Family Living on Purpose (FLOP) : Erika Shupe Pt 11

[Hisey]

I was looking at Brandon's (public) google plus page. He was chatting with a friend. The friend mentioned that he'd just watched Jurassic Park three times in two days. Brandon reacted with astonishment, asking "How do you get your mom to allow this?" The poor boy really seemed amazed and disbelieving.

The friend responded that "What she doesn't know, won't hurt her."

What is Brandon, about 15? It seems the younger Shupes are as controlled as ever.

 

[Eternalbluepearl]

Does Erika's blog or the Facebook group that it turned into, still exist? Any more posts about being a public school mom? Any more insight into why things have changed so drastically? Karen now celebrates Halloween according to Facebook. I remember Halloween was Erika's birthday and they specifically did NOT celebrate Halloween. It's all different now. Can we now imagine that Erika and Bob will be passing out candy and getting their kids dressed up? Anything now seems possible.

[mango_fandango]

4 hours ago, Hisey said:

I was looking at Brandon's (public) google plus page. He was chatting with a friend. The friend mentioned that he'd just watched Jurassic Park three times in two days. Brandon reacted with astonishment, asking "How do you get your mom to allow this?" The poor boy really seemed amazed and disbelieving.

The friend responded that "What she doesn't know, won't hurt her."

What is Brandon, about 15? It seems the younger Shupes are as controlled as ever.

 

Wow, that sucks. I think Brandon is about 14, he's just started high school I think. Erika was a *little* more lax with films, she let them watch things like Star Wars, but clearly cloning dinosaurs is too far. 

I am so glad Karen got out. Hopefully Melanie will soon follow. The other kids will be so left out if they're not allowed to watch films their peers can. Erika already said that the main reason she lets the girls wear pants is so that they wouldn't be the odd ones out in wearing knee-length skirts every day.

[Hisey]

Actually, I didn't even think about the cloning dinosaurs part. I thought her objection would be to a child watching three movies in two days. Admittedly, I wouldn't be thrilled if my kids did this, but I don't have as tight a control over their TV watching habits. They both have phones so it is harder to control.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Maybe it's the blood and gore? I watched the new one and I think it's fine for a mainstream 14 year old but there are some parts where people get eaten and there's blood and stuff. Maybe she objects to that as well? Erika Rena he type to object to really weird stuff so I don't know. Maybe it is cloning, lol.

[alexandracabot]

On 10/19/2017 at 12:35 PM, Hisey said:

I was looking at Brandon's (public) google plus page. He was chatting with a friend. The friend mentioned that he'd just watched Jurassic Park three times in two days. Brandon reacted with astonishment, asking "How do you get your mom to allow this?" The poor boy really seemed amazed and disbelieving.

The friend responded that "What she doesn't know, won't hurt her."

What is Brandon, about 15? It seems the younger Shupes are as controlled as ever.

 

Eh. It's not necessarily the content of the movies. When I was 14 my mom would have been pissed if I watched a movie 3 times in two days - that's a good 6 hours of television. She would have told me to get off the couch and do something.

[Hisey]

On 10/20/2017 at 7:36 PM, alexandracabot said:

Eh. It's not necessarily the content of the movies. When I was 14 my mom would have been pissed if I watched a movie 3 times in two days - that's a good 6 hours of television. She would have told me to get off the couch and do something.

That was my thought, too. And I wouldn't be happy if my kids did that. However, in Brandon's case, if he is still so highly scheduled, I imagine he's wondering how it is even possible. Where would the 6 hours come from? Mom would expect him to be busy following his schedule during all his "free" time.

[mango_fandango]

Exactly. We all know that Erika scheduled Karen and Melanie's fiction reading for two hours at the weekend. I imagine Brandon's reaction was more like "how did that even happen?" He is so used to his whole life being scheduled to the nth degree, even having "educational" stuff to do with the free time, that the idea of this kid being allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted would just be totally alien to him (Brandon).

[Jess]

17 minutes ago, mango_fandango said:

Exactly. We all know that Erika scheduled Karen and Melanie's fiction reading for two hours at the weekend. I imagine Brandon's reaction was more like "how did that even happen?" He is so used to his whole life being scheduled to the nth degree, even having "educational" stuff to do with the free time, that the idea of this kid being allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted would just be totally alien to him (Brandon).

Didn't one of them complain that it was hard to do the advanced high school work in the scheduled amount of time?

[ActualReality]

It's been fascinating to watch Karen's emergence.  She posted something like "now I can finally be myself."  That's kind of sad, but I guess that's the way it goes when mom and dad control every part of your life.

re wearing pants I read somewhere where Erica said that the girls were old enough to make their own decisions and that she wanted their faith to be their own.  I'm sure it's a painful place for her to be in now that she realizes that all of that neurotic control drove her children further from her and her ideas.  Legalistic parents often believe that if you raise them a certain way and control everything they have access to they won't want things from the outside world.  Somehow it's always a shock to them when all of that control makes the kids MORE curious about the forbidden things.

When I turned 18 I immediately moved away from home and from my evangelical family.  The freedom was delicious then and still is now!

 

[Loveday]

Not sure why, he didn't post about it, but Bob has just archived the FLOP FB page. Still readable, but no more posts or replies.   

[themothership]

I just saw Bob Shupe archived FLOP on Facebook.

[defraudingjezebel]

Yep, I too just got the Facebook notification saying that Bob has archived the group. I'm kind of surprised that they'd essentially shut it down with no notice. I guess this answers questions about the future of Erika's blog. I'm kind of sad to see it all end, to be honest. 

[librarianjojo]

I'm also getting 404s alllllll over FLOP as well. Not even a post about packing lunch for your public school kids.

[Howl]

Hope Erika is OK. 

[Anonymousguest]

Wow, how strange. I hope all is well. 

[ActualReality]

I suspect that Erika has not been well for quite a while.  I hope she’s ok.  I’m sure it’s difficult  to not have the support of having the older girl around.

[Anonymousguest]

I don't see an illness as a reason to take down a blog. Why not just let it sit there? Or a FB page that is only used by it's members? Unless she's trying to moderate all the posts it shouldn't be a big deal to let it move along on its own.

[themothership]

I don't see an illness as a reason to take down a blog. Why not just let it sit there? Or a FB page that is only used by it's members? Unless she's trying to moderate all the posts it shouldn't be a big deal to let it move along on its own.

I think people are guessing it is more of a mental illness than a physical condition.

[ActualReality]

I could see where her old thoughts and ideas would be triggering for her.  Probably better not to see them

[picklepizzas]

Bob's facebook has pics of a daddy daughter date with anna marie (wearing shorts!) and brandon socializing with what sounds like other boys (non related!) in some air patrol club. i'm relieved for all of them. erika's suffocating hamster cage was my least favorite of all the fundie households. 

[Desertrose]

Karen has a picture on her FB with her and her mom posted Saturday.

interesting that they are shutting blogs and Facebook pages down.

Maybe it was eye opening to Erica and Bob with Karen moving out on her own.

[Eternalbluepearl]

Maybe not mental illness, but maybe Erika realizes she doesn't have much to say anymore now things have changed so much. I think just living their lives without needing to teach others is good for Erika and Bob. There clearly is no one formula to parental success and maybe that has dawned on them while seeing their older children mature and their younger children thrive in a school environment. Decluttering is still good though. I love me some decluttering as much as Erika Shupe. 

[Shiny]

The kids may be expanding their boundaries, but the parents sure aren't. Bob's facebook page is gross. Do conservatives know any words other than "libtard"?

 

 

[merg429]

Isn't today Erika's birthday? I also got the notification that Bob had archived the FLOP Facebook group. 

The Shupe  threads were one of the first I read on this board, I hope everything is ok.