Jump to content

Recommended Posts

One of the "treats" they can buy is hot chocolate. Of course it's extra if they want the crummy little marshmallows that come with it. :roll:

I am just trying to picture Erica cruising through the door after a night at Olive Garden and offering her teenage daughter 1 jelly bean for taking care of 7 children. Or maybe a bite of the after dinner mints they bring you with your bill.

I'll tell you what else I can't imagine- salads every.single.day for lunch. But only AFTER your green smoothie breakfast. I like salad well enough, but if you gave it to me every day I'd go absolutely nuts. I'd bet money Erica will eat better than her children now that she can use her pregnancy as an excuse.

**Side note** apparently the grandparents have one day every week when they take 3 of the kids for the day. Erica took a subtle jab at the fact that they offer the kids things like chicken nuggets. Of course it's really not good for them to be offered such things, but it's "okay" :roll: If I was Grandma I would offer to feed them all daily. I couldn't stand the thought of my grandbabies going hungry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 907
  • Created
  • Last Reply
I will be surprised if at least 1 of her kids doesn't kill themselves before the age of 18. The kind of pressure those kids must be living with to have every second of their days scheduled has to be insanity-inducing. Human beings aren't meant to be so regimented. That sort of shit breaks people.

I don't think they're in that kind of danger, but they'll feel helpless when they are finally independent. They're going to have a really hard time figuring out how to manage their time. They may turn to harmful behaviors to cope. I hope not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I so agree! My mum told me once that you should never deny yourself anything- even things like chocolate, sweets etc. Just eat them occasionally. It seems to be a huge thing amongst quite a few families to not feed their kids any kind of sugar. Yes I know there's an obesity epidemic and yes it's unhealthy, but they can have treats OCCASIONALLY. I think once when I was at a friend's birthday party we didn't even have any cake, and my mum says that the friend's mum said she wouldn't do cake. Not even on the kid's birthday? That's just cruel. The Shupe kids do get their dessert of choice on their birthday, not to mention the special Happy Birthday Jesus coffee cake on Christmas morning (yup, they sing Happy Birthday to Him). They're not completely denied sugar at all times, but it is severely restricted outside of these special occasions. It all stems from Erika's previous sugar addiction, she wrote an entire post on it. The upshot of the post was that she would deny herself sugar at all times, not even letting herself have any in drinks or hot chocolate (she's done a sugar-free cocoa recipe which does contain stevia).

Definitely agree! I am usually pretty sensible about eating, but when I start on the fruit-flavored candy (I've discovered I don't really like chocolate unless I'm PMSing), so it's things like Sour Patch Kids or Haribo or peach rings, that I literally cannot stop eating. And I do think a big part of that is because it was the one type of thing not generally allowed (outside of a regular bag of Skittles once every few months on trips or brother's tennis tournaments). Having ties to Germany, chocolate was not so insanely restricted, because how could you not eat Kinder eggs? I'm so angry that those got banned in the US; they're only a choking hazard if you eat like Pac-Man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another Washingtonian piping up here. I graduated from Western Washington U back in the dark ages and I can attest that it is very liberal, as is Bellingham, where I lived for a couple of years. I now live in the same city as Erica's parents. One day last summer I saw the Shupes at one of our local beaches. Dad was sitting on a blanket taking pictures, mom was down by the water with a couple of the kids and the oldest son was sitting by himself away from the group like he was being punished. Somehow this didn't surprise me.

I couldn't believe Melanie's face in the baby reveal video, I am the oldest of 8 and could understand just how she felt :cry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand she's written a post about it.

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

Looking at it, though, it's basically an edited version of the last one, with new pictures etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never heard of her before so I glanced at her blog. What a bitch! Those girls have to babysit for 5 points that they can trade in for one Starburst? :angry-banghead:

She surely thinks highly of herself. Those poor kids!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't even with Erica Crazy Smile Shupe. What did her kids do to wind up in that jail?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't even with Erica Crazy Smile Shupe. What did her kids do to wind up in that jail?

She says she doesn't believe in kicking her kids out when they're 18. What's the reckoning Karen and Melanie can't wait to begin courting and get the hell outta Stalag Shupe? Karen will turn 18 in 15 months. Although, providing the baby is to term, she'll be kept back from courting for a few years to help Mama Shupe with the baby. Correction: not help, raise Baby Shupe. It's like the J'slaves but on a smaller scale, and without quite so many older sister moms. Well, Anna Marie will be 10 by the time it's born, and Jill got her first buddy at six...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it has more to do with her extreme controlling nature trying to not let her girls get overweight. I wouldn't be surprised if Erika had an eating disorder and is passing it on (or at least, attempting to keep her girls quite slim).

Yep- Erika had a "weight problem" and solved it with some strict eating habits. As someone who too has struggled with their weight, I totally know what its like to find a good eating plan that works for you.

The problem is that she forces this way of eating upon her teen daughters and to me, its a completely inappropriate diet for growing girls. A "green smoothie" for breakfast and some skimpy salad for lunch (no dressing and little protein)? That's not enough to satiate a 10 year old, let alone a 15/16 year old young lady. Then she has the gall to force them to eat "snack dinners" consisting of granola bars and popcorn once a week while she and Bob get takeout. What a joke!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Erica needs a new baby like she needs a puppy.

I do need to defend Zsu,though. She takes good care of her kids, obviously loves them, and feeds them enough. I really dislike some (most) of Zsu's religious and political beliefs, but she is not a terrible mother. Erica is a terrible person and a terrible mother. Poor baby.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really struggled with my mother growing up because she had an arbitrary number on the scale in mind for me- a number that didn't take into account that I'm much taller and we have completely different body types. Her target weight for me is very "underweight" for my height (bmi-wise) but in the middle of "normal" for hers. So I was an incredibly skinny kid most of my childhood, always very hungry, and as a young adult I didn't have any money for food, so I stayed slender. As soon as I wasn't broke? Weight problems.

It's not just that sugar was the delicious but forbidden fruit. I got bored with sweets again before I was old enough that my metabolism slowed down. It's that my whole childhood, any time I could get my hands on some calories, it was best to immediately shove them in my face, as much as I could. Because who knew when mom was going to let me eat again? It's an incredibly difficult habit to break, and it comes along with so much fear and anxiety- I used to have panic attacks that started just because I was hungry. No other reason, plenty of food in the house, full on meltdown. It's still a very uncomfortable topic after a couple years of therapy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Erica needs a new baby like she needs a puppy.

I do need to defend Zsu,though. She takes good care of her kids, obviously loves them, and feeds them enough. I really dislike some (most) of Zsu's religious and political beliefs, but she is not a terrible mother. Erica is a terrible person and a terrible mother. Poor baby.

it's hard to tell. I don't know who is worse.

Zsu loves her kids and the babies are fed when they need it - no scheduling for babies (Zsu even called Erika out for that). The kids get (mostly) organic food and Zsu spoils them with a lot of candy/cake/sweets. On the other hand the kids are beaten regularly, maybe even daily. They must live in constant fear for saying or doing something wrong which leads their parent to let the paddle come out.

Do we know if Erika spanks her kids? I wouldn't be surprised since she's such a control freak and I doubt she can handle small kids who have their moments well. I don't wanna see Erika's reaction when one of her kids dares to break out of the routine and prefers to do something else. I remember someone on fb said that it's great that her daughters help so much and Erika responded that's it hard work to make them help and that they sometimes have an attitude since they hit puberty. I could have hit her for such a comment. As if it is not her job to take care of her own kids.

Anyway, it's hard to tell which kids are better off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it's been discussed before. Try the search function I can't get at it on my phone. It always strikes me how slight that child is.

Erica's level of control is pathological. I think you match her type of personality with fundamentalism and bang!! Disaster.

I would love her to come de clutter my house though :lol:

She'd have a heart attack when she got to my closet. Besides pants and skirts/dresses that are sleveless and above the knee, I have nothing beige in there (the color looks terrible on me).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sedro-Wolley...isn't that where Hana Williams and her adoptoraptors lived? I wonder if Erica knew them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just watched the announcement.....her daughter's face :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Also OF COURSE they won't be wearing spring outfits in January. She was itching to say that...because. That. Would. Not. Be. Right. Control freakery *GRIN*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Washington State is also the home of the Bradrick! clan - they live in Montesano, a very small (pop. 4K) farming community in Grays Harbor County, in SW WA.

Erica Shupe was one of the speakers at the Bradrick's annual homeschooling fest:

christianheritageonline.org/events/annual-conference/speaker-information/workshop-speakers/

Lotsa pics on the organization's FB page, too:

facebook.com/christianheritagehomeeducators?fref=ts

Face it, they're all in bed together, trading tips on how to make their children' lives miserable...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just watched the announcement.....her daughter's face :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Also OF COURSE they won't be wearing spring outfits in January. She was itching to say that...because. That. Would. Not. Be. Right. Control freakery *GRIN*

Couldn't they have used a neutral onesie that could be useful in January whether they have a boy or a girl, or a little winter outfit they already owned? And I agree with the lady in the video that holding up 2 outfits was confusing and made it seem like a twins announcement. Erika was like, this is what the store had but we won't be keeping these. Then why buy them? Just for this smug video?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really struggled with my mother growing up because she had an arbitrary number on the scale in mind for me- a number that didn't take into account that I'm much taller and we have completely different body types. Her target weight for me is very "underweight" for my height (bmi-wise) but in the middle of "normal" for hers. So I was an incredibly skinny kid most of my childhood, always very hungry, and as a young adult I didn't have any money for food, so I stayed slender. As soon as I wasn't broke? Weight problems.

It's not just that sugar was the delicious but forbidden fruit. I got bored with sweets again before I was old enough that my metabolism slowed down. It's that my whole childhood, any time I could get my hands on some calories, it was best to immediately shove them in my face, as much as I could. Because who knew when mom was going to let me eat again? It's an incredibly difficult habit to break, and it comes along with so much fear and anxiety- I used to have panic attacks that started just because I was hungry. No other reason, plenty of food in the house, full on meltdown. It's still a very uncomfortable topic after a couple years of therapy.

(Hugs) My mother was the same way. I'm seven inches taller than her, and she would give me such a hard time for weighing more. I was on a diet from birth, to the point where she would water down my baby formula (lucky for me, grandma called cps for that one, and they scared her into not starving me with tales of brain damage) like you, I would sneak food every chance I got. It's taken years, but I'm finally at peace with my body. I will never weigh 120 like mom wanted. Im 5'10, 180, and I'm happy with my body. My mother was told as soon as I had my daughter that if she said one word about weight, she'd never see her again. She hasn't, but my daughter still struggles with body image. This shit is generational. The extreme restriction will end up biting her in the ass, if not with her daughters, then with her granddaughters. I hope those girls get far, far away once they're 18, so they can recover from their childhoods before having their own children.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am just trying to picture Erica cruising through the door after a night at Olive Garden and offering her teenage daughter 1 jelly bean for taking care of 7 children. Or maybe a bite of the after dinner mints they bring you with your bill.

From what I understood about the Olive Garden thing was that her husband goes and picks it up on his way home, and they eat it at home in front of the children who must eat protein bars.

Can I at least go take the oldest two out to Olive Garden? Maybe wait until the eldest is 18 and take her and her sister? Find a couple of hot guy to get past Erica and take the girls out to eat?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To the poster who asked, Erika is very pro spanking.

And looking back, before date night they had "home date night." They still made everyone, even the teens, go to bed at 9 every weekend so they could have the house to themselves:

We do not allow the older children to stay up late on Friday or Saturday nights at this time because Friday is mine and Bob's only night to have a home date alone together,
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Count me in as another who had body issues growing up (and they're hard to let go of). My mom body-shamed me like a sport and to this day I have issues. As a teen, I wore shorts and I was told that my legs looked like tree stumps. Well I'm 35 now and haven't worn shorts in public (besides the gym) since (I do have booty shorts I wear to bed on hot nights). She also used the term 'pork sausage' to describe my body a lot. (Note-- at my heaviest I was a size 14 and that was in my 20s)

Add that to growing up in the 'fat is evil' 80s and 90s, I really had food issues then. Even bread had to be the diet version (which tasted like cardboard). If it wasn't labeled light/diet/low-fat/etc we were not allowed to eat it. I can remember after Halloween (before my candy was confiscated) that I would bring it to school the next day and hide it in my locker. My locker was also a junk food pantry. My dad even uses his car to hide things like Snickers bars and Tastykakes. I've always assumed that hiding food was normal and was shocked when my friend thought I was nuts for doing so.

And yes I'm living proof that the extreme restrictions bite you in the ass. To this day, I struggle with body image. I have words like "tree stumps' and 'pork sausage' in my head when I think about my body.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I understood about the Olive Garden thing was that her husband goes and picks it up on his way home, and they eat it at home in front of the children who must eat protein bars.

Can I at least go take the oldest two out to Olive Garden? Maybe wait until the eldest is 18 and take her and her sister? Find a couple of hot guy to get past Erica and take the girls out to eat?

Do Erika and Bob not realize that their older girls are likely to hate them the older they get? They don't respect that they are getting older, at all. It is unfair. They refer to the reading of fiction books as "dessert." :wtf: Wouldn't you proud of your child having an appetite for reading? That is a wonderful thing that will serve them their whole life through. It will offer adventure, wonder, learning, and so much more. I'd encourage the hell outta that. Why is she trying to snuff out their desire for life? :angry-banghead:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Erika always acts like her kids doing anything on their own, anything that deviates from the schedule, is bad and an "obedience issue." Does she foster any sort of individuality in the kids? Do the teens ever get to have friends or fun?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's almost like, she is sacrificing all of the kids childhoods, for the sake of her being able to get through the day with SO many children. Why not just have less so you can treat the ones you do have better? What is the end reward of having so many kids? A trophy in Heaven that says "Had a shit ton of kids and was willing to shove cribs into closets" ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.