Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[grease monkey]

Lauren was good at her job I agree, but she doesnt have a degree and has never been to University

[DaffyDill]

Well, I know plenty of apocalypse-planners (economic collapse variety, not religious armageddon variety)

This describes David pretty well I think because although he became increasingly religious and manic, initially he wanted to hide out in Tasmania to avoid the aftermath of a peak oil crisis. He also managed to convince Lauren this criss was only a matter of time, so off they skipped to NZ in their original white truck. They did go back and forth to Australia though IIRC...

[church_of_dog]

This describes David pretty well I think because although he became increasingly religious and manic, initially he wanted to hide out in Tasmania to avoid the aftermath of a peak oil crisis. He also managed to convince Lauren this criss was only a matter of time, so off they skipped to NZ in their original white truck. They did go back and forth to Australia though IIRC...

Yes, I agree that describes him/them well. As I said, I'm reading the blog archives, and I found the post where they talk about their realization about the unsustainability of the energy economy, etc.

What I'm disagreeing with is the idea that that this focus of theirs is a display of the mental illness which apparently ultimately took David down. Like I said, I know lots of folks getting ready for economic collapse and have not heard any stories of someone trying to harm themselves or their family members or losing touch with reality in the way that he seems to have done.

Now, his religious views are another thing altogether, and I have definitely heard of folks who think the rapture is approaching -- although they generally do the opposite of preparing, since they believe they will be taken at that time. Only us heathens will be left behind... :D

[Trudestar]

Lauren's latest pic shows her friends kombi, advertising the friends business in Woodford.

For those who don't know, Woodford is just North of Brisbane, a hop, skip and a jump from Laurens house, which is on the South side of Brisbane. So they're only about 90 minutes from 'home'.

Is David due back in court?

edited to add: I can't find any news articles since June '13, when he was remanded until "next month". I can't find anything about the July appearance or anything else recent.

[Aurora rising]

Yes, I agree that describes him/them well. As I said, I'm reading the blog archives, and I found the post where they talk about their realization about the unsustainability of the energy economy, etc.

What I'm disagreeing with is the idea that that this focus of theirs is a display of the mental illness which apparently ultimately took David down. Like I said, I know lots of folks getting ready for economic collapse and have not heard any stories of someone trying to harm themselves or their family members or losing touch with reality in the way that he seems to have done.

I agree, he was / is for sure not stable. But maybe there´s another factor as well: Friends of min got a baby boy - after 2 girls. The father once said to me that he was never jealous with his girls - but now he is. He was laughing about it and said that it´s quite normal, a lot of fathers feel like this. If David was not stable before and saw that the sparkling one gave her whole time and energy to the baby - maybe it was enough to send him truly over the edge.

[chaotic life]

Oh goody, a fourth rat and another child's name changed according to Instagram.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Which name has she changed now?

I imagine its hard for the kids to have such little of an identity. They arent allowed to recognise their own feelings and feel sad that their dad killed their brother, theyre neglected and even their names change.

OK, yeah, sometimes kids might decide their name is something else for a while, I am sure one of my brothers insisted on being called the name of his favourite character for a few weeks at about age 3-5, but parents shouldnt take this completely seriously. Yeah, sure, if you gave your kid a girls name, assuming they were going to grow up to be a girl, but they turned out to be a boy, sure, let them use a boy's name, but just letting kids change their names for no reason and taking it completely seriously. Thats just silly.

[happy atheist]

Which name has she changed now?

I'm not sure I would consider it a name change. I think she's just calling Calista "Cali."

[ILoveJellybeans]

That makes sense then

[August]

Well, I know plenty of apocalypse-planners (economic collapse variety, not religious armageddon variety) and think most of them are pretty sane, with a few exceptions of course.

But yes, mental illness, I think you're right. Very sad.

I would dispute that. I'm kind of fascinated by them, and I have not seen any evidence that they're sane. Assuming you're talking about the kind who spend more than a trivial portion of their time and money prepping for TEOTWAWKI(and I feel fine) because they're worried about the future, then they fit the definition of impaired functioning due to anxiety. When you have a mental illness, the test they use to see if you need treatment is if it is interfering with day to day living.

[church_of_dog]

This is a whole topic unto itself, and I don't want to hijack the thread (nor do I especially want to put myself in the center of any discussion about this, even in another thread such as an Ask-A-Doomer AMA) but I do want to respond, so I'll just try to sum up in a paragraph or two.

I completely agree with you with regards to anxiety/worry. Except that, by way of example, if you looked out your window and saw a tornado coming, would you think it's inappropriate to worry, and to focus your time and attention on getting ready, securing your family etc? Even to go so far as to interrupt your "normal daily life" to do so?

That's the analogy I've seen a lot and personally agree with. The difference here is that some people say "that tornado isn't going to hit this house because reasons", or "that's not really a tornado, you just think it is because other reasons". But for those who do believe it's a tornado and heading their way, the planning activity makes perfect sense.

And even a bit of worry makes sense, although there is a limit there, because even if what they think is approaching turns out to be real, there's really no point to making your current life wholly miserable in anticipation. But again, that's just my opinion, and as I say, there are many wide-ranging viewpoints on this, and lots coming from people who I don't think anyone would call insane or out of touch with reality, etc. References on request.

There are also the folks who subscribe, as I do, to the "theory of anyway", pretty much the viewpoint that a focus on maximizing my self-reliance, which could be seen as planning for a post-crash future, is also my preferred way to live NOW -- so in effect I'm choosing by preference to live in a way that also constitutes the best long-term crash planning I can muster. Not any noticeable worry or anxiety involved, just awareness.

OK, again, sorry for thread-jack.

[chaotic life]

Yes, Cali can be a nickname for Calista. I just find it disturbing from a woman who changes children's names on a whim more than she changes directions of her vehicle. My children have embraced a LOT of nicknames over the years, and while I honor and respect those trying on choices, I am fairly consistent in what *I* call them. Lauren is not at all, and appears to have no concept that a NAME has meaning to a human being, especially a child.

[church_of_dog]

Yes, Cali can be a nickname for Calista. I just find it disturbing from a woman who changes children's names on a whim more than she changes directions of her vehicle. My children have embraced a LOT of nicknames over the years, and while I honor and respect those trying on choices, I am fairly consistent in what *I* call them. Lauren is not at all, and appears to have no concept that a NAME has meaning to a human being, especially a child.

I've been reading through her blog archives, and have seen that each of the girls has had some sort of name change. Aisha's name was originally spelled Aicha, with an umlaut-type mark over the i -- they changed the spelling to Aisha mere weeks before the girl was starting to learn to write her name.

Brioni was apparently named Stephanie until about 8 weeks of age when Lauren read a book that had the name "Briony" and liked it so much they changed her name.

Calista's name was originally spelled with two ls -- Callista. Again, a few months old, they decided to change it. I see her using the nicknames "Cali" and "Bri" and "Dell" all along, on and off, so I don't think that's new.

Then the whole story with Delaney/Lana etc, which I guess is the only one without an official/paperworky name change (so far).

I've also noticed Lauren's attitude toward death, the new agey sort of approach that says "this is just how it is, sad but not the end of the world" -- that kind of approach seems to have been her style long before the tragedy with Elijah/David. She talks about the girls coming across a whole variety of dead animals in their explorations, and then when their dog died, the same thing. It does strike me as creepy in a way, but I also get it in a way, just like how kids who grow up on a farm learn about death in a matter-of-fact way.

Of course it's a whole other thing when it's your son/brother, that's a given. I can only hope that her reaction in real life is more appropriate and what we're seeing on the blog is more a matter of her attempting to be an extra-sparkling example of holisticness and not let her pain show to the public. Little does she know that it's backfiring on her and instead making her look like a space cadet. Maybe she just is, but I prefer to hold out a bit of hope that it's just the skew of the blog...

[August]

This is a whole topic unto itself, and I don't want to hijack the thread (nor do I especially want to put myself in the center of any discussion about this, even in another thread such as an Ask-A-Doomer AMA) but I do want to respond, so I'll just try to sum up in a paragraph or two.

I completely agree with you with regards to anxiety/worry. Except that, by way of example, if you looked out your window and saw a tornado coming, would you think it's inappropriate to worry, and to focus your time and attention on getting ready, securing your family etc? Even to go so far as to interrupt your "normal daily life" to do so?

That's the analogy I've seen a lot and personally agree with. The difference here is that some people say "that tornado isn't going to hit this house because reasons", or "that's not really a tornado, you just think it is because other reasons". But for those who do believe it's a tornado and heading their way, the planning activity makes perfect sense.

And even a bit of worry makes sense, although there is a limit there, because even if what they think is approaching turns out to be real, there's really no point to making your current life wholly miserable in anticipation. But again, that's just my opinion, and as I say, there are many wide-ranging viewpoints on this, and lots coming from people who I don't think anyone would call insane or out of touch with reality, etc. References on request.

There are also the folks who subscribe, as I do, to the "theory of anyway", pretty much the viewpoint that a focus on maximizing my self-reliance, which could be seen as planning for a post-crash future, is also my preferred way to live NOW -- so in effect I'm choosing by preference to live in a way that also constitutes the best long-term crash planning I can muster. Not any noticeable worry or anxiety involved, just awareness.

OK, again, sorry for thread-jack.

Maybe we should start a new thread?

As a person with anxiety issues I could point to 50 things more likely to kill you tomorrow than TEOTWAWKI, so rather than a tornado approaching the question becomes more one of preparing for a flood when you're in a 1000 year flood zone, or spending the time and money on smoke detectors, a safe car, leafy greens and working out? I have hurricane supplies in the basement, a fire ladder upstairs and a first aid kit in my car, but eating tinned food all the time because I have to rotate my two years of tinned food for the apocalypse? No, that's excessive.

I'd say seeing TEOTWAWKI as a tornado bearing down on you is a sign of anxiety - it's not realistic or logical, kind of like how a hoarder attaches excessive value to valueless items, a person with anxiety disorder fears unlikely things excessively.

[lilith]

And she's dreading Calista's hair......

[church_of_dog]

Maybe we should start a new thread?

As a person with anxiety issues I could point to 50 things more likely to kill you tomorrow than TEOTWAWKI, so rather than a tornado approaching the question becomes more one of preparing for a flood when you're in a 1000 year flood zone, or spending the time and money on smoke detectors, a safe car, leafy greens and working out? I have hurricane supplies in the basement, a fire ladder upstairs and a first aid kit in my car, but eating tinned food all the time because I have to rotate my two years of tinned food for the apocalypse? No, that's excessive.

I'd say seeing TEOTWAWKI as a tornado bearing down on you is a sign of anxiety - it's not realistic or logical, kind of like how a hoarder attaches excessive value to valueless items, a person with anxiety disorder fears unlikely things excessively.

I think if we were sitting around discussing this over a beer we would find we're mostly in agreement. I definitely agree with you that preparing for an unknown future should not preclude living safely/healthfully in the present. Nor am I in favor of living off stocks of processed food (except, as you say, for short term situations like an earthquake or hurricane).

My version of preparing means gardening, learning to do things by hand instead of depending on fossil-fueled machines, and fostering useful skills in my community-mates, rather than driving long distances to the big city to get things from name brand megacorporations.

On the other hand, I don't agree that reacting to a tornado that really IS approaching, is a sign of anxiety -- I think it's both realistic and logical. And I do not live in fear/dread/anxiety of any sort. (well, I do have a somewhat exaggerated fear of windstorms. :shock: but other than that.)

Whether or not TSHTF is actually comparable to a tornado would take some talking about, but I don't think I'm up for that right now. We all have our sources that we trust. I've spent the last ten years learning about this situation and I have my opinions about what's likely to happen and when. There are actually forums to discuss it, and similar topics, and for all I know you and I are having a lively chat in one of them as I type! :D

[chaotic life]

TBH, dreding Calista's hair could be a positive thing. Lauren is SO attached to dreds that she might take it personally when the child chops these off and thus Lauren might FINALLY take the damn scissors away from her. Dreds on that child will look FAR better than what the poor little thing has lived with for over a year now, since they were letting her chop her hair before Elijah died and it got exponentially worse as she was grieving and no one was working with her actual grief with her so she chopped EVERYONE's hair off for awhile.

[August]

I think if we were sitting around discussing this over a beer we would find we're mostly in agreement. I definitely agree with you that preparing for an unknown future should not preclude living safely/healthfully in the present. Nor am I in favor of living off stocks of processed food (except, as you say, for short term situations like an earthquake or hurricane).

My version of preparing means gardening, learning to do things by hand instead of depending on fossil-fueled machines, and fostering useful skills in my community-mates, rather than driving long distances to the big city to get things from name brand megacorporations.

On the other hand, I don't agree that reacting to a tornado that really IS approaching, is a sign of anxiety -- I think it's both realistic and logical. And I do not live in fear/dread/anxiety of any sort. (well, I do have a somewhat exaggerated fear of windstorms. :shock: but other than that.)

Whether or not TSHTF is actually comparable to a tornado would take some talking about, but I don't think I'm up for that right now. We all have our sources that we trust. I've spent the last ten years learning about this situation and I have my opinions about what's likely to happen and when. There are actually forums to discuss it, and similar topics, and for all I know you and I are having a lively chat in one of them as I type! :D

I just lurk on them to make sure no solar storms are approaching.

But you misread. I said "I'd say seeing TEOTWAWKI as a tornado bearing down on you is a sign of anxiety"

[church_of_dog]

I just lurk on them to make sure no solar storms are approaching.

But you misread. I said "I'd say seeing TEOTWAWKI as a tornado bearing down on you is a sign of anxiety"

Hmm, I didn't misread, but I see that what I wrote doesn't really respond to what you said. I guess I have to disagree with your last statement there, as I think a tornado is a good analogy, with the caveat that we all/mostly know what a tornado looks like and has the potential to do, whereas we don't really know the specifics of what is coming, economically or energywise, or the cascading effects that might be expected.

Otherwise, though, I think it's an apt analogy, in terms of describing how obvious and clearcut it seems to those looking out the window versus those who insist it's not that (for varying reasons of their own). And yet I do not experience much if any anxiety regarding it. I "worry" much more about traffic safety when I go to the city to visit family, and earthquakes while I'm there, because it's earthquake country. I "worry" (just a little) about various health or aging issues that might be in my future. I don't "worry" about TEOTWAWKI, even though I believe it's approaching. I plan for it much in the same way that I plan for winter coming -- "hmm, what do I think I'll need, better get it ready" -- wood supply? check. roof repaired? check. lots of potatoes in the root cellar? check. No negative emotions or feelings at all. I know many folks with similar approach/attitude.

PS -- lol to solar storms discussions, yes -- I wonder about them every time my internet gets flaky for no apparent reason.

And just to keep the thread on topic, I'm still baffled by Lauren's attitude about wanting so many kids -- I just read in the archives where Calista is about 9 months old and Lauren is craving another baby and describing how she thinks 18 months separation is the perfect age spread for kids -- I don't get how she jives that attitude with the ecological understanding, what she would call the peak oil approach -- which generally identifies overpopulation as one of the main issues when it comes to recognizing that natural resources are finite. And it's not David pushing for more kids -- she even mentions how he would like to delay before they add more kids, but she's wishing otherwise, and reluctantly agreeing to accede to David's wishes (though I'm sure I'll read about her Delaney pregnancy shortly, as those girls aren't that far apart, I don't think).

[splork]

And just to keep the thread on topic, I'm still baffled by Lauren's attitude about wanting so many kids -- I just read in the archives where Calista is about 9 months old and Lauren is craving another baby and describing how she thinks 18 months separation is the perfect age spread for kids -- I don't get how she jives that attitude with the ecological understanding, what she would call the peak oil approach -- which generally identifies overpopulation as one of the main issues when it comes to recognizing that natural resources are finite. And it's not David pushing for more kids -- she even mentions how he would like to delay before they add more kids, but she's wishing otherwise, and reluctantly agreeing to accede to David's wishes (though I'm sure I'll read about her Delaney pregnancy shortly, as those girls aren't that far apart, I don't think).

To be fair, having a million kids makes more sense as a strategy to cope with peak oil than endlessly driving around in a bus.

[church_of_dog]

To be fair, having a million kids makes more sense as a strategy to cope with peak oil than endlessly driving around in a bus.

Ha, true!

[Trudestar]

And she's dreading Calista's hair......

Where did you see this gem?

[Blahblah]

Where did you see this gem?

Instagram

[Trudestar]

Oh, I saw the pic but not the description.

Will be interesting to see who, if anyone, maintains them. I can't see Lauren doing it, and it will double the cost of her already costly dread maintenance if she pays someone else.

Interesting choice of hairstyle for one so young.... I can understand Calista wanting dreads, to be like her Mum and other women she knows, but really? Does Lauren ever NOT go along with her kids whims?

I wonder how long it will be before she doesn't want dreads anymore and has to shave her head? And will she be allowed to get rid of them if she wants? That may be one whim Lauren won't accommodate, methinks.

[ladyaudley]

ach, I think dreads will be an improvement for Calista. At least they'll be easier to maintain during their lifestyle than non-dreaded hair.