Erika Shupe Miscarriage

[ILoveJellybeans]

Yes, and to feel even more sorry for the oldest girls, they are such a blessing, cooking for "they're" tired, expecting mama.... bitch, how is that any different from any other days for them? Oh, and they went away for their 18th wedding anniversary, not hard to do when you have indentured servants who are forced to take care of the other children overnight...

.I hate her I really do..... On the baby note I want to think her mama instincts kick in right? That maybe she listens to her doctors that say feed on demand??? Right??? I think I will put her on a schedule of feeding and sleeping......And why doesn't her husband step in???

I think her mothering instincts died a long time ago. Being a fundie does that to you. I imagine that years of blanket training, scheduling and beating desensitizes them to their children's distress, pain and feelings. Which is a really scary thought. How else could they do it? If someone had compassion, they would not be able to live with themselves knowing that they are hurting their own children, and even if they found it hard the first time they decided to pick up To Train Up a Child and then follow it, the amount of times they have done it, they just get used to it and probably don't even see their children as real human beings that are in pain.

[Seven Severn]

Yes, and to feel even more sorry for the oldest girls, they are such a blessing, cooking for "they're" tired, expecting mama.... bitch, how is that any different from any other days for them? Oh, and they went away for their 18th wedding anniversary, not hard to do when you have indentured servants who are forced to take care of the other children overnight...

.I hate her I really do..... On the baby note I want to think her mama instincts kick in right? That maybe she listens to her doctors that say feed on demand??? Right??? I think I will put her on a schedule of feeding and sleeping......And why doesn't her husband step in???

To the bolded: Because earning a living is men's work and caring for children is women's work. What don't you understand? *smile* *chuckle*

[Eternalbluepearl]

I think her mothering instincts died a long time ago. Being a fundie does that to you. I imagine that years of blanket training, scheduling and beating desensitizes them to their children's distress, pain and feelings. Which is a really scary thought. How else could they do it? If someone had compassion, they would not be able to live with themselves knowing that they are hurting their own children, and even if they found it hard the first time they decided to pick up To Train Up a Child and then follow it, the amount of times they have done it, they just get used to it and probably don't even see their children as real human beings that are in pain.

Erika does come across as cold, even though her blog is full of *smiles*, *hugs*, *beams*, etc. It's like you can read right through it that she's a bitch.

[MamaJunebug]

I finally looked up her jellybean economic system.

Holy crap! The complexity of the thing is on a par with the boredom of the Maxwells' Moody books!!

That woman is all hard surfaces and jutting angles, isn't she? From the precise hair style to the smile (you paid for those impossibly perfect teeth, lady, show off Each And Every One Of Them!), she's HARD.

Wonder what got her that way.

Wish the universe would have visited a little less fertility on her. Those children can't be having that pleasant a childhood.

C'est la vie, I suppose.

[mango_fandango]

I finally looked up her jellybean economic system.

Holy crap! The complexity of the thing is on a par with the boredom of the Maxwells' Moody books!!

That woman is all hard surfaces and jutting angles, isn't she? From the precise hair style to the smile (you paid for those impossibly perfect teeth, lady, show off Each And Every One Of Them!), she's HARD.

Wonder what got her that way.

Wish the universe would have visited a little less fertility on her. Those children can't be having that pleasant a childhood.

C'est la vie, I suppose.

And the kids have had another chance to earn jellybeans. It was the Shupe's wedding anniversary this past weekend, and they spent a night in a hotel. I like jellybeans, but I buy myself a box and eat them all at once (well, not the mint or liquorice ones, but that's personal preference).

And it's funny how, on the latest version of the dressing modestly post, she mentions how she really doesn't like taking pictures of herself and posting them... when she has LOADS of pictures of herself on the blog and on Facebook.

The Shupe kids get more exposure to the outside/mainstream world than the MoodyMaxwells do. There's no way the Maxwells would ever be able to watch Lord of the Rings, for example. Or any kind of movie.

I so agree with your last sentence. In so many of the pictures, Anna Marie just doesn't look that happy. Sure, she's plastered on a huge grin, but it doesn't really reach her eyes. I think the older girls are similar, but it's more marked in Anna Marie.

[happy atheist]

I finally looked up her jellybean economic system.

Holy crap! The complexity of the thing is on a par with the boredom of the Maxwells' Moody books!!

Can you imagine your entire life being treated like it's a game at Chuck E Cheese? If you behave your very best all the time you might be able to save up enough tickets to buy crappy dollar store prizes! Whee!

And you just know she doesn't actually let them keep any of the cheap little toys. I'm sure after a day or so she gets tired of having them underfoot and throws them away.

And there's nothing in those reward bins for the older girls except for hair ribbons and soap.

[Eternalbluepearl]

Can you imagine your entire life being treated like it's a game at Chuck E Cheese? If you behave your very best all the time you might be able to save up enough tickets to buy crappy dollar store prizes! Whee!

And you just know she doesn't actually let them keep any of the cheap little toys. I'm sure after a day or so she gets tired of having them underfoot and throws them away.

And there's nothing in those reward bins for the older girls except for hair ribbons and soap.

This is so true! No matter the age, they are all on sticker reward charts. That's how fundie parenting is. There are so many different ages and everyone is expected to participate in and enjoy activities for 5 year olds. Then one day, you get married.

[mango_fandango]

This is so true! No matter the age, they are all on sticker reward charts. That's how fundie parenting is. There are so many different ages and everyone is expected to participate in and enjoy activities for 5 year olds. Then one day, you get married.

Yup yup and yup. Reward charts are good to motivate younger kids, but only up to a point as they get bored of them. It's not really a reward system any more. I think it's pretty much a control and trust issue. They all have school checklists to check off when they've done a subject. Karen is sixteen years old now. Erika clearly does not trust her kids enough if they still have to tick off that they've done something. Actually, scrap "I think", it IS. Fundie parents in general don't trust their children. They don't trust them not to break the guidelines when they're on a 'date' with their courting partner, they don't let their kids go to public school for fear of mixing with heathens and losing their faith, they don't let them go out alone in case they meet a boy and have sex, and in the Duggars' case they have the whole NIKE! thing in case the boys see an 'immodest' girl and get a huge boner or whatever. Good grief. I was allowed to go to school by myself at 11 (in Britain, 'secondary school' is from 11-18, and covers your equivalent of middle and high school. I did go to primary school- equivalent of preschool to elementary- with my mum, but that's cos I went to the same school as my brother who's four years younger than me). Erika's said her girls won't be allowed to drive till they're 18, and only then to local places and with a younger sibling for accountability. Fundie families are just wackos.

[16strong]

On the jellybean and sticker payment thing, if it was me, I'd refuse. She'd either pay me federal minimum wage, or I wouldn't accept shit from her. I wonder if her kids are allowed to decline payment?

[ILoveJellybeans]

I feel so bad for these kids. One jellybean and you cant even pick the flavour. For hours of work too. So unfair. One jellybean is nothing. I have never eaten just one jellybean. Even when the kids find out about my secret jellybean stash, I at least give them a handful.

One is "I found this down the side of the sofa and it looks like its still good" standard. Not a reward, or anything someone should be forced to accept.

I want to give them all the jellybeans they want except for the licorice and cinnamon ones which are mine. And then hand them back to Erika, bouncing off the walls from all the sugar and forbidden stuff.

[mango_fandango]

I feel so bad for these kids. One jellybean and you cant even pick the flavour. For hours of work too. So unfair. One jellybean is nothing. I have never eaten just one jellybean. Even when the kids find out about my secret jellybean stash, I at least give them a handful.

One is "I found this down the side of the sofa and it looks like its still good" standard. Not a reward, or anything someone should be forced to accept.

I want to give them all the jellybeans they want except for the licorice and cinnamon ones which are mine. And then hand them back to Erika, bouncing off the walls from all the sugar and forbidden stuff.

Haha please do. It's weird how Erika writes that the older girls always say exactly what Erika wants to her. Methinks they've just learned to do this automatically and not voice their true feelings. From what we've seen on this thread, it seems like Karen is a bit bored of all of this, and is being 'difficult' according to Erika, which is affecting the younger ones. FREE KAREN.

[alba]

I'd be pissed if I babysat my siblings so my parents could celebrate their wedding anniversary and I only got a handful of jellybeans in return.

My parents' policy on paying my older sister and I to look after our younger siblings was that supervising them for half an hour when Mom went to the grocery store counted as a chore and was unpaid (they were elementary school-aged, though, so "supervising" really just meant sitting in the living room reading a book and keeping an ear open), but if my parents decided to go to the pub or something we were paid, the same as my parents would pay a non-related babysitter.

Can you imagine your entire life being treated like it's a game at Chuck E Cheese? If you behave your very best all the time you might be able to save up enough tickets to buy crappy dollar store prizes! Whee!

And you just know she doesn't actually let them keep any of the cheap little toys. I'm sure after a day or so she gets tired of having them underfoot and throws them away.

And there's nothing in those reward bins for the older girls except for hair ribbons and soap.

Soap? SOAP?! How the fuck is a basic hygiene product a reward?!

[princessmahina]

Soap? SOAP?! How the fuck is a basic hygiene product a reward?!

Maybe it's scented soap instead of whatever industrial, unscented stuff Erika normally buys.

Or maybe she's like that other blogger that made her children earn "Mom Bucks" to eat.

[alba]

Maybe it's scented soap instead of whatever industrial, unscented stuff Erika normally buys.

Or maybe she's like that other blogger that made her children earn "Mom Bucks" to eat.

:pink-shock:

Who's that?!

And I suppose it could be scented and nice soap, but that's still a lame-ass reward for babysitting.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Or maybe she's like that other blogger that made her children earn "Mom Bucks" to eat.

What!? Oh man, I've not heard of that one-- just when you think fundie life couldn't get any less loving......

[ILoveJellybeans]

What!? Oh man, I've not heard of that one-- just when you think fundie life couldn't get any less loving......

Was that Lisa Pennington?

[mango_fandango]

Was that Lisa Pennington?

Nope. She even has her own thread, in the archives: freejinger.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=272&t=21352

Her blog is called Keeper of the Homestead. keeperofthehomestead.com

[halcionne]

On the jellybean and sticker payment thing, if it was me, I'd refuse. She'd either pay me federal minimum wage, or I wouldn't accept shit from her. I wonder if her kids are allowed to decline payment?

Yeah, if I were a kid in that house and realized how bogus the jellybean program was the first time she threw out a toy that took me weeks or months to earn, I would be so demoralized that it would be impossible to keep sweet. I would drag my feet and hang my head all the time, which would get me in trouble, I'm sure. I can't look at her blog--it's abusive the way she treats those kids--so I don't know how she might deal with a depressed teenager, but I know it wouldn't be pretty.

[SassyPants]

Yeah, if I were a kid in that house and realized how bogus the jellybean program was the first time she threw out a toy that took me weeks or months to earn, I would be so demoralized that it would be impossible to keep sweet. I would drag my feet and hang my head all the time, which would get me in trouble, I'm sure. I can't look at her blog--it's abusive the way she treats those kids--so I don't know how she might deal with a depressed teenager, but I know it wouldn't be pretty.

I doubt that home is all sunshine and roses. If we have learned anything from the Duggars' Debacle is that things are rearely, if ever, perfect.

[sense and nonsense]

Yeah, if I were a kid in that house and realized how bogus the jellybean program was the first time she threw out a toy that took me weeks or months to earn, I would be so demoralized that it would be impossible to keep sweet. I would drag my feet and hang my head all the time, which would get me in trouble, I'm sure. I can't look at her blog--it's abusive the way she treats those kids--so I don't know how she might deal with a depressed teenager, but I know it wouldn't be pretty.

Can you imagine a teenager 'enjoying' waking up twice in the night to help their mother feed their newborn siblings? 13 year old Karen 'loved' it.

Erika says it was nice because she got to spend one on one time with her daughter. They'd watch an 'approved' movie.

No movie would be getting me up at 3am to feed any baby that isn't my own. I'd like to think Karen and Melanie ditch the keeping sweet the second this bitch is out the door, and swipe multiple jelly beans.

How sad is it when your teenaged children probably think it's a treat to have more than one jelly bean?

[Burris]

What!? Oh man, I've not heard of that one-- just when you think fundie life couldn't get any less loving......

The fundies we discuss here almost always talk about how having numerous children is a "blessing" and yet they don't act, for all practical purposes, as if they even like their own children let alone feel blessed to have more than they can reasonably be expected to house or feed properly.

We've found fundies who beat their kids (e.g., the Pearls and anyone who takes that fucking book of theirs seriously), fundies who store their kids on Costco-brand metal shelves or in other shitty ways that suggest there isn't nearly enough room to follow the fire code, fundies who attempt to homeschool their many children according to a single free "curriculum," fundies who padlock their food, fundies who bounce from place to place, fundies who isolate their kids to the point where they never marry (e.g., the Maxwells), fundies who rape one or more of their children (e.g., Papa Pilgrim), fundies who brag about never taking their kids to the doctor (even when they're sick and especially not for easy preventative care such as vaccinations), and fundies who never even bother to get proper ID for their kids (e.g., Lisa Pennington). We've discussed the lazy, the stupid, the mean (and the Pearls come up in nearly every category; they hate children so much). Nearly every damned individual we discuss here has a bunch of kids and, again, nearly all of them are neglectful by one or by multiple measures.

I think they secretly envy those parents who have only the number of kids they can afford (both financially and emotionally); they're so hateful towards those who are happy with one or two or three kids because they themselves have too many to care for properly and on some level they know the kids are paying for their parents' decision to reproduce without plan or limit - but the real bitch is how hateful and miserly they are towards their own children. There isn't any evidence they care more for their kids than worldly people do, and there is some evidence that in certain kinds of fundamentalist culture - the Dominionists with their idea of conquering the world through procreation whether individuals can afford it or not - kids are basically rotten bags of mindless sin who exist only as a means for their parents to gain a sort of immortality by imprinting a precise version of their own ideologies and personalities onto children (and through force if necessary).

Of course many of the people under discussion are at pains to point out what diligent and loving parents they are - how else would anyone know if not told? Because it certainly wouldn't be evident in how some of these people act (e.g.,Rusty Yates) that they care at all about their children as unique individuals rather than as tax rebates, ministry opportunities, game points, and extensions of parental ideology.

[16strong]

The fundies we discuss here almost always talk about how having numerous children is a "blessing" and yet they don't act, for all practical purposes, as if they even like their own children let alone feel blessed to have more than they can reasonably be expected to house or feed properly.

We've found fundies who beat their kids (e.g., the Pearls and anyone who takes that fucking book of theirs seriously), fundies who store their kids on Costco-brand metal shelves or in other shitty ways that suggest there isn't nearly enough room to follow the fire code, fundies who attempt to homeschool their many children according to a single free "curriculum," fundies who padlock their food, fundies who bounce from place to place, fundies who isolate their kids to the point where they never marry (e.g., the Maxwells), fundies who rape one or more of their children (e.g., Papa Pilgrim), fundies who brag about never taking their kids to the doctor (even when they're sick and especially not for easy preventative care such as vaccinations), and fundies who never even bother to get proper ID for their kids (e.g., Lisa Pennington). We've discussed the lazy, the stupid, the mean (and the Pearls come up in nearly every category; they hate children so much). Nearly every damned individual we discuss here has a bunch of kids and, again, nearly all of them are neglectful by one or by multiple measures.

I think they secretly envy those parents who have only the number of kids they can afford (both financially and emotionally); they're so hateful towards those who are happy with one or two or three kids because they themselves have too many to care for properly and on some level they know the kids are paying for their parents' decision to reproduce without plan or limit - but the real bitch is how hateful and miserly they are towards their own children. There isn't any evidence they care more for their kids than worldly people do, and there is some evidence that in certain kinds of fundamentalist culture - the Dominionists with their idea of conquering the world through procreation whether individuals can afford it or not - kids are basically rotten bags of mindless sin who exist only as a means for their parents to gain a sort of immortality by imprinting a precise version of their own ideologies and personalities onto children (and through force if necessary).

Of course many of the people under discussion are at pains to point out what diligent and loving parents they are - how else would anyone know if not told? Because it certainly wouldn't be evident in how some of these people act (e.g.,Rusty Yates) that they care at all about their children as unique individuals rather than as tax rebates, ministry opportunities, game points, and extensions of parental ideology.

:clap: This x1000.

Burris, I just want to say how much I enjoy your posts. They're almost always on point and informative. Not to mention many of them have me laughing uncontrollably despite how depressingly true they are.

[CaptainFunderpants]

Due in January of 2016. Someone probably ought to call their local fire marshal in anticipation of the event.

largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2012/03/important-announcement-from-shupes.html#more

[princessmahina]

Due in January of 2016. Someone probably ought to call their local fire marshal in anticipation of the event.

largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2012/03/important-announcement-from-shupes.html#more

Erika has already addressed safety concerns in the children's bedrooms. *beam* The beds are pulled away from the windows ever so slightly so they can wriggle out the window if need be. Perfect! *clap* *beam*

[mango_fandango]

Erika has already addressed safety concerns in the children's bedrooms. *beam* The beds are pulled away from the windows ever so slightly so they can wriggle out the window if need be. Perfect! *clap* *beam*

Brilliant! *beam*

But seriously, it'd be fine for Lacey and Lilly, and likely fine for Anna Marie too. But I'm trying to imagine Karen or Melanie managing... hmm. Nope.

The boys would probably manage fine with their room, seeing as Brandon is so small.