Finnish-Australian Vegan Doomsday Cult Family of 12

[Rachel333]

6 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

9 hours ago, Anonymousguest said:

 

Congrats, it sounds like you are doing things right but it's not a given for all homeschooling families. I'm not sure I want to take it for a fact simply because someone brags on Youtube about it.  

Yep, I've known enough homeschooling families who exaggerated to the extreme about what they did in homeschooling that I don't take it as fact when homeschoolers brag about how much more they do and how much more advanced their kids are than public schoolers. I find that bragging really obnoxious anyway.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Rachel333

[mango_fandango]

Her videos have also started popping up on my YouTube homepage. I’ll pass.

I remember there was a girl in my school called Athene. No idea if she was Greek or not. 

[Imagine]

This is a very interesting family indeed. On a Finnish forum there has been lots of discussion and someone who seemingly knows this family quite well told that the dad has issues with vision and is retired because of that. To answer the questions about their money situation, all of their money must come from welfare benefits which are pretty good for a family with that many children in Finland. Child benefit alone is 94 euros per month for the first child under the age 17 and goes up from there so that you get 104 euros for second child, 133 euros for third child, 153 euros for fourth child and 172 euros for fifth and all the subsequent children under the age 17.

So they are getting around 1000 euros from child benefits per month and on top of that they get at least housing allowance, money for taking care of children under 7 years old at home and dad must also get retirement allowance (from Australia?).

Nobody knows where they live now after leaving the amazing house - probably in a rented apartment not that luxurious.

[LurkerOverThePond]

1 hour ago, Imagine said:

So they are getting around 1000 euros from child benefits per month

I'm a Finn and have no kids but knew our child benefits are quite generous, but I had no idea you can get that much money! Of course, for nine kids still at home you still need considerable money for food, clothes, possible medications, hobbies, etc., though I'm not sure how much money they really use for these purposes because of their isolation and simple diet.

I have read about Taina on a Finnish forum and remember that she always wanted ten kids in twenty years, and it looks like she achieved just that. I have stalked her Instagram for a few years now, and I've been quite appalled how much she likes to post photos of kids in very few clothes. The "littles" mostly wear diapers only. Wear what you like at the privacy of your own home, but don't post it for all the world to see! So many predators out there salivating at pictures like those

[ElToro]

Yeah...she says they decided to have ten kids and it looks like the last four were popped out quickly one by one before it was too late. I must admit I find it weird to be so rigid about sticking to a number... What would she have done if the last baby turned out to be twins and fucked up all her plans?!

[OGEmoji]

Some of their videos have over a million views. They are likely bringing in at least a small income from the youtube channel.

[FilleMondaine]

17 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

I grew up with an Aphrodite (also 100% Greek) and she had a cousin also named Aphrodite. She was super cool.

Also, I have such a weird feeling about this mom. I haven't watched all the videos. Does the Dad ever speak? Can he? Also - she says "boobie" a lot. I found that annoying. 

I happily stand corrected! Thanks @potato and @Nikedagain?, for de-creeping the name Aphrodite. There seems to be enough creepy with this family, that I will take the relief where I can.

[superbabe]

OMG, I've also come across this family on YouTube. Creepy. The oldest son's vlog is also pretty creepy (Leonardo) and same for his wife's. They got married so young... wtf.

The Dad seems to be all about doomsday and The End is Near and the mom seems pretty obsessed with cleanliness, minimalism, veganism, over-achieving etc. The kids are learning 9 instruments and 5 languages each or something crazy...

Creepy family.

[MadisonParksValetta]

10 hours ago, Imagine said:

This is a very interesting family indeed. On a Finnish forum there has been lots of discussion and someone who seemingly knows this family quite well told that the dad has issues with vision and is retired because of that.

1

 This family fascinates me and I want ALL the scoop from this Finnish forum!! Could you give us some more tidbits/link the forum please??

[artdecades]

Do we know what the oldest, married son does for a living? Do the parents support him and his wife or does the Finnish gov't support them?

[Jillian]

On 11/12/2018 at 11:03 AM, JermajestyDuggar said:

2) it looks like the whole family is only allowed to wear white and denim. There was nothing else worn by the family members and that was all I saw in the laundry. 

4) she calls the youngest 4 babies but the oldest of the four is a three year old. She’s not a baby. 

6) the mother gets up at 2:55am every morning and it looks like dad sleeps in all morning during the morning routine. Typical fundie father. 

2

I did see a pink dress on the second youngest one in a couple of videos.  But, yeah, all white and denim besides that.  I mean, it makes hand me downs easy, since all but the dresses are gender neutral, jeans are durable, white can be bleached...  However, all it really does is make them look like they are perpetually going out for beach pictures.

I definitely called my 3-year-olds babies...I still call my kids baby as a term of endearment and they are 9, 11, 14, and 16.

Two of my kids, 11 and 14, get up between 3 am and 4 am every morning.  They have since they were newborns.  It sucked, especially since the other two are the exact opposite.  I slept only from midnight to 3 am (except weekends when my husband let me sleep in, apart from quick nursings) for years.  Now they are self-sufficient in the mornings (good news, the 2 kids who wake up way too early are also the 2 who are ridiculously well behaved).  


The blanket training is extreme.  Holy shit.  I've seen a LOT of blanket trained kids (I attended bible college, all our college friends are fully with ezzo and the pearls as far as raising kids goes) and NEVER have I seen kids expected to stay laying down, without moving, for that LONG.  Holy shit, not ok, so not ok.  It's absurd.  Babies learn by exploring.  3-year-olds for sure are old enough to be able to play quietly in the same room while you cook.  There is no reason for a 3-year-old has to be within arms reach while you cook breakfast.


My #1 question, and why I stopped lurking, though is; Where the hell did they come from?  I discovered them Monday, cause youtube suggested it, by Tuesday I had friends posting about them on facebook, cause youtube had suggested it to them as well, by Wednesday it was all over Reddit and message boards.  How?  What did they do to make their videos suddenly suggested to everyone?  Their subscriber counts are absurd to, they are going up so fast.  

Also, and I know this is snarky and I have no room to talk, I breastfed my kids for as long as they wanted, but, is it normal for 3-year-olds to still be drinking multiple bottles a day?  I mean, that kid (and the other 2) had a bottle at 3 am and a bottle at 6 am, that seems odd.  A 3 year old should eat their breakfast, not drink it.  

Edited November 15, 2018 by Jillian
typo

[smittykins]

Just watched the other two "morning routine" videos on YouTube, and I had to mute the sound because the background song is just. too. repetitive. and. annoying. 

[Imagine]

2 hours ago, MadisonParksValetta said:

 This family fascinates me and I want ALL the scoop from this Finnish forum!! Could you give us some more tidbits/link the forum please??

https://www.vauva.fi/keskustelu/3307315/taina-licciardo-toivola-heraa-klo-0300

Here's the link to the forum. There's actually not that much information, more speculation... But I'll try to give you some bits. The dad's original surname was Smith but since Marie Licciardo being his foster mom, he has changed it into Licciardo-Smith. And Taina and Paul actually met through Marie Licciardo when Taina was very young. Licciardo-Smith is also the surname of all of the children, Licciardo-Toivola actually being their "stage name" - it sounds more Finnish so maybe that's why they use it.

Five older kids have been born in Australia and the rest in Finland. Someone told the reason why they moved to Finland in the first place was because they got too tired of step dance their children used to do in Australia. Naturally that can't be the only reason to move across the world.

Kids have been homeschooled in Australia and also for some time after their move to Finland - they were allowed to homeschool in English with Australian materials, but after they moved into another municipality, things may have changed so that it didn't work out anymore and so recently the kids have been going to public school. Therefore Taina's so called homeschooling has been limited to teaching the younger kids some things here and there (just so you know in Finland 6 year-olds go to preschool and actual school starts at 7 years old).

Taina has studied photography in a college in Australia and worked as a wedding photographer there. Paul is a chef by occupation. The family is not active in any church, although they have visited Pentecostal ceremonies here and there. They prefer doing the spiritual things at home.

The kids have also had growth issues, where some of them have been growing too fast and some too slow. Some people are quite concerned if their vegan diet is in balance and the kids get enough protein and all the other things.

And yup, sorry for my rusty writing skills in English ?

[meowfundiecatz]

They have to be making at least $5k US on YouTube if not more, especially since they have many videos at the 1M or more views mark. Each video they produce, if they make at least 3 per week, would need 20K views to reach $5k US per month via adsense. (Or 80K new views on 12 older videos). I haven't watched enough videos to see if she does any sponsored posts, product placement, etc. I could only stomach her morning routine part 1 and even then I  couldn't watch the whole thing, especially with all her spelling errors.

[Jillian]

On 11/13/2018 at 6:43 PM, mango_fandango said:

I was on YouTube on my iPad earlier... the morning routine video popped up on my homepage! I don’t think I’ve even visited this thread on my iPad. Technology, eh?

 

Even my friends who do not follow any fundie/fundie snark blogs/subs/boards/channels of any sort got it suggested to them this week.  They did something, who knows what, to make youtube suggest them to everyone.  It's really weird.  It's also weird that the new videos she is uploading are old.  Omega is nearly 1, I think, and in the videos he's still very much a young infant.  Also the hide and seek video was filmed before the marriage, and that was in june or july.

On 11/14/2018 at 7:18 AM, JMO said:

I'm wondering who filmed her at 3am. I guess one of the older kids? And did we ever see her eat? My biggest question is why believers of a doomsday cult would have 10 kids.  Don't they believe that the end is nigh? 

I really thought she was doing her own filming, just using a tripod and moving it frequently/with a lot of jump cuts at points, but cleopatra was also awake if she went for a run at 3, so that's also a possibility.

[llucie]

3 hours ago, Imagine said:

https://www.vauva.fi/keskustelu/3307315/taina-licciardo-toivola-heraa-klo-0300

Here's the link to the forum. There's actually not that much information, more speculation... But I'll try to give you some bits. The dad's original surname was Smith but since Marie Licciardo being his foster mom, he has changed it into Licciardo-Smith. And Taina and Paul actually met through Marie Licciardo when Taina was very young. Licciardo-Smith is also the surname of all of the children, Licciardo-Toivola actually being their "stage name" - it sounds more Finnish so maybe that's why they use it.

 

Interesting. So the cult lider mom is not his biological mother. But why was a cult leader allowed to foster kids in the first place? Also if she introduced them, was Taina brainwashed by this woman before, and if she is from finland, how did she end meeting this woman in the first place? so many questions...

3 hours ago, Imagine said:

 

Five older kids have been born in Australia and the rest in Finland. Someone told the reason why they moved to Finland in the first place was because they got too tired of step dance their children used to do in Australia. Naturally that can't be the only reason to move across the world.

 

Maybe they are runing away from his mom and the cult? Did they ever mention her?

Edited November 16, 2018 by llucie
spelling

[RidiculousFundies]

They are fascinating and creepy, and the mom looks at herself in a creepier way when filming. Somethings very off about them. 

Although it's 3:52am and I'm beating mysef up for not being able to name all 10 kids in order like the Duggar kids (I forgot Shakespeare) ?

[DundeeUnFundie]

13 hours ago, artdecades said:

Do we know what the oldest, married son does for a living? Do the parents support him and his wife or does the Finnish gov't support them?

I think he's a builder or electrician (its mentioned now and then in the vlogs), I'm not sure what his wife does...

5 hours ago, RidiculousFundies said:

They are fascinating and creepy, and the mom looks at herself in a creepier way when filming. Somethings very off about them. 

Although it's 3:52am and I'm beating mysef up for not being able to name all 10 kids in order like the Duggar kids (I forgot Shakespeare) ?

Agreed. And I tried to do the same thing! I forgot D'artian (sp?) and Romeo. ?

I've been stalking them a little bit, the culture clash is fascinating to me and I can see them sucking me in with familiar accents and blonde kiddies ?

[RidiculousFundies]

2 hours ago, DundeeUnFundie said:

I think he's a builder or electrician (its mentioned now and then in the vlogs), I'm not sure what his wife does...

Agreed. And I tried to do the same thing! I forgot D'artian (sp?) and Romeo. ?

I've been stalking them a little bit, the culture clash is fascinating to me and I can see them sucking me in with familiar accents and blonde kiddies ?

I googled it and it's something from the 3 Musketeers apparently. Sounds like titanium. They're so weird and I can't stop watching 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

6 hours ago, RidiculousFundies said:

I googled it and it's something from the 3 Musketeers apparently. Sounds like titanium. 

Yes, D'Artagnan is the name of a character from The Three Musketeers, but the name doesn't really sound like titanium. I found 2 main examples of how to pronounce it; one in a French accent, the other the way most English speaking Americans pronounce it. 

French:

American English:

(Disclaimer--I haven't actually read any of Alexandre Dumas' books, but my husband is a fan.)

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

6 hours ago, RidiculousFundies said:

Iit's something from the 3 Musketeers apparently.

Yup, D'Artagnan is the fourth musketeer! Those names really are all over the place: Greek, Egyptian, Famous Creative Types,  Famous Characters (apparently D'Artagnan was a real dude, Wiki tells me), My Favourite Bible,  and one Greek Letter Because Why Not. I feel Leonardo and Romeo got off pretty light!

 

I'm still interested in what Marie Licciardo's deal is. She has some videos about being in Helsinki - does she live there now? Have a cult following there? Just went one time to hang out with the grandkids?

[ViolaSebastian]

I feel like there's an easier way to address children being too involved in an activity than moving the whole kit and kaboodle across the world. There's definitely something else up there. 

ETA: Thinking about it while I was drying my hair, I think that moving to Finland was a move to isolate the kids and the family in general. It's a classic abuse tactic, and what could be more isolating than moving to a different country with little knowledge of the language?

Edited November 16, 2018 by ViolaSebastian

[FilleMondaine]

19 hours ago, Imagine said:

And yup, sorry for my rusty writing skills in English ?

No apologies! Your English is miles better than my Finnish (I know zero Finnish). I speak languages, too, and it is easy to feel ashamed when writing in a language other than your native language.  But I think all of us here understood you just fine! You came across as well-informed and fluent. And unlike a certain "nationalist" in the news, I think it is so neat that there are so  many people from different backgrounds and countries learning from each other, and offering to help others learn. Yay @Imagine!!! Go you!

OH- and to @WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? and @ridiculousfundies, Here is a link to the other Musketeers greeting D'Artagnan so you can hear Jeremy Irons and Gerard Depardieu say it.YouTube clip that I don't know how to embed...sorry

Edited November 16, 2018 by FilleMondaine
To add the part about D'Artagnan

[llucie]

1 hour ago, ViolaSebastian said:

I feel like there's an easier way to address children being too involved in an activity than moving the whole kit and kaboodle across the world. There's definitely something else up there. 

ETA: Thinking about it while I was drying my hair, I think that moving to Finland was a move to isolate the kids and the family in general. It's a classic abuse tactic, and what could be more isolating than moving to a different country with little knowledge of the language?

i asumed they are all bilingual in finish and english, if they were homeschooled by the mother and she is a finish native speaker, they may even have finish as the native language. In the blogs they all seem to speak finish between them and english only for the blog, but i cant tell how good they speak finish or if they have an accent because i dont know the language.

[superbabe]

Wow, they just uploaded Nerfititi's birthday video and it shows super obsessive decorations... nothing seems genuine about that mom and all her kids.