Famteam University

[formergothardite]

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Skip the first part and go to the end of this video. These are men in their 30's. WTF did the parents do to them?

I think the one with the beard is good looking. :embarrassed:

[JenniferJuniper]

I think they still do court reporting. Why would they give something like that up. I'm not sure the photograpyhy is that lucrtive.

Rick doesn't work any more. I think 3 or 4 sons at most are qualified court reporters and they don't each have assignments every day. The wedding photography business is seasonal. Mommy's family has a business that is still run by some of her siblings (a sister or two included) but she came from a very large family and it's hard to see her maintaining any sustained wealth from it or an inheritance. They also fix laptops, but I can't imagine there is huge demand for their services.

Long story short, no idea how they making it. There have been times in the past where Rick admitted they were having major financial problems because some of their legal clients weren't paying on a timely basis, which may indicate a hand-to-mouth existence.

And yet they have all of these healthy,strapping sons who could be out making money as plumbers, carpenters, landscapers and construction workers.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

The one with the microphone looks like a Neanderthal.

I don't know what the parents did, but they did something. Something in the water....

[Dark Matters]

Or the potential courtship opportunities. 4 Males over 30! There is hope for poor Sarah yet!

Never happen. Mama Arndt wears shorts and that won't fly in the Church of Stevehovah.

[ILoveJellybeans]

But they have fun. Loads of it. In a creepy, weird way, but still, fun. Sarah would be traumatized and crying for Daddy to come save her from Hell.

[Coco]

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Skip the first part and go to the end of this video. These are men in their 30's. WTF did the parents do to them?

I think the one with the beard is good looking. :embarrassed:

Totally enmeshment. But there's also kind of a weird dullness to them all, like it is something in the water. The mom has it too. OH HEY do they garden? Burn weeds? Eat a LOT of brownies? :lol: Definitely would be surprised if they're allowing caffeine in that house.

i don't think they're simple, they're just content and mellow for some reason. Regular old days go by and turn to years. When there's so many people in a family it's easy for it to be come a fulfilling social structure because something is always going on with someone, there's always a distraction or something to do. They all kind of talk to each other i guess.

I do think it's obvious they at least watch sports or listen to baseball on the radio.

[sparkles]

Ages of the participants aside, that video is just WEIRD. Add the ages back in and it gets even more weird. And squicky.

The one in the red shirt with the mic reminded me of Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls. I kept waiting for him to burst out singing Luck be a Lady Tonight but then I remembered these are Arndts, so ladies? Um, no.

[anjulibai]

They way Caleb is referred to in that video is so strange. It's like he's a small boy, and not a tall young man in his mid teens.

[Grimalkin]

If I didn't know that he men wearing ties were in their 30's and living at home sleeping in bunk beds, I wouldn't think them creepy weird just quirky, and having fun with their kid brother while visiting over the holidays. Like they were trying to bond with him since they don't see him to often.

[SoybeanQueen]

If they appeared to have other hobbies, I wouldn't find the video too weird. Making dumb videos amuses me. But I'm not still living with my parents and I have other activities with which to fill my time.

[FloraKitty35]

Love this!!

[Howl]

If I didn't know that he men wearing ties were in their 30's and living at home sleeping in bunk beds, I wouldn't think them creepy weird just quirky, and having fun with their kid brother while visiting over the holidays. Like they were trying to bond with him since they don't see him to often.

Well, color me confused. I don't find the video weird -- it is perfect satire of sports announcer commentary and sports reporting, so there is humor there. Forget about the autistic angle -- I'm not seeing it in this video.

Nice looking guys, presentable, comfortable in front of the camera. Mom and daughter in shorts. Hmmmm. None of the guys are married. Botkins? BOTKINS?

[CelticGoddess]

I assume this is an unacreditied university??

All they need to do is form their own accrediting body ala Rand Paul. Impressive :lol:

[Cleopatra7]

Maybe the fact that there are so many Arndt sons (as opposed to other large fundie families that have a more even distribution of male and female children) discourages them from associating outside the family. It's the opposite of Joy Anna Duggar ' s problem of being a girl stuck in the middle of a bunch of boys but expected to be a "young lady." The Arndt "boys" have so many brothers that they see their social lives as completely fulfilled by each other's presence.

[nelliebelle1197]

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Skip the first part and go to the end of this video. These are men in their 30's. WTF did the parents do to them?

I think the one with the beard is good looking. :embarrassed:

No shame in that. Luke (the one to the right) is wicked cute, especially when his muscles are showing!

[Peas n carrots]

What--no course on the care of ducks and penguins? Must be an oversight.

Geoff Botkin - duck biologist - could be a guest lecturer!

[chosenone]

My son thought of himself as a sports broadcaster, not unlike we see in the famed ping pong game,, but the difference is my son was 8 at the time,, not 30 plus,, these people are really out there

[gilamomster]

Jumping in to comment on the ASD dx.

I have two boys, both of which are on the spectrum. My oldest is by far more affected than the younger.

So it is absolutely possible to hit the jackpot more than one time per family.

As far as the Arndts, I'm not sure what's going on there aside from sheer cult-like and creepy behavior. Perhaps one or two are on the spectrum but we can't be certain.

[nokidsmom]

This sounds spot on!

It is spot on and years ago a therapist used this very term to describe my FOO. I often refer to my family as Maxwellian in terms of the family that is functioning like a cult headed by daddy, but they are Arntian in the sense that family members are allowed to have jobs outside the family, namely because there is no family business to get into (check). No personal boundaries, family members have to be "in the know" about each other's business, especially the parents about their kids, even the adult ones (check). Fear of displeasing runs rampant and it can be over being emotionally punished instead of financial (check).

I think it's a massive case of Stockholm syndrome, it's very real as another poster mentioned. Those kids have been trained from day one to sympathize with their captors/parent and to make what Mommy and Daddy want their prime directive to the detriment of their own lives. And Mommy and Daddy aren't abusive by the usual definitions in fact they appear quite the opposite to the outside world. I bet that when the kids were young, no one thought this family was weird, they probably thought of them very much like the Duggars, all nice and oh so Christian. It's not until there are a bunch of grown men-boys in the house who show no indicators of moving out or dating, much less getting married, that's it's now creepy instead of seeming all Christian and nice. Somehow, Rick and Cathy have trained their adult children enough to let them out of their family home cage in order to work to support the family Rick's neverending film project and yet these chidults happily come back. The truly remarkable thing is that they have managed to do this with all of their children, not even one has managed to break free.

My guess that Mom and Dad aren't opposed to the idea of their kids getting married but having it become a reality is an entirely different thing. It means letting go and somehow I suspect that they think that even with their levels of control, it's somehow going to work out for these guys. That the perfect wife for each Arndt man boy is out there but it's some ill defined or impossible standard that doesn't exist and furthermore these guys think that they have to make no effort, Princess Charming will just show up one day, somehow. :angry-banghead:

And let's not underestimate that these guys chances are dwindling as time marches on very similar to Sarah Maxwell's prospects. In addition, I suspect that the family is seen increasingly as very strange by the people around them. We know that there was a girl interested in one of them, he treated her like she had cooties, she has moved on and don't tell me that word gets around to people to not get involved with the family. I remember when I was single having my short list of "guys who were cute and nice but family is fucked up, don't go there". I would not be surprised if the Arndt man boys are on similar lists.

[sparkles]

My son thought of himself as a sports broadcaster, not unlike we see in the famed ping pong game,, but the difference is my son was 8 at the time,, not 30 plus,, these people are really out there

My nephew also thinks of himself as a sports broadcaster and makes videos all time. He's been doing it since he was 10 or so. And he IS on the spectrum, PPD-NOS.

With the Arndts, it's really the whole Gestalt thing. There are certain aspects of the family seem perfectly normal but when you put it all together…woo boy. They're off the charts.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

I feel like this family is straight out if the The X-Files. I don't think they are frightened of the world like the Duggars or the Maxwells. I truly believe that they don't care that the world exists. There is more than control here, it's like some type if spell has been cast on the kids and I don't even believe in spells. They all truly seem happy to be together all the time without any friends. I don't think any of the sons even want to leave Mom and the penguins behind.

A few weeks ago I questioned here on FJ if the Arndts had access to their own driver's licenses, birth certificates etc. They are just too "off".... They're "too worldly" for the Maxwells [after all they seem to have "fun"] too boring for the Duggars of today and to "twisted for color tv" [Thank you Steel Magnolias] for the rest of us. These "man children" -- do they simply have no sex drive? Have they been so effectively brain washed that they have really no desire to leave home or are they really held captive with no documents to get a job if they leave home? I really do wonder. Maybe they can get married "when filming is done"? That would be like when the Soviet Union finally achieved "real communism" [i.e. never]. Strange group

[nokidsmom]

A few weeks ago I questioned here on FJ if the Arndts had access to their own driver's licenses, birth certificates etc. They are just too "off".... They're "too worldly" for the Maxwells [after all they seem to have "fun"] too boring for the Duggars of today and to "twisted for color tv" [Thank you Steel Magnolias] for the rest of us. These "man children" -- do they simply have no sex drive? Have they been so effectively brain washed that they have really no desire to leave home or are they really held captive with no documents to get a job if they leave home? I really do wonder. Maybe they can get married "when filming is done"? That would be like when the Soviet Union finally achieved "real communism" [i.e. never]. Strange group

The older ones who have jobs and drive obviously would have drivers licenses and documents to prove citizenship in order to work, however it begs the question of how long they had to wait in order to be allowed to work and drive. It seems like the younger ones are just at home and doing nothing else. Also I don't think that Rick and Cathy would have passed up not claiming that many children as exemptions on their taxes, which means all of them have SSNs. The biggest obstacle is probably not documentation but the brainwashing and willingness to just be at home.

And I can totally see "until filming is done" excuse made either by parents or to themselves as far as getting married. And yeah that would be as in never.

[Four is Enough]

I think the last time my son pretended to be a sportscaster, he was about 12. No spectrum for him.. just a love of narrating his own basketball shooting.

How do the Ardnts expect their brides to come to them? On the wings of angels?

And I can NOT imagine them as court reporters. Have you ever HEARD stuff going on in courtrooms? OMG! Defrauding to the max! They'd be around sinners! And adulterers! And Thieves! And other unsavory people!

(Although one of my relatives is a court reporter AND makes money transcribing the tapes made in court into hard copies at home. Maybe that's how they do it. Relative has a computer at home dedicated to that work.)

[Dandruff]

What abowt Wizzy? Will she someday get married? Maybe one of the guys who participates in the baseball/softball (I forgot which) tournaments? I wonder what it would take for a young man to gain the approval of her parents and 13 brothers.

[sparkles]

What abowt Wizzy? Will she someday get married? Maybe one of the guys who participates in the baseball/softball (I forgot which) tournaments? I wonder what it would take for a young man to gain the approval of her parents and 13 brothers.

He will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.