M is for Mama 16

[Coconut Flan]

Continued from here:

The LOOOONNNGGGG vacation continues.

[nellautumngirl]

I hope they make it back home in one piece. They are Duggar levels stupid with children. I'm having flashbacks to Jason falling into the orchestra pit. Who is watching these children? I don't think Abbie and Sean are.

[Wifey4Lifey]

20 minutes ago, nellautumngirl said:

I hope they make it back home in one piece. They are Duggar levels stupid with children. I'm having flashbacks to Jason falling into the orchestra pit. Who is watching these children? I don't think Abbie and Sean are.

The older kids or hired help seem to mostly be responsible for the little ones. But even that didn't stop them from getting out of bed during nap time and playing with tacks, one of which ended up in Abbie's foot. I don't understand why toddlers were left alone in a room with access to tacks, but at least it was Abbie who stepped on it, not one of the kids!

[danvillebelle]

5 hours ago, Wifey4Lifey said:

I don't understand why toddlers were left alone in a room with access to tacks,

Because they don't childproof anything.  They never have.  She thinks she's god's gift to motherhood and nothing bad will happen. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

20 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

Because they don't childproof anything.  They never have.  She thinks she's god's gift to motherhood and nothing bad will happen. 

Plus she thinks childproofing stuff is ugly. 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

So are bruises, stitches, and broken bones

[SassyPants]

I have often thought that having a large group with many small kids in the mix is more problematic than kids being with a smaller group of adults. In the case of the former, often times, many people think that “someone else” is watching out for the kids.

What are we 5 days into the trip?  And we seen the older of the younger boys playing on a escalator, a toddler dart for the street only to be stopped at the last minute by AH, and have read about the little ones climbing out of cribs and playing with tacks. FYI, their new digs doesn’t have any cribs, so expect more drama.

Also, we all know that the Hs don’t give a fig about child safety. Are they putting all the responsibility on the teenage helper? God, I hope not.

[JermajestyDuggar]

7 minutes ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

So are bruises, stitches, and broken bones

She’s the woman who shaved Shiloh’s head when he was only a few months old because she couldn’t stand how his hair was growing. It was growing more on the sides and back than the top. She thought it looked bad so she buzzed it. I’ve never heard of anyone buzzing the hair if a baby only a few months old because they thought it looked ugly. 

[front hugs > duggs]

Per her stories, she was driving in a foreign country, in the rain, with a car full of children (including a Shiloh that can’t be seen in any seat) whilst filming on her phone????????? Keep your eyes on the road before you hurt your family or others!

[danvillebelle]

Only Braggie would book that rental with nowhere for her toddlers to sleep and no washer/dryer because it's a mini-castle, y'all, and the IG pics will be RAD. 🤮

[neuroticcat]

Toddler running barefoot from museum exhibit to museum exhibit felt like it was straight out of an American-tourist trope. 

I think large families by necessity find a new normal where things don't bother them anymore or even ping their radar, but it is w-i-l-d to not pick up on the social cues there. 

I agree with the need to split by age. I have half as many kids and as much as I like when we all can be out somewhere together, it is rarely fun for everyone. If it's little kid oriented, the older ones don't want to be there. If it's older kid oriented, the little kids are understandably bored. And it's not very fun as a parent to always be navigating some subgroups disappointment either. 

I am experiencing a lot of secondary anxiety watching the stories for this trip - traveling stresses me out in general, so the idea of this kind of trip is kind of a nightmare. 

[SassyPants]

11 hours ago, neuroticcat said:

Toddler running barefoot from museum exhibit to museum exhibit felt like it was straight out of an American-tourist trope. 

I think large families by necessity find a new normal where things don't bother them anymore or even ping their radar, but it is w-i-l-d to not pick up on the social cues there. 

I agree with the need to split by age. I have half as many kids and as much as I like when we all can be out somewhere together, it is rarely fun for everyone. If it's little kid oriented, the older ones don't want to be there. If it's older kid oriented, the little kids are understandably bored. And it's not very fun as a parent to always be navigating some subgroups disappointment either. 

I am experiencing a lot of secondary anxiety watching the stories for this trip - traveling stresses me out in general, so the idea of this kind of trip is kind of a nightmare. 

I agree so much about their inability to pick up on social cues. Again, is it a processing disconnect with both adults, or is it not giving a rip about anyone but themselves? Clearly, neither she nor Shaun feel any sense of embarrassment.

[JDuggs]

28 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

I agree so much about their inability to pick up on social cues. Again, is it a processing disconnect with both adults, or is it not giving a rip about anyone but themselves? Clearly, neither she nor Shaun feel any sense of embarrassment.

I think that Abbie thinks that everything her family does is “pro-child” and society’s norms are “anti-child.” Abbie’s right to bring her ten kids anywhere she wants to go and let them behave like kids behave trumps everyone else’s right to enjoy more adult oriented activities. I’m sure her five oldest are well behaved and able to get a lot out of this trip, but I also think the five little boys are probably mostly bored and miserable. She’ll probably be able to convince Theo and Honor that they had a good time because they were constantly eating ice cream. Maybe the “hard isn’t the same as bad” applies to Abbie, but the little boys might disagree.

[pupper]

Just thinking about the cost of that many meals out for that many people is making my head explode. Even if you want to cook, my experience is that French apartment kitchens are tiny with much smaller refrigerators than Americans are used to. Frequent small shopping trips are the norm. I can’t see how this trip can be affordable or enjoyable for so many kids and for so long.

[JermajestyDuggar]

27 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

I think that Abbie thinks that everything her family does is “pro-child” and society’s norms are “anti-child.” Abbie’s right to bring her ten kids anywhere she wants to go and let them behave like kids behave trumps everyone else’s right to enjoy more adult oriented activities. I’m sure her five oldest are well behaved and able to get a lot out of this trip, but I also think the five little boys are probably mostly bored and miserable. She’ll probably be able to convince Theo and Honor that they had a good time because they were constantly eating ice cream. Maybe the “hard isn’t the same as bad” applies to Abbie, but the little boys might disagree.

It’s exactly like Jill Rod. Her kids can act up in public, climbing monuments and bothering everyone around them. Then Jill scream prays when they get in trouble for breaking the rules at the KOA. 

[SassyPants]

It will be interesting to see if once Abbie’s kids are out of the toddler and rambunctious stage, if she and Shaun will happily accept other people’s little children’s raucous behaviors? Somehow, I doubt it. She gives me major Karen vibes.

Rules for thee but not for me- The H’s Family motto

[Bluebirdbluebell]

7 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

It’s exactly like Jill Rod. Her kids can act up in public, climbing monuments and bothering everyone around them. Then Jill scream prays when they get in trouble for breaking the rules at the KOA. 

I agree with both you and @JDuggs. I  don't think Jill's kids aren't "acting up"; they act the way they're expected to act. She's trying to show how fun their lifestyle is and the joy of Christianity. Also the climbing of the monument was to show how manly her teen boys were. She was proud of them for doing it.

[JermajestyDuggar]

This is probably right before they were told to get the fuck off the grass. I swear Braggie is the reason why Americans have such shitty reputations for traveling in Europe. It’s embarrassing. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by JermajestyDuggar

[FundianaJones]

In my view, this is not a trip for the children to see Europe, nor even a trip for Braggie to see Europe, but a trip for Europe to see Braggie. AH and her passel of children (some fairly sedate and others running amok with little oversight) are probably old news where she lives, in her neighborhood and church. Braggie's narcissism needs more supply and more attention, and she's getting it overseas now. No matter if it's negative attention; for narcissists it's all valid supply, and she gets to play "persecuted mommy martyr, Europeans are dour, mean child-haters, I'm so much godlier and superior to any of them". Her trip also gives her brand-new instagrammable backdrops for endless selfies and group photos (because she craves the attention to herself and to her reproductive prowess). So then she gets more validation from dazzling her leghumpers (whom she despises and feels so much superior to also) with her world-experience, sophistication (Paris! Museum! Culture! Chateau!) and, of course, money.

I would also argue that she knows this is probably the last chance she'll get to travel with her whole bunch, as I don't see Ezra and Simon sticking around for these shenanigans over the next couple of years. And of course it wouldn't be the same to travel overseas with only seven or eight children. She might not get any looks! She might not get any comments! People might be nicer if her children are older and better behaved! No, no, no... none of that will do for Braggie. She needs the attention, and she needs it now.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Zoo Anderson is traveling to Europe soon and she’s already making content about it. Packing and getting ready content. She will try to cash in on this trip with most of her kids. 

[JDuggs]

I think we’re experiencing Braggie in Europe fatigue. No one has mentioned the hot air balloon ride for A/S and the seven oldest kids. Babysitter and the three littles left behind.

[SassyPants]

I guess she answered a bunch of questions recently. One of the questions asked about how they saved enough money to finance the trip. Abbie, in typical Abbie fashion, had a snarky reply about not going into too many details and that it was a rather “nosy” (AH’s word) question. God she has zero people skills or social graces. She’s the female equivalent of Trump.

She wants her cake (attention; fame) and eat it too (privacy). ITRW, it doesn’t work that way.

 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Abbie doesn't want to admit the truth, which is that she and Shaun are rich and can afford this trip. That's it. There isn't something she spent months researching and pinching pennies. You probably couldn't save enough for a trip for 13 people to Europe through savings. Too many rich people hold their lifestyle up as something achievable when it isn't. 

Then again most people don't like to admit they're rich. 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Bluebirdbluebell

[SassyPants]

Abbie did say that they are saving a lot of money by cooking many of their meals. No shite Sherlock. Of course they are not springing for 1,755 restaurant meals to feed 13 people for a 45 day trip. DUH!!!

[JermajestyDuggar]

People with money always downplay how much money they have. This isn’t just my opinion. Studies show that people in the top bracket of wealth think they don’t have as much money as they actually do. Sometimes it’s because they compare themselves to people who have more money in comparison. It’s pretty easy to find someone richer than you to compare yourself to. Everyone can except maybe Jeff Bezos. Braggie seems to spend a lot of time on social media. I bet she looks at all the people jet setting across Europe and thinks it’s normal to take 45 day European holidays. When it’s actually extremely uncommon amongst most American families.
 

Braggie will never admit her extreme privilege. She will only claim martyrdom while traipsing through Europe with her 10 kids and nanny.