bookbag since she'd been caught reading other things that the adults at school found upsetting.

[August]

Fucking Lauren. Basking in the "joy" of the homeless and dispossessed. Cause homeless people are just props for her to sparkle in front of........

Remember when they parked in Redfern and people were giving them lots of stuff? And she didn't realise it was because they thought they were homeless? Oh, and the time they went and got free bread at the bread room, for homeless people?

No, wait, the smack dealer invited them there!

Sparkling Adventures -- Apartment friends

www.sparklingadventures.com/index.php?id=1505

Jan 25, 2012 - 2 posts - 1 author

Our first interaction with Tracey was when she came around and invited David to bring the children to the “bread room†where snacks were ...

[Brittany15]

It concerns me a little about the fact that Brioni fell asleep and Lauren explains that it is due to her not being used to classoom hours. I believe that the class was from 10-5. I think that a child should be able to stay awake one day for the entire day.

[Stephanie66]

My reading was never censored either, but the school library had this weirdness about not letting me check out books above my grade level. I figured there were some AWESOME fifth grade books I was completely missing out on! So imagine my disappointment when I finally got to fifth grade, only do discover nothing awesome.

Thankfully, although we lived in a small town, there was a bookmobile from the local public library. They didn't care what I checked out, although I was usually there with my dad, so he would discussed any objections

By sixth grade, I was heavily into Stephen King. He did an interview with Playboy that I really wanted to read, but had no way of getting my hands on a Playboy. My dad got it for me, but he did cut out the interview and left it at that. So, I guess they did censor somewhat. :)