Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[Ms Jess]

I am beginning to wonder if her whole leaving the kids to whomever might be present is because she wants something else horrible to happen so she can point to another example of experiencing a neutral life event and rising, sparkling, above all the horror.

[lilith]

It's absolutely unfathomable and tragic that she didn't leave the girls with her mother. She was just in Perth - she could have skipped the homeschool retreat and left her daughters with a grandmother they know and who cares about them.

[haras1972]

I've been reading Alice Wenzel's blog - I have some hope of her doing the right thing if it all goes pear shaped - she appears to have a secure family network, her parents are still married, she and her siblings went to the best (i.e most expensive!)private schools in Melbourne (not that private school is everything, but her parents were invested in their children's education etc), she seems quite well educated and articulate.

[Annasopinion]

Lauren has gone off somewhere and she will be LOVING all this chat about her being neglectful because it means she can follow up with a post about how she's actually been carefully planning this trip for months and the trip will be some kind of spiritually important healing session paid for by someone who reached out to her, blah blah blah. The blog post will be an opportunity for her to silence her critics with love.

She's bored. David isn't around to play hostage with, I believe she probably IS genuinely depressed as she doesn't get the satisfaction of game playing with him and out playing him. She needs a new cause /adventure / someone to notice HER so leaving her kids behind in that pursuit is no big deal.

For people like Lauren, being pious means nothing unless people KNOW you're being pious and forgiving etc, hence the blog which is nothing less than a catalog of her goodness and triumph over bad things. Except those things aren't even bad, they're 'neutral' thus she blocks David once AGAIN in loudly diminishing his responsibility for what he did and forgiving him and wanting him home. And thereby, Elijah's murder is not a heinous act, its an opportunity for Lauren to show how GOOD SHE IS. This is a central them for her, the pious righteous good woman.

Of course David purposely climbed over the barrier on the logan river and once over the barrier purposefully jumped in with Elijah, ending his game with Lauren and basically send her a great big fuck you by destroying their most precious possession - their son. There's no way Lauren could play at being pious and loving after THAT..or so David thought. But alas, David is no match for her and she has undermined him AGAIN by making statement about what a great dad he is and how he belongs home with them.

Her children are just lambs to the slaughter. I will be very surprised if they leave their childhood mentally intact. She is crazy and they don't have any normality to measure her crazy against. Who else can they model their behaviour on??

I hope Lauren meets her match and doesn't come back.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Soooooooo she is leaving her kids with random people and going off on vacation. I wonder if she is planning to return after the 2 weeks are up. She seems like the kind of selfish person who would decide she likes it there, or meet a prospective romantic partner and decide to just leave the kids with whoever is babysitting them without telling them and stay there forever, never seeing the kids again.

But then again, if she does that, I think it would be something too horrible for most of her blog audience to continue to support her after. Sure, let your kids walk around barefoot with filthy clothes and messy self inflicted haircuts, let them play with scissors and circular saw blades, swim unsupervised after their dad drowned their brother and scavenge for food and call it authentic and free range parenting. How many people would be okay with someone abandoning 4 kids under 10 to move to a different country without them?

Maybe it would be better if Lauren never comes back and whoever is watching these kids turns them over to the Australian equivalent of CPS. Then they would at least get a more stable home than they get now, and three meals a day, warm baths and look presentable.

[Annasopinion]

I've been reading Alice Wenzel's blog - I have some hope of her doing the right thing if it all goes pear shaped - she appears to have a secure family network, her parents are still married, she and her siblings went to the best (i.e most expensive!)private schools in Melbourne (not that private school is everything, but her parents were invested in their children's education etc), she seems quite well educated and articulate.

Even sane people like a little dose of crazy now and then and am I right in thinking she's the one with the home mixer business? Oh OK no she isn't. I've just looked her up. Oh boy, those poor kids.

No matter what I would never leave 4 daughters under the age of 10 alone with ANYONE. But maybe the risk of sexual abuse doesn't exist in Lauren's world.

[haras1972]

Even sane people like a little dose of crazy now and then and am I right in thinking she's the one with the home mixer business? Who else would pay so much money for a wizz machine? Only nutrient obsessed hippies who think they eat superior to everyone else, so it might be advertising, hippy style. It gives her life hippy credentials.

No, Alice is the one who was in Bali with Lauren and the girls, who is solo parenting her young son - her ex-husband lives in Bali... Her blog is wayofthepeacefulparent.com/

[Annasopinion]

Soooooooo she is leaving her kids with random people and going off on vacation. I wonder if she is planning to return after the 2 weeks are up. She seems like the kind of selfish person who would decide she likes it there, or meet a prospective romantic partner and decide to just leave the kids with whoever is babysitting them without telling them and stay there forever, never seeing the kids again.

But then again, if she does that, I think it would be something too horrible for most of her blog audience to continue to support her after. Sure, let your kids walk around barefoot with filthy clothes and messy self inflicted haircuts, let them play with scissors and circular saw blades, swim unsupervised after their dad drowned their brother and scavenge for food and call it authentic and free range parenting. How many people would be okay with someone abandoning 4 kids under 10 to move to a different country without them?

Maybe it would be better if Lauren never comes back and whoever is watching these kids turns them over to the Australian equivalent of CPS. Then they would at least get a more stable home than they get now, and three meals a day, warm baths and look presentable.

How do we know she is going to France? I missed that bit. As for her, if she finds the right kind of mentally unstable man, I'm CERTAIN she would happily give up her blog and blog audience to assume a life with HIM, she needs the drama. Maybe she'll just knock out his baby back home in Australia in 9 months time. Nothing would surprise me and it would be the final game finish for David too.

[truthseeker]

Well I hope one of her sisters is aware of all this, and are taking legal steps to get hold of those girls. Would this constitute child abandonment?

Also - just finished reading Alice Wenzel's blog too. Reading between the lines, her kid sounds like a first class brat and she's even more easily led than Lauren. Wouldn't be surprised if its all a bit too hard for her after a week or so. What then?

[Trudestar]

She's bored. David isn't around to play hostage with, I believe she probably IS genuinely depressed as she doesn't get the satisfaction of game playing with him and out playing him. She needs a new cause /adventure / someone to notice HER so leaving her kids behind in that pursuit is no big deal.

For people like Lauren, being pious means nothing unless people KNOW you're being pious and forgiving etc, hence the blog which is nothing less than a catalog of her goodness and triumph over bad things. Except those things aren't even bad, they're 'neutral' thus she blocks David once AGAIN in loudly diminishing his responsibility for what he did and forgiving him and wanting him home. And thereby, Elijah's murder is not a heinous act, its an opportunity for Lauren to show how GOOD SHE IS. This is a central them for her, the pious righteous good woman.

Of course David purposely climbed over the barrier on the logan river and once over the barrier purposefully jumped in with Elijah, ending his game with Lauren and basically send her a great big fuck you by destroying their most precious possession - their son. There's no way Lauren could play at being pious and loving after THAT..or so David thought. But alas, David is no match for her and she has undermined him AGAIN by making statement about what a great dad he is and how he belongs home with them.

.

You hit the nail on the head Anna. I'm loving your take on all this!

[chaotic life]

Well, it appears she has actually left them with Alice, who has uprooted her entire life to live EXACTLY like Lauren, selling her heirloom jewelry to her brother to finance it. Technically, the girls know Alice and technically, you could argue that Lauren has ever expectation they will be safe with Alice. I believe this is the woman Lauren posted pictures of herself kissing while in Bali.

Honestly, the more I read Lauren, the most Mango Mama rolls around in my head. I just strongly suspect at some point she's going to pull an identical move to Mango Mama--perhaps she will in France. Just like I thought it was probably the best thing that ever happened to Mango Mama's kids that she ran away and abandoned them, I think it might be the best thing for these girls for Lauren to run away and leave them to family now.

[Ms Jess]

Mango Mama? What is this about?

[Annasopinion]

You hit the nail on the head Anna. I'm loving your take on all this!

I grew up in a fundamental christian household like both David and Lauren. I've met every kind of "Christian" nutjob out there, and I know the methods they use to get their way or play out their damage games and David and Lauren are no different. What has surprised me since I started reading her blog was how alike so many bullshit artists are, be they religious or hippies. The same games, the same tactics, the same manipulation.

Lauren COULD have left Australia with no one knowing a thing, she is playing cat and mouse now because she love the drama it creates in her life, it allows her to respond with her 'unique' perspective which she no doubt will. If she's so humble and pious and is keeping her blog as an honest record of her life for her daughter's legacy, why not openly state why and how and where and when she is going? What's the secret?

Oh, of course, the blog ISN'T a record for her daughters, its a score keeping record for David to show him how living she is and how his end game didn't work and she's wrapped it in a tight bundle of new hippy ideals, freeloading and the NE just to keep it interesting.

As for David, he would never have killed his daughters, his son has the value in the game. Now, if he ever re-joins the family there is no where for him to 'go' he will have to kill them all in a murder suicide. I hope they never re-connect. EVER. You can't play half a game and then opt out, this behaviour is ingrained.

I'm shocked that people have thought he was a hands on dad. He comes across in the posts as a passive aggressive psycho and photos with the daughters freak me out, I can see the crazy in him.

[Annasopinion]

Mango Mama? What is this about?

yes I'd like to know more, who is this?

[Trudestar]

Well, it appears she has actually left them with Alice, who has uprooted her entire life to live EXACTLY like Lauren, selling her heirloom jewelry to her brother to finance it. Technically, the girls know Alice and technically, you could argue that Lauren has ever expectation they will be safe with Alice. I believe this is the woman Lauren posted pictures of herself kissing in Bali

I'm pretty sure Lauren and Alice only met in person in Bali, in May. And it's not like they've seen each other much since.

Seems Alice left her son with Lauren for 2 nights in Bali, while she went off to have a hot and heavy affair with a Frenchman from New York. She planned on visiting him in the US, but he decided to stay with his girlfriend, so instead of selling her jewellery for the US trip, she bought a van to be just like Lauren. As someone mentioned, Alice does seem to idolise Lauren to a certain extent.

Maybe Lauren met a Frenchman too? Alice's love interest was in Bali surfing, and if he'd left his girlfriend behind, it stands to reason he was there with his mates.....

Alice also mentioned Elijah's story in a blog, saying that David was in a psych hospital "heavily medicated".

Maybe he'll never make it to trial....

[Full enough quiver]

I consider myself a very easygoing parent. I have one rule in my house, and that is respect. For yourself, and for others. My kids make most of their own decisions. We have no limits on screen time, dress, bedtime, etc. The girls have always self directed their friendships, their educations, their diets. (with guidance, obviously) They each ride quads, which they have done since the age of 6.(with helmets, of course) We have also left the girls home alone since they were maybe 6 or so. (during daylight hours, and no more than an hour or two) So, I'm completely in favor of "free range" parenting, gently guiding, and then letting the kids take the reins. However, I would never, in my wildest dreams, leave my kids for two weeks with anyone I had known less than 10 years. I would never let my child spend the night out in the bush with a strange man, or travel with strange men. Cutting their own hair and running around barefoot, meh...but exposing them to possible exploitation, that's where the line is drawn.

[Ariel]

This is one of those situations where I wish it were more socially acceptable to actively not want children. If it were I think there would be less neglectful parents.

Lauren says she wanted kids, but maybe she wanted some idealized child, not a real one. Real children take lots of care. You have to wonder if maybe she's thinking "I could run off to Europe on a whim all the time if I never had children".

I can see myself wanting to run away from it all for 2 weeks if I had kids-not sure if I would actually go through with it, but I would be sorely tempted. Some people just don't have a temperament that adapts well to parenting, and they need to recognize it and accept it before the deed is done.

[lilith]

This is one of those situations where I wish it were more socially acceptable to actively not want children. If it were I think there would be less neglectful parents.

Lauren says she wanted kids, but maybe she wanted some idealized child, not a real one. Real children take lots of care. You have to wonder if maybe she's thinking "I could run off to Europe on a whim all the time if I never had children".

I can see myself wanting to run away from it all for 2 weeks if I had kids-not sure if I would actually go through with it, but I would be sorely tempted. Some people just don't have a temperament that adapts well to parenting, and they need to recognize it and accept it before the deed is done.

Parents can and do get away from it all for a week or two. It just takes a little planning around when trusted people such as parents are available to care for one's children.

[Annasopinion]

I'm pretty sure Lauren and Alice only met in person in Bali, in May. And it's not like they've seen each other much since.

Seems Alice left her son with Lauren for 2 nights in Bali, while she went off to have a hot and heavy affair with a Frenchman from New York. She planned on visiting him in the US, but he decided to stay with his girlfriend, so instead of selling her jewellery for the US trip, she bought a van to be just like Lauren. As someone mentioned, Alice does seem to idolise Lauren to a certain extent.

Maybe Lauren met a Frenchman too? Alice's love interest was in Bali surfing, and if he'd left his girlfriend behind, it stands to reason he was there with his mates.....

Alice also mentioned Elijah's story in a blog, saying that David was in a psych hospital "heavily medicated".

Maybe he'll never make it to trial....

How the hell would she know what state David is in? Lauren told her? Is that accurate info? Apparently he is online and answering emails and following the blog and arranging to have assistants buy crappy toys for his surviving kids so I doubt he is all that heavily medicated. He is probably unfit to be released into society or stand trial due to a long overdue mental illness, but frankly I think Lauren is unfit and also suffering a mental illness, and the only difference between them is that he involved a child in his game and she continues to neglect the remaining children in her "care"

[chaotic life]

Mango Mama was an early online blogger who was one of the masterminds of the natural parenting, taking children seriously movement--the very movement that Lauren has supposedly embraced. The woman lived in the middle of an mango groove in Hawaii and blogged about how amazing and beautiful and perfect her life and her family was, while others said she was neglecting her kids and lying. Then, she accompanied a man friend to Australia on a two week trip as his nursing assistant as he was wheelchair bound and consequently abandoned her children, refused to come back home and left everything.

It was probably the most spectacular meltdown I've seen happen online due to the heavy TMI blogging habits of the individual. Lauren is like that woman in far, far to many respects, and yes I really do believe at some point she'll abandon her girls for something better.

[Ms Jess]

Is that this person?

mangomama.org

[DarkAnts]

Is that this person?

mangomama.org

Here is the old blog on the wayback machine.

http://web.archive.org/web/200007070057 ... index.html

[longskirtlotsakids]

Not to be a contradictory know it all, but they lived in a rented house in a banana grove in Hawaii. They used no paper products ( menstrual and potty things were handled with 'family cloth'), everything was organic, the kids were homeschooled, they were beautiful, they ate nothing packaged.

Except like MckMama, she wasn't blogging life, but idealism. She had three or four kids and eschewed birth control. She then ran off with a new man with no kids and had a new life. Most of the stuff has been scrubbed, but you can find some stuff if you Google Jennifer VanLaanen. She tried a new blog but was pretty much hated off the Internet's.

[Trudestar]

"Voila"

Lauren's in France. Latest from fb.

[pastaswife]

She's basically liveblogging this trip, yet her blog hasn't been updated all month, that makes me even more scared that she will stay there, and sadly I could see her blogging about her "new life" while Alice and whoever else pick up the pieces of her daughter's lives..