Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[bookiewookie]

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 recently went to a weekend-long singing workshop. It was meant for adults, mostly due to the long hours and need for quick sight reading skills, but a few people still brought their kids along. All of the kids were perfectly behaved, most likely because all of the parents were in-tune with their kids' needs. The 12 year old managed to do the full rehearsal schedule, and the younger kids (between 7-9) participated during the shorter singing rehearsals. When they weren't singing, their mom had brought along her husband to babysit and take care of them so that they wouldn't be unattended and/or bored. It worked really well in this situation, because the parents knew their kids' limits and had made provisions accordingly.

On the flip side, I've had to sit through some classes with kids running amok and causing distractions because their parents were viewing the class as free babysitting and hadn't thought it out at all.

[August]

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.

Both of my kids fell apart the first few weeks of starting school (9-3). I fall apart the first few weeks of a job if I've been unemployed for a while. You may believe they should be able to, but that doesn't make it true.

[wild little fox]

ITA. It would be hard for her to pay attention for five hours. The class was geared towards adults and she has never had to pay attention for long periods of time. Even in schools they break things up to make the adjustments easier (well they did when I was a child.) Sparkley Lauren, I can imagine, doesn't encourage anything that would give her children that kind of attention span.

[Blahblah]

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.

Or, on the other hand, it could just have been batshit boring for her. I'd probably snooze too if I was forced to sit through 7 hours of weird hippies spouting on about telepathic communications with animals.

[CheeseDeprived]

Aaaargh. I just used the word "authentic" during a discussion with my daughter. And then I hated myself because I sounded like Lady Sparkles. Looks like that word has been well and truly ruined! :pull-hair:

[FJismyheadship]

I remember not being allowed to check out Little Women in Fifth grade because it was a black dot book (Accelerated Reader) I think I was blue dot but only because I read lots of Baby Sitters Club and they didn't earn lots of points.

I think my Mom got it for me When I finished, I took the test and passed. After that, they never told me I couldn't check something out.

[SiameseIfYouPlease]

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

Ugh, she's such an entitled oblivious twat. Her blog post about it craps on about being warmly welcomed.....she defies belief. :shifty-kitty:

[Muriel Heslop]

NM. Opted not to snark on a woman who lost her baby in tragic circumstances. Although if anyone else would like to come clean my house, they are more than welcome.

[Blahblah]

NM. Opted not to snark on a woman who lost her baby in tragic circumstances. Although if anyone else would like to come clean my house, they are more than welcome.

I don't think anyone here would dream of snarking about anything directly related to Elijah's death, and I know you haven't accused anyone of that.

But Lauren is such a massive failure as a parent to her other four children, and such a sanctimonious prig about almost everything she does, that she is fair game as far as I am concerned.

[Muriel Heslop]

I don't think anyone here would dream of snarking about anything directly related to Elijah's death, and I know you haven't accused anyone of that.

But Lauren is such a massive failure as a parent to her other four children, and such a sanctimonious prig about almost everything she does, that she is fair game as far as I am concerned.

I know, I get it. She's had a massive amount of poo in her life to deal with, I personally don't want to be too critical of her. Not judging on anyone here. I'd help her if I could.

[ladyaudley]

, I personally don't want to be too critical of her. Not judging on anyone here. .

I think you're missing the point of this board.

[Muriel Heslop]

I think you're missing the point of this board.

Meh. Normally I'm brimming with snark but occasionally there is a twinge of compassion and empathy. Today is Lauren's day I guess.

[Artemis]

I know, I get it. She's had a massive amount of poo in her life to deal with, I personally don't want to be too critical of her. Not judging on anyone here. I'd help her if I could.

And the bolded is non-judgemental how?

We'd all help her if we could, Muriel, and no-one is being unkind to her because she's lost the baby. In fact, we're all very empathetic about Elijah's death, quite a lot of us having children/having lost children ourselves, and really feeling for bereaved mothers.

However, four living children are currently being dragged from pillar to post, told that the death of their baby brother is a 'neutral' event, denied the opportunity either to grieve, or to settle. They are frequently photographed in dangerous places and situations. (Perhaps you should read even this thread, and see: there are some good links further back.)

They are also photographed barefoot in dangerous places, with dishevelled hair and dirty clothing. One of them scratched her sister's face bloody. One of them eats sand. One of them was lost, overnight, with a sexually mature strange man, and Lauren did nothing about it for hours. All of them are lousy, and none of them clean their teeth. They graze and snack on (mostly) vegan or vegetarian food (with which there is nothing wrong per se, if you have a responsible adult ensuring adequately balanced nutrition within those dietary choices).

Their faces, under the dirt and freckles, are pallid. There are dark shadows under their eyes. Their tummies, under the net tutus, are very rounded. They show signs of being malnourished, and they probably have intestinal parasites, especially after a barefoot visit to Bali, where even the local children could be observed to be shod.

Their mother, meanwhile, insists that all of this is a 'Sparkling Adventure' and that nothing could be better for these forlorn little scraps of humanity than the lifestyle they are leading.

We don't, on this thread, see ourselves as snarking, so much as keeping up a watching brief. Some people have gently tried to approach Lauren through the internet, and point the way to more secure parenting for these four girls. People in Australia have certainly tried to interest Social Services on behalf of these children, and in fact Social Services have tried to intervene: they just can't keep tabs on someone who runs around so much.

The reason I, for one, am here on this thread is because if anything happens to one of those girls, there will be plenty of documentation to show exactly how neglectful a mother Lauren is.

Yes, I'm sure she's suffering, probably depressed, maybe mentally ill. But when push comes to shove, those little girls didn't ask to be born. She had them, and she's responsible for them. And if she's not capable of being properly responsible for them, then she should get help for their sakes, not selfishly bugger off on her own concerns, putting her remaining children at risk.

They cannot advocate for themselves. Isn't it a shame that they're left to the mercy of strangers on the internet to watch for them? Their mother makes her lifestyle VERY public. She exposes it, sells it, grafts from it, and promotes it as desirable. She makes, not just herself, but her children, exceptionally vulnerable by putting them out there, and bringing them up the way she does.

Those of us who are mothers ache for these children. (So do those of us who aren't, actually.) We see them growing up ignorant, malnourished, vulnerable to exploitation, disturbed, uncared for. We worry about their future, and their vulnerability, to exploitation both emotional and sexual. Lauren herself puts out the images that make us feel this way. Lauren herself posts the words that concern us. Lauren shows her own narcissism, her lack of responsibility, her selfish disdain for her children's feelings, her inability to see what parenting is, her holier-than-thou attitude to people living boringly 'normal' lifestyles, and Lauren shows us also the unbelievable fact that she is PROUD of herself for what she does.

And finally, Muriel, perhaps if you don't understand what we're trying to do here, you should maybe choose other threads to look at? This saga has been going on for a very long time. We're all worried about the ultimate outcome for the children, and that's why we're here. Perhaps you need to do a little research before you judge what is actually going on in this particular case.

[lilith]

Thank you Artemis, so so well said.

[Muriel Heslop]

Holy pile of words, batman!

I think you missed the point, Artemis. The point is that I, as in myself, said something mildly snarky towards Lauren and then I checked myself and edited. And I gave my reason for why I did that so no one would think, "where did that comment go?" This is not about you and it's no judgment on this thread. I merely wish to state that I have compassion for her, and her kids, and I'm not saying anyone here doesn't.

I know as much as anyone here about Lauren. I'm glad people are trying to help. If I see her around the city I'll try to help or at least be friendly. Most of you will never have the opportunity to meet her. I am about two degrees of Bacon removed from her right now. I had the thought that I would just feel kind of bad if I met her tomorrow after snarking on her today.

Why so defensive?

Eta: I'm on my phone and I can't tell if it shows whether or not you have edited a post. I assumed there would be a notation on the bottom of the post after editing. In any case I should have made it clear that my first post was snark, edited. If you thought I was coming in here out of the blue all Miss Compassion vs Mean Girls, I can see how that happened. It's not what I intended. Sorry about that, if that is what has occurred.

[intheknow]

To the poster who said they are here to create a living record should anything happen to the children- I wholeheartedly agree.

As someone who knows Lauren, knows the girls and tried to help prevent the death of E and the neglect of the girls I only have this as my outlet. No one in authority cared to listen before E died and no one is listening now. When something else occurs I am very hopefully that the powers that be may finally be held accountable for the part they played in allowing this neglect to continue.

[CheeseDeprived]

As someone who knows Lauren, knows the girls and tried to help prevent the death of E and the neglect of the girls I only have this as my outlet. No one in authority cared to listen before E died and no one is listening now.

You mean there were specific warning signs for the murder of E? :shock: Or just the other stuff that happened in the months prior to his death?

You said "when something else occurs" and sadly that's exactly what it boils down to. I think a lot of us follow this thread with a certain amount of trepidation. Yes, we snark, but I'm sure many of us hold our breath a little when there's no sparkling update - not because we want to snark more, but because we really are worried about these girls, and wouldn't be too surprised if another tragedy happened.

[ladyaudley]

In any case I should have made it clear that my first post was snark, edited.

which one? i can only see the one that starts with NW and that shows as unedited.

Artemis, :clap:

[Muriel Heslop]

which one? i can only see the one that starts with NW and that shows as unedited.

Artemis, :clap:

Yeah the first post. I invited Lauren to come help me clean my house since she had so much time on her hands and I couldn't be stuffed. Then I thought about why she had so much time on her hands and I was :cry: so I edited . I really have no clue why it doesn't show as edited. I am pretty old you know so mebbe it's just me geriatrics showing.

[ladyaudley]

Or maybe you hadn't actually submitted it before editing. All possible.

She doesn't have that much time on her hands because her son tragically died. She has that much time on her hands because she neglects her four daughters and doesn't work.

[happy atheist]

Yeah the first post. I invited Lauren to come help me clean my house since she had so much time on her hands and I couldn't be stuffed. Then I thought about why she had so much time on her hands and I was :cry: so I edited . I really have no clue why it doesn't show as edited. I am pretty old you know so mebbe it's just me geriatrics showing.

Below the window where you type your message, or edit it, there are some tabs. In the Options tab, which is the default, there is a blank at the bottom labeled "Reason for editing this post." If you fill that in, it will add the note at the bottom about who edited the message, and why.

Eta - or you can just do this. Eta means Edited to Add.

[Muriel Heslop]

Below the window where you type your message, or edit it, there are some tabs. In the Options tab, which is the default, there is a blank at the bottom labeled "Reason for editing this post." If you fill that in, it will add the note at the bottom about who edited the message, and why.

Hm. Thanks. Mea culpa etc.

Artemis: you know that last paragraph you wrote that began with "Finally, Muriel..."?

I totally read that in the voice of Sophie Lee. That movie is comedy gold.

[Artemis]

About some things I am very ignorant, so you'll have to tell me who Sophie Lee is . . .

but I hope she has an English accent . . . :)

I can probably hear myself saying it like Maggie Smith, regrettably.

Not a Batman girl here - I'm an inhabitant of the Marvel Universe, rather than DC.

[Palimpsest]

Sophie Lee is an Australian actress. Looking at Muriel's screen name again . . . Muriel Heslop.

Songs running through my head. Dancing Queen, Fernando, Waterloo -- ABBA!

Sophie Lee was in Muriel's Wedding. The one that wasn't Rachel Griffiths or Muriel.

Am I right?

[August]

You're terrible, Muriel.

ETA, just read the backstory, not snatking on you, Muriel, I just have to compulsively say that line. It won't show an edit if no-one else has viewed the original post.

EETA see, this is my second edit, but noone else is viewing right now.