Erika Shupe Miscarriage

[16strong]

I'm imagining that summer for Karen and Melanie is like being unpaid camp counselors. I don't have younger siblings. What is it like being free babysitters? Sounds like it sucks.

They look like camp counselors. I don't think I've seen a picture of those girls with their siblings where they didn't look like either parapros, or camp counselors. Sometimes they also look like inmates at their work assignments. Never do they look like normal teenagers.

[Seven Severn]

They look like camp counselors. I don't think I've seen a picture of those girls with their siblings where they didn't look like either parapros, or camp counselors. Sometimes they also look like inmates at their work assignments. Never do they look like normal teenagers.

Of course they don't look like normal teenagers because they're better than normal teenagers! Duh! With Erika's homeschooling and super, special, strict schedule how could they not be better! *laugh* *chuckle* *self-satisfied smile*

[IrishCarrie]

Ah, those long lazy days of summer holidays when I was a teen but still too young to work....

A whole bunch of kids from the neighbourhood would head off mid-morning with fishing rods, books, drinks and sandwiches on our bikes, knowing we had to be home when the church bells rang (6pm). Entire days passed where we did nothing but talk and giggle and swim and lie in the grass. We were the least sophisticated children EVER - utterly clueless!!

It makes my heart sad that there are children whose parents deliberately deny them the simple joys of being a child. There's such beauty in the natural innocence of those days, and no beauty whatsoever in controlling and forcing and rigidity.

:mouse-shock:

[Eternalbluepearl]

Are the older girls allowed to have bad moods? Allowed to not participate in the family activity if they so wish? Or are they like employees at work who need to have a good attitude at all times and the younger kids are like their clients? Like a daycare? :?

[mostlylurk]

I find it interesting that she schedules her twin girls as a unit but her 5 & 6 yo boys as individuals.

She does say in the post that the medium-gray shaded activities are just the plans for inclement weather, and that the kids use that time to play outdoors on nice days.

I don't see anything in the schedule that would keep the teen girls from napping or laying down to read a book during the mid-afternoon quiet time.

I guess I don't have much of a sense for how strictly they follow the schedule and how much it's just her way of sorting through how a typical day should go. With that many people in the family, it seems like you would need some planning to make sure that meals, chores, and school happen and that everyone knows what their responsibilities are.

[princessmahina]

Something else weird I noticed about the schedule- the kids apparently roll out of bed and go straight to math at 6 am, but don't get to brush their teeth or eat breakfast until way later. That's just strange. I'd have to have breakfast before doing all that. *Ugh Erika*

[Eternalbluepearl]

Something else weird I noticed about the schedule- the kids apparently roll out of bed and go straight to math at 6 am, but don't get to brush their teeth or eat breakfast until way later. That's just strange. I'd have to have breakfast before doing all that. *Ugh Erika*

Silly! The kids choose it to be that way! *beam*

[Koala]

She's posted some summer fun pics on Facebook...I guess she wants to show the detractors how much fun they have *cheer* :roll:

It's unfortunate that she doesn't realize that a tiny kiddie pool, mini basketball goal, and bouncy balls don't really qualify as loads of fun for most teenage girls. Don't get me wrong, it's nice if Karen is willing to spend time with the little ones, but she shouldn't be living the life of a sahm at her age. She should be with kids her own age, not playing it a baby pool from Wal-mart waiting for Erika to announce it's nap time.

[mango_fandango]

She's posted some summer fun pics on Facebook...I guess she wants to show the detractors how much fun they have *cheer* :roll:

It's unfortunate that she doesn't realize that a tiny kiddie pool, mini basketball goal, and bouncy balls don't really qualify as loads of fun for most teenage girls. Don't get me wrong, it's nice if Karen is willing to spend time with the little ones, but she shouldn't be living the life of a sahm at her age. She should be with kids her own age, not playing it a baby pool from Wal-mart waiting for Erika to announce it's nap time.

Exactly, and there's a video. Brandon on down run towards the tiny kiddie pools... and then the view switches to Karen and Melanie who are just watching. Karen is holding Happy, and Melanie is just perched on the climbing frame.

Also, apparently Karen loves gardening. It's her favourite thing ever, according to one of those comments on the schedule post.

facebook.com/LargeFamiliesOnPurpose/photos/a.623395994370172.1073741831.171658456210597/916488835060885/?type=1&theater

ETA: OH MY GOD. BRANDON HAS A SCHEDULED TIME FOR VIOLIN. (Weren't we discussing violin a few pages back??)

[jegfile]

Nike! Nike! Karen is showing shoulders in those gardening pictures... I will never understand why Erika thinks it's evil for girls to wear pants but allows such low-cut, sleeveless tops. :think:

[mango_fandango]

Nike! Nike! Karen is showing shoulders in those gardening pictures... I will never understand why Erika thinks it's evil for girls to wear pants but allows such low-cut, sleeveless tops. :think:

She explains it somewhere. Basically she said they don't have a no-collarbone policy. She also doesn't seem to think shoulders are that lust-inducing. It was mentioned in an old thread that's now in the Archives section. The comments are on this post: largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2013/12/continuing-vision-still-where-did-you-go.html

[usmcmom]

It's all about the crotch for this woman.

We do not have a no collar bone policy; as long as the neckline does not too low, like showing cleavage of course, then it's usually fine. ;) The thing we are avoiding with skirt-wearing is the visual availability of the legs crotch area via pants. That is the stumbling block for men; so we choose to cover that up to protect our brother's in christ minds.

[mango_fandango]

It's all about the crotch for this woman.

Girls/women in India dress modestly (often pants underneath a sari or similar), yet there is a HUGE rape problem there. Explain THAT, fundies.

[apandaaries]

Girls/women in India dress modestly (often pants underneath a sari or similar), yet there is a HUGE rape problem there. Explain THAT, fundies.

Some women/girls must be naturally more defrauding than others...OR (probably) all the heathen religions, instead of Christianity.

[sorry -- hate to post that, even in jest, but I do suspect that's what they think...still makes me feel dirty.]

But Josh Duggar just stumbled and was forgiven by Christ (also defrauded by girls in bloomers and long dresses), so move on.

Similar mental gymnastics are employed to justify Erika's short hair. She's still totally feminine and submissive; she just makes her own rules.

And honestly, I do like that she's a bit looser about the girls' clothes. She's terrible in so many other ways that I appreciate her telling some commenters not to be concerned about what her girls wear. I'll give her one jelly bean for that.

[CaptainFunderpants]

Some women/girls must be naturally more defrauding than others...OR (probably) all the heathen religions, instead of Christianity.

[sorry -- hate to post that, even in jest, but I do suspect that's what they think...still makes me feel dirty.]

But Josh Duggar just stumbled and was forgiven by Christ (also defrauded by girls in bloomers and long dresses), so move on.

Similar mental gymnastics are employed to justify Erika's short hair. She's still totally feminine and submissive; she just makes her own rules.

And honestly, I do like that she's a bit looser about the girls' clothes. She's terrible in so many other ways that I appreciate her telling some commenters not to be concerned about what her girls wear. I'll give her one jelly bean for that.

Supposedly the only reason they're skirtwearers is because Erika was too lazy find modest pants. Because going to Old Navy is so challenging -they have plenty of non-skin-tight jeans in feminine cuts.

[Burris]

Similar mental gymnastics are employed to justify Erika's short hair. She's still totally feminine and submissive; she just makes her own rules.

As an aside, this irritates me about certain fundamentalist women (such as Erika Shupe and Nancy DeMoss): A lot of women in the world wear their hair long and cover their heads - sometimes for religious reasons and other times simply because they like the styles.

And yet it seems many of the people we discuss - Debi Pearl and women in the Westboro Baptist Church are exceptions - simply ignore the verses about hair-length and covering even while publicly congratulating themselves for how much work they do to follow other religious dictates to the letter.

It's as you say: Shupe makes her own rules.

[iheartchacos]

Does Erika only want her daughters to be wives/mothers? I haven't read anything about her hopes for her children. Would she be ok with a daughter who works outside the home or never gets married or marries and has no or only a few kids.

[mango_fandango]

Does Erika only want her daughters to be wives/mothers? I haven't read anything about her hopes for her children. Would she be ok with a daughter who works outside the home or never gets married or marries and has no or only a few kids.

Of course she wouldn't be OK with a daughter who works! She's a fundie! :lol:

She mentions somewhere the usual fundie shit about women and the workplace (ie, the two don't go together) and in the family Christmas letter, it's mentioned that Karen is good at baking and cooking, which is part of the "mommy in training" part of life for her. So nope, none of the girls will be allowed a job. Hell, she's not even allowing them to learn to drive till they're 18, and even when they can drive, it'll only be locally and always with a sibling.

[Eternalbluepearl]

It actually doesn't matter if Erika is ok with her daughters working someday, they will be adults.

As for the modesty thing, Why are Christian men so delicate? What about doctors who are somehow able to control themselves in the face of "stumbling blocks?" Yet, a random "brother in Christ" is going to see my pants and all of the blood will go right to his penis. He will start to pass out. Then, he will see that they are my WORK pants, that there's no wedding ring on my finger and I'm not pushing a triple stroller full of blessings and he will have a heart attack right there and die. Good. Get over yourselves, "brothers in Christ."

[Mandysue]

Just take a moment and contemplate Erika planning her daughter's weddings.

***Shudder***

[Koala]

It actually doesn't matter if Erika is ok with her daughters working someday, they will be adults.

I would love to remind Erika of that.

[Eternalbluepearl]

Just take a moment and contemplate Erika planning her daughter's weddings.

***Shudder***

:lol: Imagine the future son in law meeting Erika! What? We're on a schedule of when we can use the bathroom? *runs away*

[mango_fandango]

I would love to remind Erika of that.

I know that, but we've already seen what happens in this family if you don't agree with Erika's lifestyle, ie you get cut off. Same with Cynthia Jeub and her sisters. All fundie girls are brainwashed to believe they can't work and aren't allowed to. They are literally being forced to be SAHMs. My mum is a SAHM, but through personal choice- she worked before she had me, but quit her job to raise me and then my brother. If these fundie women worked, they might not be busy preparing a meal when their husband comes home. These fundie girls have no choice. They can have 'jobs' they do from home- like the Tits2 books thing, Erin teaching piano at home or ZsuZsu doing the modest swimwear business- but they are not allowed to be outside the house for any reason other than shopping, church or taking the kids on a field trip.

We'd all like to remind Erika that Karen will be an adult next year, and Melanie a year later, but they will not be allowed because it's not Biblical and not spiritually fulfilling (according to them anyway). Having said this, we don't really even know what these fundie girls could do as a job, they don't get a great education at the SOTDRT. That applies to the boys too actually. If they aren't going to go to college or gain any kind of transferable skills in another way, what kind of job are they going to get? They've literally had no interaction with anyone outside their church (family doesn't count), so how are they going to be able to cope in the outside world? They'll probably set up some kind of company like Bob did with Cleaner Guys, and work with each other (like Bob does with Erika's brother).

[NoneandDoneinCali]

I hate to break it to Erica "Crotch Obsession" Shupe, but most men are initially attracted to the top front quadrant of women rather than desperately straining to see her labia through her pants. I wouldn't ever tell her that though, because there's the slight chance that, instead of getting defensive and doubling down on her modesty guidelines, she would start denying that small freedom to her girls as well.

[19 cats and counting]

:lol: Imagine the future son in law meeting Erika! What? We're on a schedule of when we can use the bathroom? *runs away*

Or maybe the guys will tolerate Erika for the short courtship/engagement period and then take the Shupe girl and run as soon as the vows are exchanged.