Message from the ABC girls!

[blessalessi]

The content is more Bethie's stream-of-consciousness than presentation though.

If it were intended as a memory keepsake, for the family video collection then that would be fine: everyone likes to look back on their precious kids' childhoods and she is super-cute and precocious for her age. But who really wants to listen to another family's kid talk about nothing for such a long time?!

As a "ministry" tool it is totally boring after the first minute.  I thought the presentations were going to be of the kids singing and reciting bible verses or something like they do at the retirement complex. 

I think this is where Steve does a real disservice to Sarah by protecting her from negative feedback.  She gets no feedback from which to learn about what actually would hold her audience's attention.

[formergothardite]

So the only people who would be slightly interested in watching three and a half minutes of a child talking about math flashcards are grandparents. And even grandparents might skim a bit. 

[sparkles]

The Maxwells never do or say anything that Steve doesn't deem edifying to Jesus, so I think it's pretty clear that they're not just posting cute videos of the younger generation just for the sake of cuteness. My guess is that the endgame has something to do with homeschooling and new products to shill along those lines, but since we don't know for sure yet, these videos are just a whole lot of barely intelligible WTFery. 

[Handmaiden of Dog]

The Maxwells never do or say anything that Steve doesn't deem edifying to Jesus, so I think it's pretty clear that they're not just posting cute videos of the younger generation just for the sake of cuteness. My guess is that the endgame has something to do with homeschooling and new products to shill along those lines, but since we don't know for sure yet, these videos are just a whole lot of barely intelligible WTFery. 

I'm not so sure about that.  The Maxwells use their blog to sell their lifestyle tools and I believe they use the ABC girls as a way to drive traffic to the blog.  So in a way the cuteness of the girls IS why they are so frequently highlighted.  Just as TLC right now is using pictures of Izzy on their Facebook page for the new "Counting On" specials to keep people coming back.  If the blog only focused on the grown-ups, I'm guessing a lot of people would lose interest.

[blessalessi]

They usually have a specific goal in mind though, when they put something utterly random online.  At least, that is how it appears when reading the posts retrospectively.

Didn't Nathan once put up a series of posts about fitness challenges? And then, while he had the momentum going, he launched his 1 Ton Ramp business, aimed primarily at the same homeschool families who he had encouraged to join him in a push-up competition. Call me cynical, but that's how I am reading it.

[Trynn]

Bethany is really cute. That dress has a lot of fabric for such a tiny little girl.

[Jana814]

Bethany is really cute. That dress has a lot of fabric for such a tiny little girl.

She is adorable. As for alot of fabric in the dress maybe they want her to wear it for a long time so it's a size or 2 bigger. 

 

 

 

[DaffyDill]

I wouldn't mind betting that the posts over the last few years that feature the three girls have been the ones to attract a lot of positive comments, and Steve has noticed this in his role as moderator of the family blog (as well as moderator of his children's and grandchildren's lives).

So, seeing all the positive comments cooing at the girls' cuteness, he's decided to capitalise on it and use them to start selling for the family. Because that's what all loving Grandpa's do.....isn't it? 

In the first video of the 3 little girls, Abby certainly was fairly contained, but I did notice a couple of moments where she looked like she was going to wriggle about, or interrupt her sister, and then either remembered not to, or someone behind the camera signalled her to sit still. Killjoys.

[Trynn]

She is adorable. As for alot of fabric in the dress maybe they want her to wear it for a long time so it's a size or 2 bigger. 

 

 

 

I don't think so. The top part looks like it fits her torso snugly enough. (Not saying it's too small, just that it fits right.) I wonder if it has to do with modesty standards.

Ehh, it's not a good habit to get into, interrupting your sister. If I was a parent id probably try and put a stop to that behavior as well, so I can't snark on that one.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Bethany seems like such a bright, bubbly, happy little girl. I can't imagine Sarah, Anna, and Mary were ever like that.

[albanuadh_1]

Off Topic: I am certain I saw a post this morning on the Maxwell Christmas shoeboxes. I can't find it now.

[Justme]

I'm scratching my head. She's a cute little girl with a bubbly personality. But how are they planning to make money off this? She did no more than any other little girl would do. 

[FunFunFundie]

I'm scratching my head. She's a cute little girl with a bubbly personality. But how are they planning to make money off this? She did no more than any other little girl would do. 

I think Steve is scrambling.  Their entire brand is built on the fact that they raise kids to be awesome using their own special form of abuse, but the problem that is coming to light is that his kids are not thriving.  Gotta shift the focus off of his non-thriving children and look at the new generation, which hasn't yet had a chance to prove his methods wrong.

[blessalessi]

Off Topic: I am certain I saw a post this morning on the Maxwell Christmas shoeboxes. I can't find it now.

It is merged with the original thread.

Mel's kids all look lovely and Mel is glowing.  I wish the Lord would close her womb so that she can stop the cycle of peeing on sticks and staying on bedrest everytime she gets pregnant.  She needs a chance to enjoy life, find herself, and assert the right to a normal childhood for her children.

[HermioneSparrow]

It is merged with the original thread.

Mel's kids all look lovely and Mel is glowing.  I wish the Lord would close her womb so that she can stop the cycle of peeing on sticks and staying on bedrest everytime she gets pregnant.  She needs a chance to enjoy life, find herself, and assert the right to a normal childhood for her children.

I wish her the same. That looks like a finished family, they have the boy now they can stop having babies and focus on raising those four little kids and enjoy themselves unlike NR-Anna who's gonna keep popping out baby after baby.

[Dru]

I finally got around to watching Bethany's video. Thoughts:

1) She is super adorable.

2) My daughter would love that dress. She's all about dresses being as long and poofy as possible.

3) Nathan's voice (what I could hear of it) isn't super creepy like I expected it to be.

 

I wonder if they are going to be putting out homeschooling material for teaching children to give presentations? My daughter goes to Montessori and has been giving work presentations for a couple of years now.

[blessalessi]

Anna may well enjoy having a large family, she seems that way inclined from what we know of her.

Mel has spent too long on bedrest and in grief.  She has four beautiful children, a huge family to share them with and she is still young enough and (luckily) healthy enough to get out and about with them.

I am glad she did her own shoeboxes, even if I hate OCC.  I am just glad evil Teri was not there to punish the kids for having too much fun.  The Plastic boxes look twice the size of the Maxboxes, and from what we can see it looks as though they have stuff that each of her own  kids age groups might like. Even if they don't work for the recipients, it probaly still does the kids some good to learn to be thoughtful givers.

[nausicaa]

I wish her the same. That looks like a finished family, they have the boy now they can stop having babies and focus on raising those four little kids and enjoy themselves unlike NR-Anna who's gonna keep popping out baby after baby.

I really, really hope that they slow down or only happen to have sex during "certain" times of the month now that they have their boy. I really worry about Melanie's health if she and Nathan continue full steam ahead with the quiverfulling.

I'm also beginning to wonder just how many children NR-Anna will have. She's 29 right? And got married five years ago and already has three kids and perhaps one on the way? She'd definitely going to get to double digits. Maybe 15 if things pick up. 

 

I am glad she did her own shoeboxes, even if I hate OCC.  I am just glad evil Teri was not there to punish the kids for having too much fun.  The Plastic boxes look twice the size of the Maxboxes, and from what we can see it looks as though they have stuff that each of her own  kids age groups might like. Even if they don't work for the recipients, it probaly still does the kids some good to learn to be thoughtful givers.

I noticed how much better Melanie's OCC boxes were too. If you look closely it looks like she put a bunch of Crayola products and school supplies in them. So practical items that aren't dirt cheap. I've always suspected that she gives a lot of the Maxwell practices (cheapness, curtness, lack of hospitality) the side eye. 

[Jana814]

I really hope that Melanie & Nathan are done having kids now that they have a son.

As stated above I also think that NR-Anna could easily get into the double digits in the children department. 

[CyborgKin]

I'm sure this is mainly a lead-in to Sarah's new book series and maybe to support a relaunch of the homeschooling books for the next generation 

Also it serves as busy-work for an under-worked family, and is a way to keep Nathan's family away from Mel's heathen relations on a Friday night.

I was going to say Sarah should try writing for young adults, but on second thought she might as well stick with what she knows, and continue writing for an age group she can relate to 

[Trynn]

I don't think Sarah ever had the chance to be a young adult. Or an adult at all, for that matter.

[Jana814]

I'm not sure if Sarah was able to be any form of an adult. I also don't think she or any of them for that matter were allowed to be kids. 

[Trynn]

Well, Steve was a little less crazy when they were younger.... So maybe for a good 3-4 years or so they got to be regular kids, until Steve went even further down the rabbit hole.

[Jana814]

I think Nathan & Christopher & possible Sarah got to be regular kids.  But I'm sure the rest of them were not.  

[CyborgKin]

I don't think Sarah ever had the chance to be a young adult. Or an adult at all, for that matter.

That's what I was getting at in my convoluted snarky way, yeah.

I'm not sure if Sarah was able to be any form of an adult. I also don't think she or any of them for that matter were allowed to be kids. 

I wonder, if someone doesn't get to be either an adult or a kid, what does that make them?

I guess this could be called "objectification of offspring".

 

Oh, I know, it makes them 'arrows'.  Ugh, so dehumanizing!