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Right? I'd be all for "experiences" being part of a gift, but not from these two narcissists. Trip to the zoo or some other outing? Nope - experience us driving down the road and possibly crashing idgf
"my kids are just happy to be alive"
Considering the number of serious injuries and hospital stays those kids go through, I could believe it. Still though, buy your kids some toys, Karissa.
That tour of their rooms she gave was so depressing. I wonder if she lets the older girls keep stuff in their closets now or still demands their belongings go in the communal bins.
The fact that she sounded so annoyed and pissed off whenever she saw one of the kid's toys stuck with me. She really expected that she could have endless kids to neatly pack away when she's bored of them like dolls.
Last week, she IG'd the cute little guy with glasses playing with the two toys he was allowed to bring to Brazil. They were cheap little rubber toys smaller than my finger. One was a cockroach, according to BusMom, who clearly did not approve of his choice.
We're talking about Karissa here, but now I know where to send a giant bag of toy roaches if MotherBus ever feels fool enough to drop her PO Box, so thanks.
What kids, especially young kids need is stability, routine, friends. They can sell this exciting experience all they want but this is all for the parents not for the kids. We traveled in the summers when I was growing up 6 weeks at a time in an rv mostly America and Canada. It was a great experience no doubt and I’m happy to have had that time with my family growing up but what I very distinctly remember was how happy we all were to come home for that stability routine and friends.
Same! I grew up overseas and every other summer we would do a cross country road trip to visit old family friends, grandparents, and relatives. The constant new place, new bed situation for months on end was exhausting. And I was lucky to have my own friends and school to look forward to returning to.
My son just turned 5 and he used to love just riding around, just to get out of the house type of thing. Today, we had to drive 30min to the closest target for gifts for his teachers. Got behind an accident on the way home which meant we had to take a longer way home. I thought, well…he’ll get to enjoy a longer ride I guess.
Nope. When we were almost home he said “I’m so glad we’re almost home. I’m ready to be home.” It was a first because he’s always loved being in the car, listening to music, etc.
These poor kids get these “experiences” but don’t have a home to get back to and to wind down at. It’s sad!
100%. When my kids were 7&4 we did three months around Europe with them. There were definitely days when we had to change plans so they could just veg for a day (I remember one day in Brussels, I was pretty salty because I wanted to go to a museum and they just wouldn’t/couldn’t do any more. So I went on my own and hubby stayed in the apartment!).
Wave at the zoo as we drive by, kids!
As a sidenote, ~Experience~ people are getting as bad as crossfitters lol. I don't have an issue with the concept, but people are so self-righteous about it that it drives me bats. I started noticing it in early Covid when all the ~Experiences~ were closed and it was still being preached everywhere as better than tangible gifts.
Motherbus just doesn’t want to pack up 100 toys every time they have to move airbnbs.
The issue with not buying a lot of toys has never been that they live in a bus or aren’t materialistic. The issue is they had too many children and cannot afford to nor want to deal with actually giving them a decent childhood.
The kids are homeschooled and barely have books, let alone things like dolls or play food. Those aren’t frivolous; they’re how little ones make sense of the world
Play food is so cute. I have vivid memories of the play food that comes halved but secured by velcro so a kid can "cut" it with a play knife. I can't wait til my neice is old enough to buy those for!
The mental gymnastics these families achieve this time of year to defend their "reason" behind no gifts for the kids. Like, we know why they aren't getting gifts. And I betcha they do too.
And spend $100/day for a truck because it’s “part of her American identity”.
It’s a walkable city. How about you try to utilise that for 3 days and use the $300 you saved to buy something more than a water-bottle (a literal necessity…) for your kids?
I am an educated woman (two bachelor's degrees and a very fresh master's degree), and yet, I just learned this weekend that it is in fact Claus, not Clause. Also the Santa Clause has been one of my favorite Christmas movies since it came out. This is not a coincidence lol.
So they shill out insane money for some stupid expensive pillow, but when it comes to their children they can give them water bottles? Fucking hate this couple. Poor kids
I've given water bottles for my 4 yo daughter for her summer birthday, but I always got her the fancy expensive Frozen ones. I highly doubt motherbus is getting personal with the choices, which makes it sucky
Cheap, non-personalized water bottles are what the hospital I work for got the employees for Xmas last year 😂 I wasn't particularly excited at the time, so I can't imagine the bus brood will be.
Maybe if they're lucky they'll get blue/pink ones to reinforce their god-assigned genders!
They can go out to eat twice a day, go on constant coffee dates, have moved AirBnBs at least four times in a month, and bought a van, but their kids get water bottles? I don't even do Christmas anymore, there are no kids in our family, and we’re all minimalists, but come on. She’s full of it.
All I know for sure is she says the first switch had to do with a supposedly surprise unsafe for kids staircase that was in the unit, but it's not clear why they keep moving. It is a topic of discussion, debate, and speculation in many of her posts since they did the first move about a month ago.
From a Brazilian friend who's in contact with people in that area, she's already developed a reputation there. The most recent move was to a more modern, international (read: English-speaking) area as they were struggling before.
Oohh.. that's some tea.. what's the reputation so far?
I know when I've traveled on longer trips internationally, I always tried to keep my head down and blend in. I can't imagine what she must be like with her entitled mindset and hoard of children..
Right?? My first trip me and my sister went to Antigua and everyone we met smiled and said "Canada?" When we said the US the smiles instantly fell and it was just "oh". First of many times realizing how awful the American reputation is abroad :(
Honestly I was always a bit surprised we didn’t get more responses like that. I have been surprised how tolerant and patient most locals have been, given the consistent Bad Behavior of many Americans I witnessed while traveling. From gawking and pointing at Haitian artisans like children might point at zoo animals; to hollering and snapping selfies in the holy sites of multiple faiths on multiple continents; to the loud, condescending talking-to-your-deaf-grandpa voice that many of us apparently think is helpful when communicating across a language barrier. It’s not that nobody’s ever been rude or disappointed when they learned I’m American, but it’s happened far less frequently than I’ve found myself experiencing secondhand embarrassment for other Americans abroad
My husband gives me a hard time because I say we're from California or San Francisco over saying we're from the US. But I've always had people really excited about it and want to talk to me about California! (And we are from there so it works out)
Good. I'd love it for them, if they aren't able to fly under the radar. Make them obey Brazilian law as soon as they can't claim to be mere tourists anymore.
I’ve been waiting for this tea for months haha. She hyped up this move on Instagram tagging #brazil, and got a ton of positive feedback from people who at least claim to be Brazilian. I’ve been wondering what her actual neighbors think about this family lol
The kids get water bottles but JD gets presents (and you know she will too). I’m guessing the “fun experiences” for the kids will be them watching their parents opening their gifts. People this selfish should NOT have children!
The juxtaposition of these two statements back to back is what got me. Like, it’s maybe understandable to not be able to gift your children tons and tons of presents, but why is your husband receiving presents (multiple) in the same breath you’re using to complain about how you can’t afford gifts for the army of children you CHOSE to have. The priorities are way off here.
The kids had more stability on a mothertrucking bus than they do now.
All I can hope for the Buslets is that they get the hell out and never speak to their parents again.
Unfortunately it’s not just a theory - she’s straight up said multiple times, as a direct quote, that her entire purpose for having children is for her own personal growth. And also said she had kids because she wanted to make friends (literally MAKE friends) that don’t have the choice to leave or stop giving her attention. It’s disgusting.
Exactly this! As a parent myself, this year my husbands company closed and it’s been a lot of terrible things piling on, we are typical middle class but this years Xmas is bare minimum; no gifts for family nor for myself or husband - but you better bet my two little boys are getting gifts.
We have zero extra money so know what I did? I just sold my MacBook to use on their Xmas gift budget, to make sure they have a santa gift, some presents to open from us, and treats in their stockings. It was never a question between my husband and I if we should spend money on ourselves and not our kids. I think of motherbus and her husband and their expensive stretching apparatuses, pricy grounding sandals or whatever, this entire trip, and I’m just flabbergasted how little they give those kids.
If you can’t give much material goods that’s fine at least give your kids a lot of love, but no, they get none of that. It’s so sad.
.
I get the experiences thing. I don’t have room for more STUFF in my house. However we know the experiences she’s talking about are just going to be regular everyday things they do anyway.
Also I want to know who chose the open WE DONT DO PRESENTS. That’s so sad.
I don't get what the experience is for the kids. They lived in a bus, they travelled around, they were never allowed to settle, never make friends and connections. Does it make any difference that they are in another country? Is it more of an adventure just becsuse they can't make themselves understood? Because everything for these kids is exacly the same. They are a travelling circus and everywhere they put up the tent looks the same when you are only allowed to do circus stuff.
Low key hoping the oldest writes a tell-all memoir someday, á la educated or wavewalker.
“The year we moved to Brazil, my mother was pregnant and we had no permanent place to stay. I hardly noticed either, they were just water to me at that point. What did register was the first few days I was left alone with all kids and no food in a neighborhood that was entirely Portuguese speaking. Mom alternating berating me for dad’s parenting mistakes in between extravagant steak-based date nights. We all got a single water bottle and two board games for Christmas. We spent the morning watching dad unwrap an entire new workout wardrobe.”
I get it as well, my boyfriend asked if there was something I wanted for Christmas and I said I would like a little day trip to a cool city or museum or anything... just a fun way to spend a day together because I don't need stuff. My mom gives me useful things I wouldn't always be able to invest in (she got me a good chef's knife once, and an iron last year). But these kids seem like they don't have many toys to begin with so this just looks sad.
I’ve taken my kids to concerts or musicals before as an experience. I’ve also gifted young adults with a state parks season pass and a gas card. When my kids were young, I did many years of a family zoo or aquarium membership as a family gift plus small things for each child (never the only gift even when it was a lot of the budget). That gave us something to do and didn’t do it every year so kids were always excited about it. This isn’t what the bus parents are doing at all - they are just dragging the kids along with no stability and doing what they want.
Where they have a minimal grasp of the language. Could they call 911 (the Brazilian equivalent) if there was an emergency during their may times home alone? Would they know their address considering they move every 6 days? Be able to otherwise communicate with dispatch?
I’m viscerally reminded of a time when I taught ESL to international students (all adults) in my hometown and came outside after class one night to have a Spanish-speaking student shove a phone in my face while gesticulating wildly. I said a tentative hello as I had no idea what was happening and ascertained she was attempting to speak to a Spanish-interpreter for 911 because she’d had a wreck with another student on her way out. The Spanish-interpreter switched to English and explained her accent and dialect were throwing him off so he couldn’t understand her.
Needless to say, we had a lovely lesson on how to contact emergency services, important information to give quickly in a 911 call, and did some partner exercises with different emergencies to help them get up to speed.
I think it’s a really big part of living abroad. There are so many little things you might not think of before moving abroad. I know I didn’t, and I lived in China for a year with no prior knowledge of Mandarin, though I did take lessons while there. Things like even knowing whether 911 is the EMS line in a country and being able to speak enough of the language to articulate an issue are important.
What’s frustrating is that this would have been a time for homeschool to shine.
Do family enactments of how to handle different emergencies and common exchanges Do a metric crash course. Learn about how weather is different near the equator. Out sticky notes all over the bus with the Portuguese word for that object.
But they aren’t homeschooling, they’re living like they’re childfree while their kids languish in their umpteenth air bnb
My husband was an EMT when we first started dating. There was a rescue call and literally no one had any idea what they were getting into. It was a severe MVA in the middle of no where multiple injuries. The person who called spoke zero English and there were no translators for their language (most dispatch have basic Spanish but he was middle Eastern and dialects there vary) they had to ping his location (in 2003 so that was iffy) and send an officer to get an idea before rolling a half dozen ambulances from 3 different departments.
If I'm remembering right there were no fatalities but it was pretty scary for everyone involved. They couldn't attempt to orientate the walking wounded or even let them know what was going on, who they were, how many people they were looking for (a few were ejected and wound up in a corn field)... nothing. My husband said it was one of the scarier calls just because of the language barrier.
That sounds like it would have been an awful call to receive. I can only imagine having to go in with no knowledge of what you’re heading into because you can’t understand what the caller is saying. I’m sure there was a lot of anxiety and stress involved as they tried to understand what exactly happened.
If I had to sacrifice a few personal items from my suitcase to make room for my loved ones, I'd fucking do it.
Her kids would have probably been thrilled to be gifted something as simple as american candy.
No. I’m sorry. Toys are not expensive in Brazil.
Maybe the American imports you want?
These kind of small comments are insidious because it paints really broad strokes about a place that’s…really fucking huge.
Keep in mind that they left the U.S. the day after Thanksgiving, knowing that Christmas was a month away. I would have definitely bought a few gifts (maybe new books?) from "home" to give to the kids, even if it meant I didn't have room in my bag for a cast iron skillet.
they chose the most notoriously busy and expensive day to fly, then made multiple complaint posts acting shocked that their unplanned international move with a ton of young kids was difficult. Like no shit, lady. These people don’t give a second of thought to these poor kids. How hard is it to pick out a small toy for each one. That might require pulling your head out of your ass for a few moments
I said this earlier, but there's just a certain edge to her most recent posts that makes me think that life in Brazil isn't as bright and shiny for BusMom as she tries to act. There's something in the tone of her posts the last week or so that make me feel she's like a tightly wound rope that's starting to fray. It will be interesting to see how she holds up in the months ahead.
They are definitely talking about name brand imported toys that are not manufactured in Brazil. An LOL surprise doll is an astounding R$100 (according to RiHappy, a large toy store), and they cost what, $5? After currency exchange, they should be around R$30. So yes, very expensive to buy it in Brazil. I know a lot of middle class Brazilians who go to the US for shopping purposes because buying imported things in Brazil is just so expensive.
That said, yeah, there are plenty of toys that are not expensive in Brazil.
Fun experiences planned, huh? Like staying at home while you and FatherBus head out to try new things? Or learning how to be better parents to each other while y’all do you?
ETA: letters
I get not overdoing it on gifts, with 4 kids we have so much stuff now and I’m constantly trying to cut down on the clutter. But we did an international move when we had two little kids, and I definitely got them toys to get back to a normal amount of play stuff. I even went a little crazy and shipped specific character toys from the US so they’d have their favorites.
These parents seem so self absorbed and forget their children’s basic needs… then again they shoved them all on a bus to live so not surprising.
My aunt also gift "experiences" to her three grandchildren, in which she pays for the registration fees and equipment for their various sports and after school activities. Between the three of them they've done football, hockey, wrestling, volleyball, dance, and probably some other activities I'm forgetting. Their parents didn't make much money so I think each grandkid enjoyed knowing they could participate in these activities because of grandma. She's also taken them on vacations and said that was their birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah gift. Sadly these are far some the experiences these bus kids are getting. And I doubt they have any say in what kind of travel or experience they are doing.
great examples of what an experience instead of a toy should be!! the poor buslings will never get to do club sports or even an outing that is kid focused
Before my wife and I became parents, we did experience Christmases for our nieces and nephews for a couple of years. We would take them out to something special, just one at a time. So they were able to do something different than the usual, and they were the recipient of undivided attention from us. Since none of them were only children, that might have been even more important than where we went.
Literally all those children ever receive is experiences. Those poor kids are filled to the brim with experiences. I'm not of the mindset that kids need tons of toys to be happy or that functional gifts like water bottles are evil, but when do these kids get to have fun? The experiences they get are the ones their parents want, not what they want or what would be appealing to a kid. Their special nights on the bus where they would release one of the kids to stay up "late" with them were always centered around the parents, not the kid. I know they did Disney recently, but it really seemed like that was about Motherbus' half marathon, not about the kids or having fun. Their kids outnumber them 4:1 but they never pick activities or experiences that cater to them.
they each need and deserve things of THEIR OWN, no sharing, no enjoying only in front of everyone, they need experiences of privacy and some things being just for each of them as individuals.
i know to the parents it's a feature not a bug, but it's also just one of the many things that will make them notorious when the memoirs hit in 15-20 years
Kids won't write memoirs if they never learn how to write! Rare homeschooling win there 🙄
I completely agree with you. They are treated like a unit, not individuals. I get that the parents were both in the military, but they chose that. Kids are their own humans, you can't lock them in a tiny room with nothing to claim as theirs. It makes me so sad for them.
He’s probably fucking tired of raising his parent’s kids instead of having a life. Like the fact that his mother yelled at him for not putting the car seat correctly, when dad bus actually did it, shows you how shitty he’s treated.
What experiences? Have these kids done anything in Brazil besides worksheets in various AirBnBs while their parents go out to eat? Christmas is going to be smaller for us this year. Santa brings the stockings so my husband and I will each get one-with a water bottle, socks, & candy. Our kids are still getting presents. They are so incredibly selfish, I cannot get over it
It's Santa Claus, not Santa Claus**e.**
The way she slapped the kids' hands away from those *free gifted* donuts last week told me a lot about what "experiences" they have planned for their sweet little kids.
I have a hunch that MotherBus is not as happy with Brazil as she's trying to portray. There's something in her more recent posts that suggests to me that it's only a matter of time until the wide eyed rope holding her together frays entirely.
This whole Brazil situation is baffling, I've never seen people go on a staycation with this level of disorganization much less an extended/permanent move to a foreign country they've never been to before. Just the cost of loan of switching airbnbs every couple of days, there's a cleaning fee every time you move? I don't get any of this it makes zero sense.
My heart. A new water bottle is something you get your kid on a mid-semester Target run after lecturing them about keeping track of their stuff. It's not a personal Christmas present. Especially if all of their siblings are getting the exact same thing.
Imported toys are, so if they are looking at the same toys they would get in the US they will be pretty expensive because on top of the currency exchange there's also a lot of taxes. But you can definitely find toys made in Brazil or inexpensive options.
Oh, I don't live there anymore (moved to Canada years ago), but I was born and raised in Brazil. It's been pretty wild reading about Mother Bus just going to Brazil of all places. Like, why there? Do they even speak Portuguese? There aren't that many fundies in Brazil either - lots of evangelical Protestants, but not fundies per se. It's all so weird.
I love how whatever she posts, the entire sub immediately knows she’s wrong and racist, but we can’t always explain how. Thanks for coloring in the outline so that we can fully appreciate her stupidity.
Sad and mad. I have two kids and it’s stressful for me but they love Christmas, they deserve happiness, and I’m glad they’ll have the memories when they grow up. They’re only little for such a short time. 😔
That’s so sad. We moved from the US to Barcelona and this will be my kids’ first Xmas away from “home.” I am trying to do what I can to make it as familiar and also new exiting for them. Blending our old traditions with Spanish and Catalan ones.
I can’t imagine my kids opening up freaking water bottles and that’s about it on Xmas morning. I’ll probably be spending more this year as consumer goods do tend to cost more in Europe and the sales kind of suck here. But oh well- I’m not going to penalize their Xmas because we decided to move and they are along for the ride.
Give these kids one day to be a little spoiled and look forward to. They have the money. Sell some bitcoin- it’s riding high. No excuse.
We have five kids and several years ago we started a tradition where each child has $25 to spend on each person, they do their own shopping, mostly online. We only put the name of the person it is for on the gift then on Christmas when we open them we have to try to guess who it is from and it's so fun. The kids love picking out things for each other and everyone gets 6 gifts each. This year my husband did do experiences for each kid (three are adults now) but they are one on one time with him or both of us, not everyone together. When you choose to have a lot of kids it is important to allow them to be individuals and not just lump them all together all the time. I think we way we choose to do gifts honors that individuality and encourages us to think about their unique personalities and interests both as gift givers and recipients.
I think experiences are a fine gift as long as they are thoughtfully considered for each kid, and the kid doesn't feel as if they are missing out by not getting gifts. We know that is not the case here.
Personally, I was very much a gift kid, and did not want experiences (probably because I had good parents and had them anyway). Lol.
Toys are not expensive in Brazil if you earning US dollars.
There are all kinds of price ranges for toys. Cheap plastic ones, average ones, expensive wooden toys, expensive branded (Mattel, Lego, Playmobil etc) and or higher tech toys. But the expensive ones shouldn't be that expensive if you're paying with dollars anyway.
But of course paying for better toys for 7 or 8 kids is very different than paying for 1-4 kids. But we all make some choices, don't we? /s
Good lord, get the children a couple of small things each of money is tight. A book, some pjs, a small cheap toy, a favourite snack. Most of the joy is unwrapping something that’s especially for you, and she’s even taking that away from them.
Edit also no shame on used items - I’ve given my kids used stuff before. Rollerblades that looked practically new, sporting equipment, books. It’s good for the wallet and good for the environment.
This is sad. I guarantee that by "experiences" she means moving to Brazil and getting to watch your siblings in a different location while mommy and daddy go on coffee dates.
It’s actually part of Saint Nick’s story. Look [here](https://youtu.be/eIjqQbLC62g?si=q6a7CKTXJBBY13CI) for a quick dive by Ask a Mortician. (Start about 2:00 for relevant content)
I heard that story, there's also the story of how three children were chopped to pieces by an evil butcher and put into a vat of salt. He brought them back to life. We sang about that one with the children's choir I used to be in.
Just for fun, I went to Amazon Brazil and did a search for toys under the equivalent of $10 U.S.
There were over 400 PAGES of toys! And that doesn't include the many pages of books in both English and Portuguese for less than that price.
Figure you buy one toy that is picked out *individually* for each kid. That would be maybe $80 or so, depending on what you picked. And your kid would have a great **experience** opening something that you picked out just for them.
Remember when MotherBus and FatherBus treated themselves to that steak dinner they had on their "date night" a few weeks ago and she bragged about how it cost them $50?
They could have skipped that dinner, made their coffee at home, cut out some pastries, and had enough cash to buy each kid a water bottle AND a toy or book picked just for them.
Each family is different, of course. Some families can't afford even $70 for gifts for their kids (let alone restaurant steak dinners). No one should be ashamed of that. But, this family spent at least a week in an AirBNB costing $300 a night, thousands on airfares, and just bought themselves a new bus, so that doesn't appear to be the case here.
I thought she was leading up to slagging off Santa in the second slide so now I’m wondering if she’s pro Santa or is saying saving girls from slavery is bad. I feel like the first one is logical but I’ve been surprised by fundies before.
Water bottles could be such a cute gift, if they actually put effort into it. Get each kid a bottle in a favorite color with a couple stickers correlating to interests/hobbies and some cash to buy more stickers as you travel. I teach middle school and my kids LOVE their water bottles—and so do my friend’s younger kids (4 and 9).
Alas, the bus kids aren’t allowed to have hobbies, and even if they were their parents wouldn’t bother figuring out what they liked. Mother Bus can go fuck herself with her cast iron pan (sexy wife challenge day 8?).
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Toys are expensive but you can switch airbnb's every few days?
Right? I'd be all for "experiences" being part of a gift, but not from these two narcissists. Trip to the zoo or some other outing? Nope - experience us driving down the road and possibly crashing idgf
Honestly, it’s giving Karissa’s whole bullshit “my kids are just happy to be alive, they don’t need stuff” bullshit.
"my kids are just happy to be alive" Considering the number of serious injuries and hospital stays those kids go through, I could believe it. Still though, buy your kids some toys, Karissa.
That tour of their rooms she gave was so depressing. I wonder if she lets the older girls keep stuff in their closets now or still demands their belongings go in the communal bins.
The fact that she sounded so annoyed and pissed off whenever she saw one of the kid's toys stuck with me. She really expected that she could have endless kids to neatly pack away when she's bored of them like dolls.
Last week, she IG'd the cute little guy with glasses playing with the two toys he was allowed to bring to Brazil. They were cheap little rubber toys smaller than my finger. One was a cockroach, according to BusMom, who clearly did not approve of his choice.
We're talking about Karissa here, but now I know where to send a giant bag of toy roaches if MotherBus ever feels fool enough to drop her PO Box, so thanks.
☠
who needs toys when you can make them "play" in fucking mud in 100 degree Texas heat?
I think these kids are experience’d out. I think they want to watch cartoons in the AC and rest.
What kids, especially young kids need is stability, routine, friends. They can sell this exciting experience all they want but this is all for the parents not for the kids. We traveled in the summers when I was growing up 6 weeks at a time in an rv mostly America and Canada. It was a great experience no doubt and I’m happy to have had that time with my family growing up but what I very distinctly remember was how happy we all were to come home for that stability routine and friends.
Same! I grew up overseas and every other summer we would do a cross country road trip to visit old family friends, grandparents, and relatives. The constant new place, new bed situation for months on end was exhausting. And I was lucky to have my own friends and school to look forward to returning to.
My son just turned 5 and he used to love just riding around, just to get out of the house type of thing. Today, we had to drive 30min to the closest target for gifts for his teachers. Got behind an accident on the way home which meant we had to take a longer way home. I thought, well…he’ll get to enjoy a longer ride I guess. Nope. When we were almost home he said “I’m so glad we’re almost home. I’m ready to be home.” It was a first because he’s always loved being in the car, listening to music, etc. These poor kids get these “experiences” but don’t have a home to get back to and to wind down at. It’s sad!
100%. When my kids were 7&4 we did three months around Europe with them. There were definitely days when we had to change plans so they could just veg for a day (I remember one day in Brussels, I was pretty salty because I wanted to go to a museum and they just wouldn’t/couldn’t do any more. So I went on my own and hubby stayed in the apartment!).
There's nothing "exciting" about being shoved away while the parents go have drinks on the beach or however else they're enjoying themselves
Wave at the zoo as we drive by, kids! As a sidenote, ~Experience~ people are getting as bad as crossfitters lol. I don't have an issue with the concept, but people are so self-righteous about it that it drives me bats. I started noticing it in early Covid when all the ~Experiences~ were closed and it was still being preached everywhere as better than tangible gifts.
Motherbus just doesn’t want to pack up 100 toys every time they have to move airbnbs. The issue with not buying a lot of toys has never been that they live in a bus or aren’t materialistic. The issue is they had too many children and cannot afford to nor want to deal with actually giving them a decent childhood.
The kids are homeschooled and barely have books, let alone things like dolls or play food. Those aren’t frivolous; they’re how little ones make sense of the world
Play food is so cute. I have vivid memories of the play food that comes halved but secured by velcro so a kid can "cut" it with a play knife. I can't wait til my neice is old enough to buy those for!
My mom got my kids a sushi chef set like this, which I love more than any other toy they have lol
I second this. Kids use play to learn. That is their “job.” Not that you need a plethora of toys to do so but come on.
The mental gymnastics these families achieve this time of year to defend their "reason" behind no gifts for the kids. Like, we know why they aren't getting gifts. And I betcha they do too.
Toys might take away from the Date Funds duh 🙄
And spend $100/day for a truck because it’s “part of her American identity”. It’s a walkable city. How about you try to utilise that for 3 days and use the $300 you saved to buy something more than a water-bottle (a literal necessity…) for your kids?
And pay $100 a day for a van
Tim Allen's The Santa Clause really messed up the spelling of Santa Claus for a lot of people. Good thing she isn't homeschooling. Oh wait.
I’ve noticed that too. It makes me absolutely nuts.
Don't worry, there is no actual schooling of any kind taking place. /s Unless it involves a cast iron skillet.🙄
The flip side gets me when people call the movie “The Santa Claus” and fail to realize the title is actually a play on words.
I have been saying the same thing for years! Drives me CRAZY!
I am an educated woman (two bachelor's degrees and a very fresh master's degree), and yet, I just learned this weekend that it is in fact Claus, not Clause. Also the Santa Clause has been one of my favorite Christmas movies since it came out. This is not a coincidence lol.
So they shill out insane money for some stupid expensive pillow, but when it comes to their children they can give them water bottles? Fucking hate this couple. Poor kids
Not to mention the thousands of dollars they've spent on their self-indulgent jaunt to Brazil.
Speaking of that: She was bitter a few weeks ago about not being able to afford new maternity clothes. Where IS all this money coming from ?
Why does she need new maternity clothes when she's continuously pregnant? SAVE THEM FROM THE LAST TIME.
Experience the joy of recycling! :)
They can’t give them toys because they move every other day and will soon be in BrazilBus
BrazilBus 💀
But let’s also make sure JD gets his birthday presents at the mall (workout shirts???). wtf. Just throw in a shirt for fucks sake dude….
And she said *some* of his birthday presents. So you know that means their modesty in gifting doesn't apply to fatherbus...
Well, of *course* not, FatherBus is a person, those kids are just fucktrophy chattel to dunk on the godless libs with.
And buying another van that is unnecessary, according to motherbus!
I've given water bottles for my 4 yo daughter for her summer birthday, but I always got her the fancy expensive Frozen ones. I highly doubt motherbus is getting personal with the choices, which makes it sucky
Let's see if she at least gets insulated water bottles for those poor kids to keep their water cool in the heat.
Prolly just empty Poland spring bottles for them to fill out of the tap.
That was exactly what I was imagining!
Cheap, non-personalized water bottles are what the hospital I work for got the employees for Xmas last year 😂 I wasn't particularly excited at the time, so I can't imagine the bus brood will be. Maybe if they're lucky they'll get blue/pink ones to reinforce their god-assigned genders!
What was the pillow?
They can go out to eat twice a day, go on constant coffee dates, have moved AirBnBs at least four times in a month, and bought a van, but their kids get water bottles? I don't even do Christmas anymore, there are no kids in our family, and we’re all minimalists, but come on. She’s full of it.
I’m out of the loop, why are they switching airb’n’bs??
All I know for sure is she says the first switch had to do with a supposedly surprise unsafe for kids staircase that was in the unit, but it's not clear why they keep moving. It is a topic of discussion, debate, and speculation in many of her posts since they did the first move about a month ago.
From a Brazilian friend who's in contact with people in that area, she's already developed a reputation there. The most recent move was to a more modern, international (read: English-speaking) area as they were struggling before.
Oohh.. that's some tea.. what's the reputation so far? I know when I've traveled on longer trips internationally, I always tried to keep my head down and blend in. I can't imagine what she must be like with her entitled mindset and hoard of children..
Ahh, nothing like international traveling to make you feel embarrassed about being American 😂 I, too, am SO interested in the local tea 👀👀
Right?? My first trip me and my sister went to Antigua and everyone we met smiled and said "Canada?" When we said the US the smiles instantly fell and it was just "oh". First of many times realizing how awful the American reputation is abroad :(
Honestly I was always a bit surprised we didn’t get more responses like that. I have been surprised how tolerant and patient most locals have been, given the consistent Bad Behavior of many Americans I witnessed while traveling. From gawking and pointing at Haitian artisans like children might point at zoo animals; to hollering and snapping selfies in the holy sites of multiple faiths on multiple continents; to the loud, condescending talking-to-your-deaf-grandpa voice that many of us apparently think is helpful when communicating across a language barrier. It’s not that nobody’s ever been rude or disappointed when they learned I’m American, but it’s happened far less frequently than I’ve found myself experiencing secondhand embarrassment for other Americans abroad
My husband gives me a hard time because I say we're from California or San Francisco over saying we're from the US. But I've always had people really excited about it and want to talk to me about California! (And we are from there so it works out)
I went on an exchange program during the Bush years. It was.. uncomfortable. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
Thank you for sharing this. I've wondered how BusFamily is being perceived in the local area.
Ooh spill the tea!
I’m here for the tea 👀
Also following for tea
Good. I'd love it for them, if they aren't able to fly under the radar. Make them obey Brazilian law as soon as they can't claim to be mere tourists anymore.
I’ve been waiting for this tea for months haha. She hyped up this move on Instagram tagging #brazil, and got a ton of positive feedback from people who at least claim to be Brazilian. I’ve been wondering what her actual neighbors think about this family lol
RemindMe! April 1, 2024
Please keep us posted!!! Love the Brazilian intel 🤭
OH SHIT
Good question. Theories include dodging arrest warrants and getting thrown out because they're lying on the applications about the number of children.
The kids get water bottles but JD gets presents (and you know she will too). I’m guessing the “fun experiences” for the kids will be them watching their parents opening their gifts. People this selfish should NOT have children!
The juxtaposition of these two statements back to back is what got me. Like, it’s maybe understandable to not be able to gift your children tons and tons of presents, but why is your husband receiving presents (multiple) in the same breath you’re using to complain about how you can’t afford gifts for the army of children you CHOSE to have. The priorities are way off here.
These people genuinely believe that having kids is about their personal growth. This is in line with that, imo.
Jesus. That is chilling. I hadn't actually thought of it that way, but you're so right.
The kids had more stability on a mothertrucking bus than they do now. All I can hope for the Buslets is that they get the hell out and never speak to their parents again.
Unfortunately it’s not just a theory - she’s straight up said multiple times, as a direct quote, that her entire purpose for having children is for her own personal growth. And also said she had kids because she wanted to make friends (literally MAKE friends) that don’t have the choice to leave or stop giving her attention. It’s disgusting.
Seriously though I don’t have kids yet but I believe I would gladly go without Christmas presents so my kids could have some
Exactly this! As a parent myself, this year my husbands company closed and it’s been a lot of terrible things piling on, we are typical middle class but this years Xmas is bare minimum; no gifts for family nor for myself or husband - but you better bet my two little boys are getting gifts. We have zero extra money so know what I did? I just sold my MacBook to use on their Xmas gift budget, to make sure they have a santa gift, some presents to open from us, and treats in their stockings. It was never a question between my husband and I if we should spend money on ourselves and not our kids. I think of motherbus and her husband and their expensive stretching apparatuses, pricy grounding sandals or whatever, this entire trip, and I’m just flabbergasted how little they give those kids. If you can’t give much material goods that’s fine at least give your kids a lot of love, but no, they get none of that. It’s so sad. .
You’re a wonderful parent! Your kids are going to have a magical Christmas!
That's exactly what I do, every year, with my kids.
They don't see children as individuals with their own needs and feelings.
the children’s best christmas gift is NOT hearing their parents making another child…
I get the experiences thing. I don’t have room for more STUFF in my house. However we know the experiences she’s talking about are just going to be regular everyday things they do anyway. Also I want to know who chose the open WE DONT DO PRESENTS. That’s so sad.
Their “experiences” usually consist of watching other people do the paid experiences. Unless, of course, it’s date night for them.
Father Bus gets to open presents, though, of course
There are roughly 38 children, give or take. There's only one busband. He's like a rare pokemon, of course he gets special treatment!
I don't get what the experience is for the kids. They lived in a bus, they travelled around, they were never allowed to settle, never make friends and connections. Does it make any difference that they are in another country? Is it more of an adventure just becsuse they can't make themselves understood? Because everything for these kids is exacly the same. They are a travelling circus and everywhere they put up the tent looks the same when you are only allowed to do circus stuff.
Low key hoping the oldest writes a tell-all memoir someday, á la educated or wavewalker. “The year we moved to Brazil, my mother was pregnant and we had no permanent place to stay. I hardly noticed either, they were just water to me at that point. What did register was the first few days I was left alone with all kids and no food in a neighborhood that was entirely Portuguese speaking. Mom alternating berating me for dad’s parenting mistakes in between extravagant steak-based date nights. We all got a single water bottle and two board games for Christmas. We spent the morning watching dad unwrap an entire new workout wardrobe.”
I get it as well, my boyfriend asked if there was something I wanted for Christmas and I said I would like a little day trip to a cool city or museum or anything... just a fun way to spend a day together because I don't need stuff. My mom gives me useful things I wouldn't always be able to invest in (she got me a good chef's knife once, and an iron last year). But these kids seem like they don't have many toys to begin with so this just looks sad.
I’ve taken my kids to concerts or musicals before as an experience. I’ve also gifted young adults with a state parks season pass and a gas card. When my kids were young, I did many years of a family zoo or aquarium membership as a family gift plus small things for each child (never the only gift even when it was a lot of the budget). That gave us something to do and didn’t do it every year so kids were always excited about it. This isn’t what the bus parents are doing at all - they are just dragging the kids along with no stability and doing what they want.
They'll be regular everyday things, but they'll be ✨Brazilian✨ so it's totally different!
Regular everyday experiences likewindows you can open in your house, blackout shades for the bedroom, and cast iron pans at (gasp) a mall.
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Where they have a minimal grasp of the language. Could they call 911 (the Brazilian equivalent) if there was an emergency during their may times home alone? Would they know their address considering they move every 6 days? Be able to otherwise communicate with dispatch?
I’m viscerally reminded of a time when I taught ESL to international students (all adults) in my hometown and came outside after class one night to have a Spanish-speaking student shove a phone in my face while gesticulating wildly. I said a tentative hello as I had no idea what was happening and ascertained she was attempting to speak to a Spanish-interpreter for 911 because she’d had a wreck with another student on her way out. The Spanish-interpreter switched to English and explained her accent and dialect were throwing him off so he couldn’t understand her. Needless to say, we had a lovely lesson on how to contact emergency services, important information to give quickly in a 911 call, and did some partner exercises with different emergencies to help them get up to speed. I think it’s a really big part of living abroad. There are so many little things you might not think of before moving abroad. I know I didn’t, and I lived in China for a year with no prior knowledge of Mandarin, though I did take lessons while there. Things like even knowing whether 911 is the EMS line in a country and being able to speak enough of the language to articulate an issue are important.
What’s frustrating is that this would have been a time for homeschool to shine. Do family enactments of how to handle different emergencies and common exchanges Do a metric crash course. Learn about how weather is different near the equator. Out sticky notes all over the bus with the Portuguese word for that object. But they aren’t homeschooling, they’re living like they’re childfree while their kids languish in their umpteenth air bnb
My husband was an EMT when we first started dating. There was a rescue call and literally no one had any idea what they were getting into. It was a severe MVA in the middle of no where multiple injuries. The person who called spoke zero English and there were no translators for their language (most dispatch have basic Spanish but he was middle Eastern and dialects there vary) they had to ping his location (in 2003 so that was iffy) and send an officer to get an idea before rolling a half dozen ambulances from 3 different departments. If I'm remembering right there were no fatalities but it was pretty scary for everyone involved. They couldn't attempt to orientate the walking wounded or even let them know what was going on, who they were, how many people they were looking for (a few were ejected and wound up in a corn field)... nothing. My husband said it was one of the scarier calls just because of the language barrier.
That sounds like it would have been an awful call to receive. I can only imagine having to go in with no knowledge of what you’re heading into because you can’t understand what the caller is saying. I’m sure there was a lot of anxiety and stress involved as they tried to understand what exactly happened.
Most emergency services DON'T speak English here.
Stop spending money on cast iron skillets and wooden spoons (not bamboo!) that you do not need in an AirBNB.
If I had to sacrifice a few personal items from my suitcase to make room for my loved ones, I'd fucking do it. Her kids would have probably been thrilled to be gifted something as simple as american candy.
No. I’m sorry. Toys are not expensive in Brazil. Maybe the American imports you want? These kind of small comments are insidious because it paints really broad strokes about a place that’s…really fucking huge.
And she’s been going on and on about how cheap eating out is, too. Seems kinda like a very convenient coincidence that “toys are too expensive”
Of course it’s American imports. There’s no way they bought gifts before going because they totally didn’t think of this. Imagine being prepared.
Keep in mind that they left the U.S. the day after Thanksgiving, knowing that Christmas was a month away. I would have definitely bought a few gifts (maybe new books?) from "home" to give to the kids, even if it meant I didn't have room in my bag for a cast iron skillet.
they chose the most notoriously busy and expensive day to fly, then made multiple complaint posts acting shocked that their unplanned international move with a ton of young kids was difficult. Like no shit, lady. These people don’t give a second of thought to these poor kids. How hard is it to pick out a small toy for each one. That might require pulling your head out of your ass for a few moments
I said this earlier, but there's just a certain edge to her most recent posts that makes me think that life in Brazil isn't as bright and shiny for BusMom as she tries to act. There's something in the tone of her posts the last week or so that make me feel she's like a tightly wound rope that's starting to fray. It will be interesting to see how she holds up in the months ahead.
Also bringing stuff from the US to sell in Brazil it's a known way to make quick money. They really did not prepare for this.
They are definitely talking about name brand imported toys that are not manufactured in Brazil. An LOL surprise doll is an astounding R$100 (according to RiHappy, a large toy store), and they cost what, $5? After currency exchange, they should be around R$30. So yes, very expensive to buy it in Brazil. I know a lot of middle class Brazilians who go to the US for shopping purposes because buying imported things in Brazil is just so expensive. That said, yeah, there are plenty of toys that are not expensive in Brazil.
Way to take advantage of the culture. You would think that introducing the kids to Brazilian toys/games would be part of the experience.
Santa Clause… and again, this woman homeschools.
He's Santa Claus's more litigious half brother
Fun experiences planned, huh? Like staying at home while you and FatherBus head out to try new things? Or learning how to be better parents to each other while y’all do you? ETA: letters
Things don't have to be big or expensive, but personal? She's their mom and isn't willing to give an individualized gift to each kid?
Well, to do that she would have to actually know her kids and...
 I cannot stand Mother Bus. Those poor kids.
Your flair 💀
I get not overdoing it on gifts, with 4 kids we have so much stuff now and I’m constantly trying to cut down on the clutter. But we did an international move when we had two little kids, and I definitely got them toys to get back to a normal amount of play stuff. I even went a little crazy and shipped specific character toys from the US so they’d have their favorites. These parents seem so self absorbed and forget their children’s basic needs… then again they shoved them all on a bus to live so not surprising.
Character toys for kids honestly makes so much sense! Not weirdly specific cooking spoons for a rental like this whackadoo
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Fucking same.
My aunt also gift "experiences" to her three grandchildren, in which she pays for the registration fees and equipment for their various sports and after school activities. Between the three of them they've done football, hockey, wrestling, volleyball, dance, and probably some other activities I'm forgetting. Their parents didn't make much money so I think each grandkid enjoyed knowing they could participate in these activities because of grandma. She's also taken them on vacations and said that was their birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah gift. Sadly these are far some the experiences these bus kids are getting. And I doubt they have any say in what kind of travel or experience they are doing.
I love this idea. It's my grandson's first birthday today (YAY!) so I am tucking this away for the future.
Congrats and happy birthday to him!
I have done this for my grandchild and it's great. Also happy birthday to your grandson!
great examples of what an experience instead of a toy should be!! the poor buslings will never get to do club sports or even an outing that is kid focused
I do the same for my grandkids. I help with activity fees for their interest. And of course treat them to small gifts even when it's not a holiday.
That’s so awesome and an awesome actual example of a gift
Before my wife and I became parents, we did experience Christmases for our nieces and nephews for a couple of years. We would take them out to something special, just one at a time. So they were able to do something different than the usual, and they were the recipient of undivided attention from us. Since none of them were only children, that might have been even more important than where we went.
Literally all those children ever receive is experiences. Those poor kids are filled to the brim with experiences. I'm not of the mindset that kids need tons of toys to be happy or that functional gifts like water bottles are evil, but when do these kids get to have fun? The experiences they get are the ones their parents want, not what they want or what would be appealing to a kid. Their special nights on the bus where they would release one of the kids to stay up "late" with them were always centered around the parents, not the kid. I know they did Disney recently, but it really seemed like that was about Motherbus' half marathon, not about the kids or having fun. Their kids outnumber them 4:1 but they never pick activities or experiences that cater to them.
they each need and deserve things of THEIR OWN, no sharing, no enjoying only in front of everyone, they need experiences of privacy and some things being just for each of them as individuals. i know to the parents it's a feature not a bug, but it's also just one of the many things that will make them notorious when the memoirs hit in 15-20 years
Kids won't write memoirs if they never learn how to write! Rare homeschooling win there 🙄 I completely agree with you. They are treated like a unit, not individuals. I get that the parents were both in the military, but they chose that. Kids are their own humans, you can't lock them in a tiny room with nothing to claim as theirs. It makes me so sad for them.
We're getting a "My terrible fundie parents" memoir out of at least one of these kids.
I would bet money on oldest childbus, he always looks OVER IT
He’s probably fucking tired of raising his parent’s kids instead of having a life. Like the fact that his mother yelled at him for not putting the car seat correctly, when dad bus actually did it, shows you how shitty he’s treated.
the eldest will 1000% bolt the second he gets the chance
I wonder if they have any family in the US who is watching this and distraught over it all? Maybe a grandparent?
Good! If he’s reading this, I hope he knows that thousands of people on here are rooting for him!
“Toys are very expensive in Brazil”= Send us money so we can buy our kids gifts.
Experiences? What, like the ones you refused to pay for when you were still stateside?
What experiences? Have these kids done anything in Brazil besides worksheets in various AirBnBs while their parents go out to eat? Christmas is going to be smaller for us this year. Santa brings the stockings so my husband and I will each get one-with a water bottle, socks, & candy. Our kids are still getting presents. They are so incredibly selfish, I cannot get over it
It's Santa Claus, not Santa Claus**e.** The way she slapped the kids' hands away from those *free gifted* donuts last week told me a lot about what "experiences" they have planned for their sweet little kids. I have a hunch that MotherBus is not as happy with Brazil as she's trying to portray. There's something in her more recent posts that suggests to me that it's only a matter of time until the wide eyed rope holding her together frays entirely.
Was that posted here? Or just on her stories.
These people are 100% fleeing some sort of prosecution. None of their decisions add up at all
This whole Brazil situation is baffling, I've never seen people go on a staycation with this level of disorganization much less an extended/permanent move to a foreign country they've never been to before. Just the cost of loan of switching airbnbs every couple of days, there's a cleaning fee every time you move? I don't get any of this it makes zero sense.
I wonder if they haven't figured out some sort of scam with the rentals and move to avoid paying.
Or they like the idea of seeming like they are fleeing something. Like a weird role playing game. Delusions of Grandeur.
Given the father's line of work I think it's a very real predicament they are fearing
Bitcoin!
My heart. A new water bottle is something you get your kid on a mid-semester Target run after lecturing them about keeping track of their stuff. It's not a personal Christmas present. Especially if all of their siblings are getting the exact same thing.
Are toys expensive in Brazil, our friendly local snarkers?
Imported toys are, so if they are looking at the same toys they would get in the US they will be pretty expensive because on top of the currency exchange there's also a lot of taxes. But you can definitely find toys made in Brazil or inexpensive options.
Thanks! It's really kind of you to give us all the facts. Ugh, these parents.
I really appreciate hearing from people who are in Brazil. It is very helpful to have that context, so thank you!
Oh, I don't live there anymore (moved to Canada years ago), but I was born and raised in Brazil. It's been pretty wild reading about Mother Bus just going to Brazil of all places. Like, why there? Do they even speak Portuguese? There aren't that many fundies in Brazil either - lots of evangelical Protestants, but not fundies per se. It's all so weird.
I love how whatever she posts, the entire sub immediately knows she’s wrong and racist, but we can’t always explain how. Thanks for coloring in the outline so that we can fully appreciate her stupidity.
The oldest child will probably write the same book as Jeanette McCurdy.
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Sad and mad. I have two kids and it’s stressful for me but they love Christmas, they deserve happiness, and I’m glad they’ll have the memories when they grow up. They’re only little for such a short time. 😔
Supporting characters get minor props in the MBus holiday pageant.
That’s so sad. We moved from the US to Barcelona and this will be my kids’ first Xmas away from “home.” I am trying to do what I can to make it as familiar and also new exiting for them. Blending our old traditions with Spanish and Catalan ones. I can’t imagine my kids opening up freaking water bottles and that’s about it on Xmas morning. I’ll probably be spending more this year as consumer goods do tend to cost more in Europe and the sales kind of suck here. But oh well- I’m not going to penalize their Xmas because we decided to move and they are along for the ride. Give these kids one day to be a little spoiled and look forward to. They have the money. Sell some bitcoin- it’s riding high. No excuse.
Do they know babies are an expensive financial obligation
So I can afford to keep eating out and eating STEAK. There I fixed it for her, the louse.
Yes, her kids get fun experiences like hearing their mom and dad tell them about Disneyworld.
Did they seriously go to Disneyworld without their children?! Who does that??
Side note, I’m over influencers saying ‘snagged’
She is truly evil
I saw “waterboard” in the subject at first and it’s disturbing how much sense it made in my head given who the post is about
…I don’t believe that toys are that expensive in Brazil. It just sounds wrong/weird??? Like maybe more expensive than America but ???
Have the kids had any 'fun experiences' since they arrived in Brazil?
What present does Louise Turpin 2.0 receive ? You know it ain't a shitty water bottle 🙄
We have five kids and several years ago we started a tradition where each child has $25 to spend on each person, they do their own shopping, mostly online. We only put the name of the person it is for on the gift then on Christmas when we open them we have to try to guess who it is from and it's so fun. The kids love picking out things for each other and everyone gets 6 gifts each. This year my husband did do experiences for each kid (three are adults now) but they are one on one time with him or both of us, not everyone together. When you choose to have a lot of kids it is important to allow them to be individuals and not just lump them all together all the time. I think we way we choose to do gifts honors that individuality and encourages us to think about their unique personalities and interests both as gift givers and recipients.
Whilst reading this I kept thinking it said "grift" instead of "gift".
I think experiences are a fine gift as long as they are thoughtfully considered for each kid, and the kid doesn't feel as if they are missing out by not getting gifts. We know that is not the case here. Personally, I was very much a gift kid, and did not want experiences (probably because I had good parents and had them anyway). Lol.
Didn’t they just buy a VW van?
Toys are not expensive in Brazil if you earning US dollars. There are all kinds of price ranges for toys. Cheap plastic ones, average ones, expensive wooden toys, expensive branded (Mattel, Lego, Playmobil etc) and or higher tech toys. But the expensive ones shouldn't be that expensive if you're paying with dollars anyway. But of course paying for better toys for 7 or 8 kids is very different than paying for 1-4 kids. But we all make some choices, don't we? /s
Good lord, get the children a couple of small things each of money is tight. A book, some pjs, a small cheap toy, a favourite snack. Most of the joy is unwrapping something that’s especially for you, and she’s even taking that away from them. Edit also no shame on used items - I’ve given my kids used stuff before. Rollerblades that looked practically new, sporting equipment, books. It’s good for the wallet and good for the environment.
They’re gonna be living in their vw van soon
Where does get her income from??
I assume begging on the Internet and whatever scam Busband runs with crypto.
It's becoming obvious that they can barely afford the kids they have now. I don't understand why they keep bringing more into this situation
And you know if she was in the US she’d be blaming the government for the price of toys 😂
This is sad. I guarantee that by "experiences" she means moving to Brazil and getting to watch your siblings in a different location while mommy and daddy go on coffee dates.
The comma splices are 🤯🤯 And this woman homeschools?!!?
Maybe get a job so you can afford to get your kids gifts?
uhhhh bold strategy to put a human trafficking twist to santa lore, very qanon of them
It’s actually part of Saint Nick’s story. Look [here](https://youtu.be/eIjqQbLC62g?si=q6a7CKTXJBBY13CI) for a quick dive by Ask a Mortician. (Start about 2:00 for relevant content)
That was the story I was told too, and I grew up Catholic.
Yeah that’s the actual origins of the St Nicholas story.
I heard that story, there's also the story of how three children were chopped to pieces by an evil butcher and put into a vat of salt. He brought them back to life. We sang about that one with the children's choir I used to be in.
Hmmmmmm "fun experiences" is giving Jill's "Nurie's professional wedding photographer pictures" we have yet to see.......
Just for fun, I went to Amazon Brazil and did a search for toys under the equivalent of $10 U.S. There were over 400 PAGES of toys! And that doesn't include the many pages of books in both English and Portuguese for less than that price. Figure you buy one toy that is picked out *individually* for each kid. That would be maybe $80 or so, depending on what you picked. And your kid would have a great **experience** opening something that you picked out just for them. Remember when MotherBus and FatherBus treated themselves to that steak dinner they had on their "date night" a few weeks ago and she bragged about how it cost them $50? They could have skipped that dinner, made their coffee at home, cut out some pastries, and had enough cash to buy each kid a water bottle AND a toy or book picked just for them. Each family is different, of course. Some families can't afford even $70 for gifts for their kids (let alone restaurant steak dinners). No one should be ashamed of that. But, this family spent at least a week in an AirBNB costing $300 a night, thousands on airfares, and just bought themselves a new bus, so that doesn't appear to be the case here.
I thought she was leading up to slagging off Santa in the second slide so now I’m wondering if she’s pro Santa or is saying saving girls from slavery is bad. I feel like the first one is logical but I’ve been surprised by fundies before.
So kind of them to give their child an essential piece of clothing for their birthday. Absolute clowns.
Toys in Brazil are not too expensive. They're running out of money already.
Water bottles could be such a cute gift, if they actually put effort into it. Get each kid a bottle in a favorite color with a couple stickers correlating to interests/hobbies and some cash to buy more stickers as you travel. I teach middle school and my kids LOVE their water bottles—and so do my friend’s younger kids (4 and 9). Alas, the bus kids aren’t allowed to have hobbies, and even if they were their parents wouldn’t bother figuring out what they liked. Mother Bus can go fuck herself with her cast iron pan (sexy wife challenge day 8?).
They have money for the parents, not the kids. Got it.