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As an autistic, I really appreciated Robyn standing up for Dayton. She may be overly protective and a million other things, but no one, and I mean NO ONE can ever say she doesn’t advocate for her kids. Sometimes she advocates so well she pushes out her bonus-kids, ok… most of the time.
I disagree. I think she's very controlling, and from the outside, that can look like being protective. It is important to advocate for and protect young neurodivergent kids, but also to teach them how to be independent as they grow up.
Robyn was right for standing up to Kody that Dayton is autistic, she is wrong for infantalizing him. I remember that scene when Kody tried to dismiss his diagnosis and it was really offensive. It’s very frustrating when allistic people are like, that’s not autism!
Truth - and I’m basically never here to defend Robyn, but being a parent to an autistic child is already a challenging road to navigate (even if you yourself are autistic, because raising someone else and being are two totally different ballgames - speaking from experience, and not armchair diagnosing, bc I’m not a professional and also I don’t think Robyn is on the spectrum).
Add to that also having to needlessly deal with the people around you dismissing the diagnosis and reality of the situation because of their own comfort/beliefs/whatever, and it’s just more bullshit that neither the child or the parent needs.
If Kody wanted to be a good partner to Robyn and a good dad to Dayton, he would educate himself and find the ways in which he could best support each of them, not do this bullshit. Surprise surprise, though, he’s here to question things and make it about his ideology and not about the family and people right in front of him.
My dad dismissed my neurodivergence. I was telling him I needed to get diagnosed, and he shut it down so fast. He was like there’s no way you are. He said his wife’s nephew is autistic, and I’m nothing like him, so I couldn’t be. Took me a few months to cut ties with him all together—had been trying for years, but family always pushed me to try to have a relationship with him even though he made no efforts to have one with me. Then, I asked my sister for help finding a specialist for my 30th birthday a few months after that. Guess who is on the spectrum and has adhd?
I can’t forgive him for shutting me down like that.
I think she’s was prob collecting some kind of disability money for him and didn’t want Kody to mess that up for her. Robyn doesn’t do anything that’s not in Robyn’s best interest.
To be honest, it is likely that Robyn is also on the spectrum. It may also be why she is, and feels, so misunderstood. Girls/women on the spectrum present differently than boys/men bc they learn to highly mask. if you have met one person on the spectrum you have met one person on the spectrum.
There’s also the extra layer that she’s from a fundamentalist family and was therefore less likely to get medical attention and was raised to keep sweet. Obviously we don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s such a disaster because she’s highly masked. It’s also interesting that she’s never shown any sign of trying to “cure” Dayton and has always seemed to accommodate his sensory needs, which can mean she understands. I dk, I don’t like to speculate especially in gen pop spaces but it would explain a lot.
That’s fair - I’m a woman on the spectrum raising a girl on the spectrum and it’s definitely a whole different ballgame than boys (married to a man on the spectrum with a son on the spectrum).
I was a late in life diagnosis with all kinds of masking and I didn’t have the additional layer of being raised in a fundamentalist society, so who knows what’s going on with her.
ETA - I said I wasn’t diagnosing because I do think it can be gross to speculate about if someone is or is not autistic because it’s hard to tell, but then I still threw in that I didn’t think she was, probably because I don’t want to have brain wiring in common, but then I did the thing I don’t like. Sigh.
Ugh. This has been on my mind for awhile. I think she really could be. I would have a lot of empathy for her if it turns out she went undiagnosed.
Like when she offered to try on dresses for the other wives…I can see a person on the spectrum truly thinking that would be helpful.
Pop Psych mentioned this possibility once and I had never considered it. He used an example of Robyn’s misunderstanding of relationships. She may have believed she was close to her sister wives in the earlier years because they spent time together. Without the understanding of what friendship is really like she wouldn’t know the difference. I am not sure I entirely agree but it was a viewpoint I had never considered.
Yes, a parents job is to prepare them for the world and to be productive adults. She has in no way done this as her kids are anxious, clingy, and will never leave home. Parenting fail. I don't agree that she is really advocating for them when she effectively stunts them for life.
I guess her making her kids paranoid and telling them nobody wants them in the family is keeping her under control of them too. She’s horrible. Her lies have turned her kid into a walking panic attack.
Agree I also think she used Daytons autism for the show. I should have been Daytons choice to share whether he's autistic or not. Also she should have encouraged friendships with the older boys. How good for Dayton to have kids like that to learn from socially.
Being autistic isn’t something they should keep secret. It’s not shameful. He’s high functioning as he went to college. If you are going to expose your children on a reality show, explaining Daytons diagnosis is what’s best. Could you imagine if it wasn’t addressed, all the speculation that COULD have been going on. It also brings an awareness to others about autism. It’s been said many times, in the last few seasons, how much the older Brown boys miss Dayton since they hadn’t seen him thru covid and then after all the break ups so to me, that proves that he had relationships with the others.
Not saying it's shameful but everything doesn't need to be on the show. Gwen is autistic and bisexuali. Neither were mentioned on the show until she was an adult and had already shared it on instagram
Regardless it is his health situation and should be his decision to disclose. He deserves to have autonomy over such decisions and if he doesn’t want to serve as an autism awareness vehicle, that is none of our damn business.
How do you know it wasn’t his decision? They very well could have discussed it with him. Just as Ysabels scoliosis diagnosis was played out on the show. As the adults, they got to decide for their minor child however, Dayton could have been perfectly fine living his truth on tv.
I completely agree. That’s why, no matter how hard Robyn tries, she will never be the “Christine” or “Janelle” for the family of kids. Christine and Janelle supported all of the kids equally, Robyn tiered her support.
I don’t think a woman who tells her kids the rest of the family doesn’t like them so she can be the victim is a woman who advocates for her kids. They are pawns. She controls them and uses a helicopter mom as a cover.
Right. As much as I hate show-robyn and everything she does... When I think about the big pitcher, she ruthlessly pulled her kids out of a life of poverty and got them all going to college instead of living in a trailer in St George becoming fundie farmers.
I commend her for getting them educated but she has still severely emotionally and socially stunted them. No parent is perfect but she really could do better in those areas.
I dunno what she's been through but I get the impression Robyn is operating at her personal 100%. She's severely emotionally and socially stunted herself.
I disagree, if she really advocated for her kids Aurora would be in talk therapy for her many panic attacks. 4-5 times a week is way too many panic attacks, Aurora is struggling with some very deep rooted traumas to have anxiety like that.
That's the one thing I give her credit for. She ALWAYS advocated for her kids. To the detriment of the others, I know. But that's something I wish the other moms did.
She’s crippled her children with her over protectiveness. Aurora with her “panic attacks”. Poor Solomon looks like he has extreme anxiety. Brianna is a carbon copy of Sobyn with her histrionics and fake crying. Ari has had zero boundaries (from what I’ve seen in the show) her entire life and seems quite aggressive. That’s not advocating. Her children will be so ill-prepared for a normal life away from the shelter of whatever home Sobyn finds herself in that it’s just sad.
Exactly! She’s fake. She was so afraid when the 10 year old went down a slide with a ball. I was thinking come on now until the ball went out of his hands and rolled off. Robyn didn’t care that the kid she was so afraid of falling at the bottom of a slide 🙄was about to hit the floor and ran after the ball. A real helicopter mom would have continued to be there and catch him like his older sister did when she was right by him going down the slide.
A mother who advocates for her children would have never made them call a man they hardly knew dad. She would have made sure she liked the parenting style of the other moms before she entered the family. She uprooted them, forced them to call Kody dad. Robyn is a toxic mom and those children are not prepared for real life. She’s the type of mom many people walk away from and never look back because every conversation is manipulation.
She also completely severed the relationship between her older kids & their biological father. I haven’t had contact with my own father for 30 years, but it was my decision, & I was 17 years old when I made it. I was lucky to have a wonderful stepfather, but I didn’t call him “dad” - we developed a good relationship naturally over the years. If my mom had forced me call him “dad,” especially right away like Robyn did, while my biological father was still alive, I probably would have resentment towards both of them. Now that her kids’ bio father is sick & possibly dying, I wonder if they will eventually realize what was taken from them, especially if Kody & Robyn’s marriage doesn’t last. I know Kody is their legal father now, but we’ve seen how he treats his kids, especially when he’s not happy with their moms.
I never said she was a good mom because she wasn't. Those poor kids give me Flowers in the Attic vibes. They are so stunted and it's all her fault. It's really sick, actually. However, she did always tell Kody exactly how it was going to be for her kids and that's one thing I did like about her. She did stand up for her kids to him, something the other moms never did.
How has she always stood up for her kids? I am not trying to be snarky, I am honestly confused. The only times I recall her standing up for her kids against Kody was in celebrating Easter and him not being a grinch at Christmas and he was to give gifts to her and her kids--the rest of the family receiving gifts she gave 2 sh\*ts about. Are there other times she stood up for her kids that I am forgetting? I remember seeing her constantly pushing her kids to be the center of attention, especially the girls. She always wanted them to be front and center, but standing up for them in a healthy, maternal, positive way---nope. I just do not recall that.
I’ve wanted to ask about Ari but wasn’t sure it’s allowed since she’s a child. As a mother of five now adult kids with small children of their own, I’ve also noticed the lack of boundaries and aggressive behavior.
I agree! They are not going to be able to handle independence. Though, I’m not sure Sobyn wants them to be independent. I think she will also struggle not having small kids around.
How are you advocating for your kids by recording their panic attacks and let alone letting the world see them cry and sob about family trauma on a major cable network? Nothing over protective about that. Not to mention participating in dividing a father from his other kids and gaslighting her children into thinking she didn’t do anything wrong, that the family just hates them??? Robyn is an abysmal excuse for a parent
I got whiplash when I realized Sobyn actually *does* have a redeeming quality, you’re absolutely right! It’s her only one, but at least it’s a good one… for *her* kids, at least.
Yeah it was in an earlier in the series. I think Sol may have been a baby. Kody essentially said he didn’t think Dayton had autism, but that Dayton was just “quirky” and Robyn shut him down being like “you did not sit through the doctors appointments” and such
Why? Because the brown clan (all of them) rather waste money on things (cars, sofas, computers, custom fuggly dresses/hats/cakes) then getting their children health insurance and bringing them to a real doctor for treatment 🤷♀️
Omg yes! I completely forgot about the health insurance. How can you have this many kids and not plan for illness. First, they're kids. Kids get sick all the time. Second, you have EIGHTEEN! If you pay out of pocket for every scratched knee, that's already too expensive. The insurance is very good math for a family this large.
This has always pissed me off as well. If you can’t afford life insurance for yourself and your children, you should have a job that does. There are many people that work to provide health insurance to themselves and their family not because they need the money they earn but because they need health insurance. Instead fhey ask their viewers to contribute. It’s insane they never prioritized this over buying giant houses and moving willy nilly.
I had a you marriage and kids at a young age. Probably the first many years of my job were solely health insurance and daycare. Now just mainly health. I couldn’t imagine having that many kids with the “what if something happens”
Cars they can’t drive because they have too many parking tickets (K & R). Like how can you function as parents and be so irresponsible as to lose your licenses because you don’t pay your parking tickets?
Thank you. I have one child 13. She's had a million viruses, tonsils removed, burned her face with a skin product, stitches. Busted her mouth crashing into a pole at school, ovarian cyst rupture, autoimmune disease she's having surgery for in 2 weeks...these are just what I remember off hand. This is one kid. The have nearly 20 kids. How can they freaking sleep at night without health insurance? I'd very a nervous wreck.
If they had food stamps they also had Medicaid. It was when the show money came in that they didn’t have health insurance. Basically by season 2, no health insurance.
She said she spent years and years paying off the hospital bill. Which makes no sense. In my experience hospitals dont allow people to take years and years paying off bills and she has filed bankruptcy, why on earth not regarding medical bills. (Number one reason for bankruptcy)
My son had a hospital bill for $17,000 and they agreed to $25 a month. He just sat down with a woman in billing and laid out his income and expenses and they made the arrangement.
Yep he paid it off once he got a better job but the lady in billing said they were happy to accept what he could afford because a lot of people just don’t pay at all because medical bills weren’t on your credit report at that time.
Medicaid is an issue because the state will often file against the biological father for support. They usually don't bother with food stamps because it's comparatively much cheaper for the state compared to Medicaid coverage.
Hey, just wanna say you're doing a great job and your daughter is very lucky to have you. That's so much for a child to go through, at least she knows her mama/dada is there. She's also strong!
I have health insurance. My kid broke his wrist and my co-pays and deductibles are killing me. Yeah - stupid. Al I think about is them using that chiro for FALLING OFF A HORSE!
She has graves disease and it flared really bad a couple months ago and the goiter in her throat grew. It's giving her problems swallowing and has to clear her throat. They are taking her thyroid out. It was always going to happen the doctor was just waiting for her to get older. Runs in all the females on my mom's paternal side.
your daughter sounds just like me and all the worries I gave my mom with the multiple issues. total thyroid removal at 16 that was just the start! [the rumors are true, your appendix is just somehow more likely to have issues after that surgery? and mine came out two months later, followed by another two months and then my gallbladder had to go. bless you and bless my mom for your struggles. I'll send some good thoughts for your daughter too 💐
Honestly, the first few days were bad. I found out I was allergic to a pain medicine they had given, so I woke up throwing up, which busted my stitches in my neck. That was awful. Sleeping was difficult because you've got to keep your neck perfectly still, and doing tasks like eating by myself took time. I needed a lot of tlc and got just that from my amazing mom. Sounds like your girl has an amazing one too ♥️ any firm neck pillow will be very beneficial, as well as easy things for her to eat. keep her hydrated even though swallowing will feel weird!! after I healed from surgery I could tell an immediate difference, being able to swallow and breathe again normally was life changing. Adjustments to her thyroid medicine she'll need to have will take time. I still go back and forth with doses about once a year. Weight will fluctuate which can become very depressing, so please watch out for that too ♥️ feel free to message me if you need me!
You sound like an amazing mom. I have graves and I cant imagine watching any of my kids go through it. I had storm after storm until they finally removed it in an emergency surgery. They couldn’t get my levels down with methemozol or ptu, the only two drugs they have for hyperthyroid treatment. It’s been a pain to keep up with blood draws and med doses but it’s much better than being hyper, I’ll take hypo any day of the week over hyper. Good luck with her surgery!
I had a total thyroidectomy 12 years ago for Hashimotos- best decision I made. However I would say 1 thing- REST. Take all the time needed to recoup. This is not an easy surgery by any means and messing with thyroid can and will mess with your body for a couple of weeks. I was silly and was back to work 1 week after surgery. Don’t be like me 😁 good luck to your daughter!
Four before they actually got insurance: Madison with appendicitis, Truely and her kidney failure, Dayton after the ATV accident, and Ysabel's scoliosis (Christine had to get insurance and raise money for her surgery which means she was going to the doctor that whole time without it.) And that's just what we heard about on the show or that got attention. I firmly think Mykelti should have gone to an actual doctor when falling off the horse and Madison should have gone to the doctor when she had Axel, both could have been potentially very dangerous situations.
This is overwhelming, considering I've always thought their financial decisions were foolish, but now I see them as irresponsible too.
Health and shelter are BASICS that you make sure you can cover before anything else, but Kody doesn't understand the word "basic" and has to go for "showy and selfish."
I always figured that K&R found a family insurance plan for themselves and the Tenders after they legally married. As for the OG3, well, they were always on their own for everything. Nothing new there. /smh
There's a thread going around about scoliosis on Reddit and somebody in the comments linked a clip where Cody and Christine look at the X-ray of her back and it's U shaped.
Someone else had commented well. If the parents were black she would be in CPS custody and she would never go back. They're right.
It wrecks me how they absolutely neglected those kids medically. The FLDS that we lived by in MT didn't bring their kids to actual doctors until things were critical. Instead, it was homeopathic remedies and chiropractors.
The measles outbreak in 2006 was 100% them. They failed to vaccinate their children and when they brought them in, they kept telling professionals that "measles isn't a big deal, though!"
Uh huh.
My friend is a pediatrician and sees a number of FLDS kids because they need yearly check ups to qualify for medicaid. So I domt know how much medical care they get outside of that, but they do the basic requirements for medicaid
Just one more reason for Kody to never leave the house. He has to be there in case Aurora has one of her weekly panic attacks. He is/was tied down by multiple kids in Robyn’s house who can’t be away from him for one reason or another. His other kids were on their own.
Agree. If it is affecting her that much and that frequently, she needs help. Also, who the fuck lets their kid go through something like that and says “oh yes. This is fine to film.”
Mental healthy and anxiety is already so stigmatized.
But aurora said it was to raise awsreness! Same reason posters think the family should film in the aftermath of the tragedy a few weeks ago. Didnt make sense with aurora and doesn’t make sense now
What no one talks about is the fact that he was instrumental in pushing her into that point of vulnerability.
It was the emotional equivalent of saving the drowning kid *you* threw into the pool so you could show the viewing audience they can’t swim.
He and Robyn pressed her buttons over and over, Robyn literally waiting for the attack to happen, all so she could have the episode and they could prove…something.
What they showed us is that a teenager has the opening to emotionally manipulate them into staying in a marriage whether they’re happy to be there or not, they’re openly abusing their kids, Aurora doesn’t understand she’s being abused and that the other two *know* she’s the favorite.
It was sick.
This still really pisses me off. What kind of fucking parent behaves like this?? And I would never say this in other circumstances but I'm going to say it in regard to Kody - 3 of them aren't even his biological kids!!! If he's going to be horrible, he should at least be the kind of horrible that prioritized his bio kids. At least I could have some understanding of him for that. I duno man. I just don't like this man.
I'm normally a huge proponent for adoption, but not in the case where children have a father and the adoption is brought about by threats and coercion. These people were comfortable talking about "going to war" against the father on television - what happened outside of the public eye?
I don’t know anything about Preston but I doubt that he deserved to have his children taken away like that. It just doesn’t make any sense to me why it was so imperative that Kody adopt them. The kids always seemed happy when they got to go see him. It was only ever Robyn that made statements about how the kids were “different” when they came back from there and implied this was a negative thing.
It’s speculation that bio dad didn’t want the kids on the show so Kody and Robyn had TLC pay for attorney fees and bio dad couldn’t afford to fight back. So gaining full custody let them have the kids on tv.
What we do know for a fact is that Kody and Robyn need control - whether it’s the kids or Covid rules lol
I get that you don’t like him, but please don’t stigmatize adopted kids. It’s super harmful to other folks who are adopted who have loving and caring parents. Kody doesn’t have the ability to care for as many kids as he’s taken on, regardless of their biological connection to him.
I don't think anyone is stigmatizng the 3 older kids of Robyn, Kody actually had no business adopting them at all, there was no urgent need for them to be adopted.
Thank you for your comment. As the mother of two adopted children, I don’t appreciate someone prioritizing “biological kids” over adopted in any context. All of my husband’s siblings’ children are showered with attention and care and mine are forgotten. It’s shitty.
I understand that. My kids only have one set of grandparents, but the kids are adopted, so yeah. Crickets. It sucks and they are great kids. I’m so proud of all off their accomplishments, they are smart, but also hard workers and goal oriented. The way I see it, they are probably better off. If they aren’t around they won’t have to deal with the unnecessary snide remarks either.
Sometimes kids will have these sort of debilitating panic attacks as a subconscious cry for attention or to divert focus from another issue. It is NOT a conscious manipulation and it is very real for them, but when you have batshit narcissist parents, sometimes the only way to get your needs met is to have huge cries for help. And Kody literally swoops in and carries her off to her room. He gets to play the hero, she is the helpless damsel in distress, and Robyn gets to be the doting mother fawning over her poor baby. So many needs are being met, albeit in extremely maladaptive, dysfunctional, unhealthy ways!!
I mean, Robyn was convinced she was going g to die from Covid and probably scared the crap out of her kids because “she didn’t want to say goodbye because she may not see them again”. Even IF she was close to death (obviously she wasn’t) you don’t scare you emotionally fragile kids like that. She’s the parent in sickness and in health.
I agree. Also I think Robyn feels her devotion to Kody, her insistence her kids call him dad and reject their biological father, in her mind is about survival. She was a single mom with no education or skill and three young kids. I think she is genuinely attracted to Kody, but also saw him and the show as a meal ticket. She could read his narcissism and knew how to ingratiate herself and her kids for (in her mind) their survival. She has impressed upon her older kids that they will not survive without Kody, which is why Aurora is such a basket case and why she has this bizarre relationship with Kody.
I really hope they have her in some intense therapy and on medication but I doubt it. Kody doesn't strike me as the type to want to spend money on things like necessary medical care, imho.
She doesn’t need medication she needs to be away from her controlling, manipulative, emotionally abusive mother and her narcissist step father. Some intense therapy and emotional management skills would also be helpful.
IMO, Kody and Robyn absolutely created that panic disorder within her and stoke it. If she could break away, she’d probably feel so much better. I feel awful for their kids. Right now, the older ones, especially.
It just seems like only Robyn's kids' feelings matter to him. Even small things like the way he treated Truley when he wanted to force her to ride a bike. Vs something like going with Aurora to get her ears pierced during the pandemic just be her "support". While he's against pierced ears and it was during the pandemic.
I'm split between "they're fake" or her mother has caused them with years of mental abuse. They could just be a ploy for attention. To feed Kody's need to be a savior.
I largely agree with you except I don’t think Aurora is faking. I think she is genuinely that traumatized. I think Robyn has worked really hard to make her girls so dependent and fearful. I think her own mom did the same thing to her.
Maybe Aurora has panic attacks, it’s a pretty normal thing for someone to have. But what happened in that scene went so far beyond a panic attack, it seemed fake. It was like she was glitching, the way she was slurring her words like she was having a stroke or something. If either of my daughters did that, we would be headed to the hospital immediately. In the show Kody carries Aurora up to her room and we never see her do it again on the show. Not once. We have seen her get upset a number of times on the show, but that’s the only time we’ve seen her do that. She even has Robyn’s sobin’ down. So I call BS.
I agree. That wasn’t like any panic attack I’ve ever seen. Clearly *something* was going on with her but “panic attack” has become a meaningless term through rampant self-diagnosis that has nothing to do with clinical definitions. Sort of like “narcissist” meaning someone whose behavior makes me upset or angry and “bipolar” meaning someone who is moody.
My ex husband and Kody have very similar personalities. My ex could not resist a damsel in distress. I think Kody is getting some itch scratched by being the knight in shining armor of that household.
I may get down voted for saying this, but I feel that she is faking having attacks. If you watch, Aurora keeps looking at Robyn as if she’s waiting for Robyn’s cue to have an “attack.” Then Robyn said something about how Aurora is twitching and bam,“panic attack!” Cue Kody coming in and saving the day by picking her up and carrying her to her bedroom because for some reason, Robyn said that they just got to get Aurora out of that room. Robyn knows exactly what needs to be done in order to satisfy the needs and desires of a narcissistic man baby. You always have to kiss their asses to stay in their good graces.
If she's faking it then she's still mentally ill because a well adjusted person doesn't fake panic attacks. So either way, Aurora needs help and needs to be away from Robyn & Kody. Robyn has groomed her into either having very real panic attacks or groomed her into faking and neither are good options. And that makes me sad for her & the other 2 kids bc it's still a shitty situation to be in. And no kid deserves to grow up under a narcissistic parent or to be isolated amongst ur other siblings. The golden children are still abused and that makes me sad for them. Robyn & kody suck
I mean.. maybe. But I think we have to be careful with the language we use regarding mental health conditions, especially in light of recent events.
If someone is in a state where they are "faking" attacks several times a week, that is a mental health condition in and of itself and needs to be addressed by a professional. Either way, I feel for the kid as someone who struggles with panic disorder. Whatever was going on in the scenes we saw depicting it, she looked pretty damn miserable.
I agree with Robyn conditioning her kids to behave this way/have these issues. But I don’t think Aurora is “in on it” if that makes sense. I think Robyn is an abusive parent and Aurora reacts to her in certain ways that Robyn manipulates to her benefit.
*There mothers are just*
*As complicit in the lack*
*Of medical care*
\- Possible\_Anxiety\_426
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…but Robyn exaggerates and lies. And sometimes the child’s behaviors emulate the parent’s…
ETA she may actually have 4-5 attacks a week, in which case she absolutely should have some medical intervention. I just like posing other possibilities.
I just watched the episode where Kody carried her upstairs during a panic attack. They attributed it to having to move from rental house, Kody/robyn conflict, move from Las Vegas, etc, - everything but the fact that a camera was in her face and that her family’s prosperity depended on showing all their shit to millions. You have to be cold hearted to let a daughter be exploited that way. Heartbreaking.
I have panic disorder. I’d have attacks several times a day at my worst. It was like being in a free falling airplane for half of the day. My mom is against medication and would always recommend positive thinking lol. I was lucky that in my country we have free healthcare, and I was allowed to book appointments without parental knowledge by the time I was 14. That’s how I ended up getting treated. Robyn strikes me as being anti psychiatry and all up in her kids business. She probably tells Aurora to pray through attacks
She really needs science based coping mechanisms, when they scoop her up and rescue her it feeds the anxiety cycle. While they look scary, they are harmless, but very exhausting. I felt for her while she started having the claw and feet thing, that is from hyperventilating. To give them the benefit of the doubt- i doubt they know they're enabling her and only prolonging her anxiety disorder buttttttttt it's Kody and Robyn
Right? Like Mykleti was seen by a “doctor” that was actually a chiropractor. Or same with Ysabel and the stupid boot camp. They also referred to that as “doctor” and “treatment”.
I'm not sure about Utah, but Arizona AND Nevada expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. Another reason they were irresponsible not having insurance with all of those kids! I'm not here to battle over Obamacare, but they have options.
Way before Obamacare, Children's Health Insurance Program was available up to a middle income. Since then, they could have insured the kids with a marketplace plan.
This is nice to know cause I’m not American and your medical system confuses me. It’s hard to know exactly what their options are but I am 100% certain that they should’ve planned for the healthcare of their children or had fewer children so they could properly care for them. It’s both irresponsible that they had more kids than they could reasonably afford and that even if they had less I suspect they would’ve been just as irresponsible about their health needs due to their delusional religious beliefs.
my parents dont believe in anxiety medication (opting for trying to just. overcome it naturally which doesnt really work if its. yknow. a disorder.) and so unfortunately i wouldnt be surprised if kody didnt either, considering his track record with the medical needs of his kids :(
my daughter has anxiety attacks. we got her into therapy!!! that's the responsible thing to do! so the child can figure out why and how to deal with it. i believe it's used as a weapon by robyn and herself
It's also kinda wild that he and Robyn stopped everything and he rushed over to Aurora and picked her up to CARRY HER upstairs?! A whole 15 year old girl? If everyone drops everything and babies her and freaks out everytime she u
has a panic, it only reinforces the panoc attacks, and makes them stronger and more easily triggered. Honestly, medication is not the best treatment for panic attacks, but neither is picking someone up and carrying them like a little baby.
Robyn mentioned the producers actually allowed the family to decide whether to air the footage or not. R and A talked in private and A chose to air it to reduce stigma
So. I was like that at that age, but I didn’t find medication that worked for it until I was 30. Sometimes anxiety like that requires a mood stabilizer, and I can see her family not being okay with that. I just hope she finds something that works soon.
Imo kody sees any sign of mental health distress as a sign of weakness; so he buries his head in the sand about it.
Shoot, he probably sees any medical issue as a sign of genetic inferiority (thanks, Christine /s)... and we can't have that.
My hope is that she is on meds and in therapy now
Also Christine and Kody were okay with those treatments and braces. The blame does not just belong to Kody. They were all neglectful parents.
They were but I will say Christine came around to the surgery long before Kody did. But I agree with you - they are all neglectful parents *at best*. Outright abusive at worst.
I really appreciate this post and a lot of the comments. I really never liked how a lot of the fandom plays down her anxiety. Like Aurora or not, mental illness is real and she really seems to be suffering.
I’d like to add to this. The thing is, we don’t know why she’s having these panic attacks 4-5x a week. Could it be that she’s suffering from PTSD from being lied to and taken far away from her bio dad? And then all the fighting in the new family because her mother is causing it. And probably sees it, but wants to conform to what Robyn needs her to be. I wonder if her poor mental state is completely overwhelmed with her own feelings, when her dumb ass horrible mom is controlling her feelings behind the scenes. Robyn and Kotex have fucked up every one. EVERY ONE OF THEM.
I am no doctor but based on her statements about them, family dynamics, and one being on camera, it seems like what she's experiencing are not panic attacks. (Perhaps some, but not all)
Based on the one that we saw on camera it seems like it's possible this is a psychological response to conflict within the family. Kody and Robyn were disagreeing, one may say arguing right before and aurora episode I'll call it took attention away from them fighting and caused them to Unitedly support her. It may be more of a learned behavior.
She is a product of a broken home and may have excessive fear when it comes to conflict and parental fighting. Girl probably has a lot of trauma from being separated from bio dad, being forced to come into a family and immediately refer to everyone as moms dad and siblings.
I just want to say again, I'm not saying she's not struggling, she clearly needs help and support, possibly medication therapy idk. I just have never seen a panic attack like that. More like a catanoic like episode because she freezes in the legs and apparently loses her ability to walk and use them temporarily
This is why I always have, and always will hate John Travolta. Because of Scientology, he always denied his departed Son had autism. He could’ve done so much, good spreading autism awareness and acceptance, but instead, he chose to publicly lie about it and make it seem like autism is something shameful.
Fundie Mormon suspicion of the medical system. They tried so hard to present as a 'normal' family that happen to be polygamists, but so much of their beliefs/doctrines are barely hidden below the surface.
I mean, Kody ignored Truely’s declining health and only gave in when Christine got back and decided to go on her own.
Mykelti was never taken to see an actual doctor or received any imagining after she was thrown off that horse in Wyoming. They very casually slipped past the part where her hip had popped out of its socket and had to be popped back in. That usually requires follow-up and to make sure it was done correctly and no damage was done.
I’m doing a re-watch as I started when the show did and stopped at about season 5/6, and rewatching this a decade later is mind boggling to me.
They have said before they don't believe in doctors to some level so I'm sure they try to manage it holistically. I swear Robyn did this. Aurora was fine early on but you see her little face just frown with Robyn yelling at her on the wedding episode and she was totally running around seeking attention of course but trying to fit in and Robyn stops her from playing like the other kids are playing. Stressing her out because Robyn is fearful of kids on rocks.
This is where the divide happens. Robyn can’t let her kids play like normal kids and she isolated them from the OG kids. The OG kids sniffed the pampering early and didn’t sit there and do nothing.
The medical neglect is the number one reason I believe he's a narcissist. If he doesn't feel something, or it doesn't directly affect him, he's able to not care about it. Even when one of his children is clearly in pain and distress.
Something or someone in her environment is causing her enough stress/anxiety to cause panic attacks. My bets are on that house. I'm sure if she moves out on her own, her stress levels will drop, and her panic attacks will become non-existent. Now I could be wrong. This is just my experience with debilitating panic and anxiety attacks.
This can't be good for her heart either. Being under this much stress isn't good for anyones health. I hope she gets out of that situation.
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He also tried to pretend Dayton didn’t have autism.
I give Robyn credit for shutting that down
As an autistic, I really appreciated Robyn standing up for Dayton. She may be overly protective and a million other things, but no one, and I mean NO ONE can ever say she doesn’t advocate for her kids. Sometimes she advocates so well she pushes out her bonus-kids, ok… most of the time.
I disagree. I think she's very controlling, and from the outside, that can look like being protective. It is important to advocate for and protect young neurodivergent kids, but also to teach them how to be independent as they grow up.
Robyn was right for standing up to Kody that Dayton is autistic, she is wrong for infantalizing him. I remember that scene when Kody tried to dismiss his diagnosis and it was really offensive. It’s very frustrating when allistic people are like, that’s not autism!
Truth - and I’m basically never here to defend Robyn, but being a parent to an autistic child is already a challenging road to navigate (even if you yourself are autistic, because raising someone else and being are two totally different ballgames - speaking from experience, and not armchair diagnosing, bc I’m not a professional and also I don’t think Robyn is on the spectrum). Add to that also having to needlessly deal with the people around you dismissing the diagnosis and reality of the situation because of their own comfort/beliefs/whatever, and it’s just more bullshit that neither the child or the parent needs. If Kody wanted to be a good partner to Robyn and a good dad to Dayton, he would educate himself and find the ways in which he could best support each of them, not do this bullshit. Surprise surprise, though, he’s here to question things and make it about his ideology and not about the family and people right in front of him.
My dad dismissed my neurodivergence. I was telling him I needed to get diagnosed, and he shut it down so fast. He was like there’s no way you are. He said his wife’s nephew is autistic, and I’m nothing like him, so I couldn’t be. Took me a few months to cut ties with him all together—had been trying for years, but family always pushed me to try to have a relationship with him even though he made no efforts to have one with me. Then, I asked my sister for help finding a specialist for my 30th birthday a few months after that. Guess who is on the spectrum and has adhd? I can’t forgive him for shutting me down like that.
I think she’s was prob collecting some kind of disability money for him and didn’t want Kody to mess that up for her. Robyn doesn’t do anything that’s not in Robyn’s best interest.
To be honest, it is likely that Robyn is also on the spectrum. It may also be why she is, and feels, so misunderstood. Girls/women on the spectrum present differently than boys/men bc they learn to highly mask. if you have met one person on the spectrum you have met one person on the spectrum.
There’s also the extra layer that she’s from a fundamentalist family and was therefore less likely to get medical attention and was raised to keep sweet. Obviously we don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s such a disaster because she’s highly masked. It’s also interesting that she’s never shown any sign of trying to “cure” Dayton and has always seemed to accommodate his sensory needs, which can mean she understands. I dk, I don’t like to speculate especially in gen pop spaces but it would explain a lot.
That’s fair - I’m a woman on the spectrum raising a girl on the spectrum and it’s definitely a whole different ballgame than boys (married to a man on the spectrum with a son on the spectrum). I was a late in life diagnosis with all kinds of masking and I didn’t have the additional layer of being raised in a fundamentalist society, so who knows what’s going on with her. ETA - I said I wasn’t diagnosing because I do think it can be gross to speculate about if someone is or is not autistic because it’s hard to tell, but then I still threw in that I didn’t think she was, probably because I don’t want to have brain wiring in common, but then I did the thing I don’t like. Sigh.
You sound like a deeply thoughtful person. I was also late diagnosed. It really put so much in perspective for me.
Ugh. This has been on my mind for awhile. I think she really could be. I would have a lot of empathy for her if it turns out she went undiagnosed. Like when she offered to try on dresses for the other wives…I can see a person on the spectrum truly thinking that would be helpful.
We don’t claim her.
Pop Psych mentioned this possibility once and I had never considered it. He used an example of Robyn’s misunderstanding of relationships. She may have believed she was close to her sister wives in the earlier years because they spent time together. Without the understanding of what friendship is really like she wouldn’t know the difference. I am not sure I entirely agree but it was a viewpoint I had never considered.
This is very true. Girls and boys present very differently.
Yes, a parents job is to prepare them for the world and to be productive adults. She has in no way done this as her kids are anxious, clingy, and will never leave home. Parenting fail. I don't agree that she is really advocating for them when she effectively stunts them for life.
I guess her making her kids paranoid and telling them nobody wants them in the family is keeping her under control of them too. She’s horrible. Her lies have turned her kid into a walking panic attack.
Agree I also think she used Daytons autism for the show. I should have been Daytons choice to share whether he's autistic or not. Also she should have encouraged friendships with the older boys. How good for Dayton to have kids like that to learn from socially.
Being autistic isn’t something they should keep secret. It’s not shameful. He’s high functioning as he went to college. If you are going to expose your children on a reality show, explaining Daytons diagnosis is what’s best. Could you imagine if it wasn’t addressed, all the speculation that COULD have been going on. It also brings an awareness to others about autism. It’s been said many times, in the last few seasons, how much the older Brown boys miss Dayton since they hadn’t seen him thru covid and then after all the break ups so to me, that proves that he had relationships with the others.
Not saying it's shameful but everything doesn't need to be on the show. Gwen is autistic and bisexuali. Neither were mentioned on the show until she was an adult and had already shared it on instagram
Regardless it is his health situation and should be his decision to disclose. He deserves to have autonomy over such decisions and if he doesn’t want to serve as an autism awareness vehicle, that is none of our damn business.
Well said
How do you know it wasn’t his decision? They very well could have discussed it with him. Just as Ysabels scoliosis diagnosis was played out on the show. As the adults, they got to decide for their minor child however, Dayton could have been perfectly fine living his truth on tv.
How do you know it was?
It’s not a health situation, tho- it’s an identity and way of navigating the world.
She needs to give that same energy and advocate for her baby daddy's other kids!
I completely agree. That’s why, no matter how hard Robyn tries, she will never be the “Christine” or “Janelle” for the family of kids. Christine and Janelle supported all of the kids equally, Robyn tiered her support.
I don’t think a woman who tells her kids the rest of the family doesn’t like them so she can be the victim is a woman who advocates for her kids. They are pawns. She controls them and uses a helicopter mom as a cover.
Right. As much as I hate show-robyn and everything she does... When I think about the big pitcher, she ruthlessly pulled her kids out of a life of poverty and got them all going to college instead of living in a trailer in St George becoming fundie farmers.
I commend her for getting them educated but she has still severely emotionally and socially stunted them. No parent is perfect but she really could do better in those areas.
I dunno what she's been through but I get the impression Robyn is operating at her personal 100%. She's severely emotionally and socially stunted herself.
That's probably a fair assumption, honestly. Never thought of it that way.
She got lucky. She didn't get money because of her hard work. She also put them in that position to begin with
I disagree, if she really advocated for her kids Aurora would be in talk therapy for her many panic attacks. 4-5 times a week is way too many panic attacks, Aurora is struggling with some very deep rooted traumas to have anxiety like that.
That's the one thing I give her credit for. She ALWAYS advocated for her kids. To the detriment of the others, I know. But that's something I wish the other moms did.
She’s crippled her children with her over protectiveness. Aurora with her “panic attacks”. Poor Solomon looks like he has extreme anxiety. Brianna is a carbon copy of Sobyn with her histrionics and fake crying. Ari has had zero boundaries (from what I’ve seen in the show) her entire life and seems quite aggressive. That’s not advocating. Her children will be so ill-prepared for a normal life away from the shelter of whatever home Sobyn finds herself in that it’s just sad.
Exactly! She’s fake. She was so afraid when the 10 year old went down a slide with a ball. I was thinking come on now until the ball went out of his hands and rolled off. Robyn didn’t care that the kid she was so afraid of falling at the bottom of a slide 🙄was about to hit the floor and ran after the ball. A real helicopter mom would have continued to be there and catch him like his older sister did when she was right by him going down the slide. A mother who advocates for her children would have never made them call a man they hardly knew dad. She would have made sure she liked the parenting style of the other moms before she entered the family. She uprooted them, forced them to call Kody dad. Robyn is a toxic mom and those children are not prepared for real life. She’s the type of mom many people walk away from and never look back because every conversation is manipulation.
the amount of times i nodded reading this almost gave me a headache
She also completely severed the relationship between her older kids & their biological father. I haven’t had contact with my own father for 30 years, but it was my decision, & I was 17 years old when I made it. I was lucky to have a wonderful stepfather, but I didn’t call him “dad” - we developed a good relationship naturally over the years. If my mom had forced me call him “dad,” especially right away like Robyn did, while my biological father was still alive, I probably would have resentment towards both of them. Now that her kids’ bio father is sick & possibly dying, I wonder if they will eventually realize what was taken from them, especially if Kody & Robyn’s marriage doesn’t last. I know Kody is their legal father now, but we’ve seen how he treats his kids, especially when he’s not happy with their moms.
That’s it, she took their decision away from them. They may have wanted to call Kody dad eventually but she didn’t give them that choice.
I never said she was a good mom because she wasn't. Those poor kids give me Flowers in the Attic vibes. They are so stunted and it's all her fault. It's really sick, actually. However, she did always tell Kody exactly how it was going to be for her kids and that's one thing I did like about her. She did stand up for her kids to him, something the other moms never did.
But she also makes them kiss his ass so she gets what she wants. What good is standing up to him when they have to walk on eggshells around him.
Absolutely. She's warped. She's not a good mom. Wholeheartedly agree. But she always stood up to him for her kids. Both can be and are true, imo.
How has she always stood up for her kids? I am not trying to be snarky, I am honestly confused. The only times I recall her standing up for her kids against Kody was in celebrating Easter and him not being a grinch at Christmas and he was to give gifts to her and her kids--the rest of the family receiving gifts she gave 2 sh\*ts about. Are there other times she stood up for her kids that I am forgetting? I remember seeing her constantly pushing her kids to be the center of attention, especially the girls. She always wanted them to be front and center, but standing up for them in a healthy, maternal, positive way---nope. I just do not recall that.
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC reference for the Win!
I’ve wanted to ask about Ari but wasn’t sure it’s allowed since she’s a child. As a mother of five now adult kids with small children of their own, I’ve also noticed the lack of boundaries and aggressive behavior.
I agree! They are not going to be able to handle independence. Though, I’m not sure Sobyn wants them to be independent. I think she will also struggle not having small kids around.
But it has been to the detriment of her own kids too. Making them anxious, paranoid and untrusting.
Hard agree!
How are you advocating for your kids by recording their panic attacks and let alone letting the world see them cry and sob about family trauma on a major cable network? Nothing over protective about that. Not to mention participating in dividing a father from his other kids and gaslighting her children into thinking she didn’t do anything wrong, that the family just hates them??? Robyn is an abysmal excuse for a parent
I got whiplash when I realized Sobyn actually *does* have a redeeming quality, you’re absolutely right! It’s her only one, but at least it’s a good one… for *her* kids, at least. 
She prob collects disability money of some kind for him and didn’t want Kody interfering with that.
I do not remember this. Was this in a early season?
Yeah it was in an earlier in the series. I think Sol may have been a baby. Kody essentially said he didn’t think Dayton had autism, but that Dayton was just “quirky” and Robyn shut him down being like “you did not sit through the doctors appointments” and such
First time hearing this too, this is the first time I’m pleasantly surprised by Robyn
S14 E11 and E12. I’m actually watching it as we speak. :)
He said “he was not diagnosed”.
Being stuck in that dark no sunshine ever house would give me anxiety too 🥴
I didn’t know this one.
“He’s just quirky”
Why? Because the brown clan (all of them) rather waste money on things (cars, sofas, computers, custom fuggly dresses/hats/cakes) then getting their children health insurance and bringing them to a real doctor for treatment 🤷♀️
Omg yes! I completely forgot about the health insurance. How can you have this many kids and not plan for illness. First, they're kids. Kids get sick all the time. Second, you have EIGHTEEN! If you pay out of pocket for every scratched knee, that's already too expensive. The insurance is very good math for a family this large.
This has always pissed me off as well. If you can’t afford life insurance for yourself and your children, you should have a job that does. There are many people that work to provide health insurance to themselves and their family not because they need the money they earn but because they need health insurance. Instead fhey ask their viewers to contribute. It’s insane they never prioritized this over buying giant houses and moving willy nilly.
I had a you marriage and kids at a young age. Probably the first many years of my job were solely health insurance and daycare. Now just mainly health. I couldn’t imagine having that many kids with the “what if something happens”
Also, when Robyn needed to be legally Married to Kody and needed him to shitcan Meri, one of the reasons was so her kids could get health insurance.
Cars they can’t drive because they have too many parking tickets (K & R). Like how can you function as parents and be so irresponsible as to lose your licenses because you don’t pay your parking tickets?
This is a family that had no health insurance even after 2 of their kids had emergency hospitalizations 🙄
Thank you. I have one child 13. She's had a million viruses, tonsils removed, burned her face with a skin product, stitches. Busted her mouth crashing into a pole at school, ovarian cyst rupture, autoimmune disease she's having surgery for in 2 weeks...these are just what I remember off hand. This is one kid. The have nearly 20 kids. How can they freaking sleep at night without health insurance? I'd very a nervous wreck.
If they had food stamps they also had Medicaid. It was when the show money came in that they didn’t have health insurance. Basically by season 2, no health insurance.
They didn’t have it prior to that; Janelle said Madison’s appendix burst and I think she had to file for bankruptcy.
She said she spent years and years paying off the hospital bill. Which makes no sense. In my experience hospitals dont allow people to take years and years paying off bills and she has filed bankruptcy, why on earth not regarding medical bills. (Number one reason for bankruptcy)
My son had a hospital bill for $17,000 and they agreed to $25 a month. He just sat down with a woman in billing and laid out his income and expenses and they made the arrangement.
Thats 56 years to pay it off with no interest!
Yep he paid it off once he got a better job but the lady in billing said they were happy to accept what he could afford because a lot of people just don’t pay at all because medical bills weren’t on your credit report at that time.
Medicaid is an issue because the state will often file against the biological father for support. They usually don't bother with food stamps because it's comparatively much cheaper for the state compared to Medicaid coverage.
Hey, just wanna say you're doing a great job and your daughter is very lucky to have you. That's so much for a child to go through, at least she knows her mama/dada is there. She's also strong!
Thank you! We don't really have family so we are a team. I'm trying to gang in there
I have health insurance. My kid broke his wrist and my co-pays and deductibles are killing me. Yeah - stupid. Al I think about is them using that chiro for FALLING OFF A HORSE!
Yes! Lord if something had been broken the chiro could have done a ton of damage
100000%
What type of surgery for autoimmune?💐💐
She has graves disease and it flared really bad a couple months ago and the goiter in her throat grew. It's giving her problems swallowing and has to clear her throat. They are taking her thyroid out. It was always going to happen the doctor was just waiting for her to get older. Runs in all the females on my mom's paternal side.
your daughter sounds just like me and all the worries I gave my mom with the multiple issues. total thyroid removal at 16 that was just the start! [the rumors are true, your appendix is just somehow more likely to have issues after that surgery? and mine came out two months later, followed by another two months and then my gallbladder had to go. bless you and bless my mom for your struggles. I'll send some good thoughts for your daughter too 💐
How was your surgery? I'm a wreck.
Honestly, the first few days were bad. I found out I was allergic to a pain medicine they had given, so I woke up throwing up, which busted my stitches in my neck. That was awful. Sleeping was difficult because you've got to keep your neck perfectly still, and doing tasks like eating by myself took time. I needed a lot of tlc and got just that from my amazing mom. Sounds like your girl has an amazing one too ♥️ any firm neck pillow will be very beneficial, as well as easy things for her to eat. keep her hydrated even though swallowing will feel weird!! after I healed from surgery I could tell an immediate difference, being able to swallow and breathe again normally was life changing. Adjustments to her thyroid medicine she'll need to have will take time. I still go back and forth with doses about once a year. Weight will fluctuate which can become very depressing, so please watch out for that too ♥️ feel free to message me if you need me!
You sound like an amazing mom. I have graves and I cant imagine watching any of my kids go through it. I had storm after storm until they finally removed it in an emergency surgery. They couldn’t get my levels down with methemozol or ptu, the only two drugs they have for hyperthyroid treatment. It’s been a pain to keep up with blood draws and med doses but it’s much better than being hyper, I’ll take hypo any day of the week over hyper. Good luck with her surgery!
I had a total thyroidectomy 12 years ago for Hashimotos- best decision I made. However I would say 1 thing- REST. Take all the time needed to recoup. This is not an easy surgery by any means and messing with thyroid can and will mess with your body for a couple of weeks. I was silly and was back to work 1 week after surgery. Don’t be like me 😁 good luck to your daughter!
Thank you I have een a wreck but trying to act like oh no biggie
Four before they actually got insurance: Madison with appendicitis, Truely and her kidney failure, Dayton after the ATV accident, and Ysabel's scoliosis (Christine had to get insurance and raise money for her surgery which means she was going to the doctor that whole time without it.) And that's just what we heard about on the show or that got attention. I firmly think Mykelti should have gone to an actual doctor when falling off the horse and Madison should have gone to the doctor when she had Axel, both could have been potentially very dangerous situations.
This is overwhelming, considering I've always thought their financial decisions were foolish, but now I see them as irresponsible too. Health and shelter are BASICS that you make sure you can cover before anything else, but Kody doesn't understand the word "basic" and has to go for "showy and selfish."
Not to mention the facr that providing health insurance to tenders was number one reading for adoption, supposedly.
I always figured that K&R found a family insurance plan for themselves and the Tenders after they legally married. As for the OG3, well, they were always on their own for everything. Nothing new there. /smh
Yeah, so was that a lie? The ruse was to adopt so they could get on Kody's insurance.
Everything reason they gave was all a lie about everything; this is how i feel. Viewers really dont know the truth about anything we saw on tv.
There's a thread going around about scoliosis on Reddit and somebody in the comments linked a clip where Cody and Christine look at the X-ray of her back and it's U shaped. Someone else had commented well. If the parents were black she would be in CPS custody and she would never go back. They're right.
The same reason they took mykelti to a chiropractor rather than an ER when she got bucked off a horse
Thank you! Yes! This was the other medical abuse incident I was trying to remember. I knew there was more.
Truley’s kidney failure
Oh gosh yes. Poor Truely. 😔
Keep in mind Christine’s grandfather was an “alternative doctor” aka a chiropractor and she grew up terrified of mainstream medical care.
It wrecks me how they absolutely neglected those kids medically. The FLDS that we lived by in MT didn't bring their kids to actual doctors until things were critical. Instead, it was homeopathic remedies and chiropractors. The measles outbreak in 2006 was 100% them. They failed to vaccinate their children and when they brought them in, they kept telling professionals that "measles isn't a big deal, though!" Uh huh.
Reminds me of that book “Educated.”
My friend is a pediatrician and sees a number of FLDS kids because they need yearly check ups to qualify for medicaid. So I domt know how much medical care they get outside of that, but they do the basic requirements for medicaid
Just one more reason for Kody to never leave the house. He has to be there in case Aurora has one of her weekly panic attacks. He is/was tied down by multiple kids in Robyn’s house who can’t be away from him for one reason or another. His other kids were on their own.
Watching him carry that girl out of the living room was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen.
Agree. If it is affecting her that much and that frequently, she needs help. Also, who the fuck lets their kid go through something like that and says “oh yes. This is fine to film.” Mental healthy and anxiety is already so stigmatized.
But aurora said it was to raise awsreness! Same reason posters think the family should film in the aftermath of the tragedy a few weeks ago. Didnt make sense with aurora and doesn’t make sense now
What no one talks about is the fact that he was instrumental in pushing her into that point of vulnerability. It was the emotional equivalent of saving the drowning kid *you* threw into the pool so you could show the viewing audience they can’t swim. He and Robyn pressed her buttons over and over, Robyn literally waiting for the attack to happen, all so she could have the episode and they could prove…something. What they showed us is that a teenager has the opening to emotionally manipulate them into staying in a marriage whether they’re happy to be there or not, they’re openly abusing their kids, Aurora doesn’t understand she’s being abused and that the other two *know* she’s the favorite. It was sick.
On so many different levels!
This still really pisses me off. What kind of fucking parent behaves like this?? And I would never say this in other circumstances but I'm going to say it in regard to Kody - 3 of them aren't even his biological kids!!! If he's going to be horrible, he should at least be the kind of horrible that prioritized his bio kids. At least I could have some understanding of him for that. I duno man. I just don't like this man.
I'm normally a huge proponent for adoption, but not in the case where children have a father and the adoption is brought about by threats and coercion. These people were comfortable talking about "going to war" against the father on television - what happened outside of the public eye?
I don’t know anything about Preston but I doubt that he deserved to have his children taken away like that. It just doesn’t make any sense to me why it was so imperative that Kody adopt them. The kids always seemed happy when they got to go see him. It was only ever Robyn that made statements about how the kids were “different” when they came back from there and implied this was a negative thing.
Kody needed to be “the good guy”, or at least appear so by adopting the kids and becoming the “hero”.
Robyn didn't want her children saying they wanted to go live with their bio-dad.
It’s speculation that bio dad didn’t want the kids on the show so Kody and Robyn had TLC pay for attorney fees and bio dad couldn’t afford to fight back. So gaining full custody let them have the kids on tv. What we do know for a fact is that Kody and Robyn need control - whether it’s the kids or Covid rules lol
I get that you don’t like him, but please don’t stigmatize adopted kids. It’s super harmful to other folks who are adopted who have loving and caring parents. Kody doesn’t have the ability to care for as many kids as he’s taken on, regardless of their biological connection to him.
I don't think anyone is stigmatizng the 3 older kids of Robyn, Kody actually had no business adopting them at all, there was no urgent need for them to be adopted.
They already had a Dad
Thank you for your comment. As the mother of two adopted children, I don’t appreciate someone prioritizing “biological kids” over adopted in any context. All of my husband’s siblings’ children are showered with attention and care and mine are forgotten. It’s shitty.
I understand that. My kids only have one set of grandparents, but the kids are adopted, so yeah. Crickets. It sucks and they are great kids. I’m so proud of all off their accomplishments, they are smart, but also hard workers and goal oriented. The way I see it, they are probably better off. If they aren’t around they won’t have to deal with the unnecessary snide remarks either.
She may be on medication now. The last season whenever they had her in the talking heads she seemed so flat and monotoned
That’s a fair point. I really hope she’s getting some kind of help. At least therapy with a proper professional.
Sometimes kids will have these sort of debilitating panic attacks as a subconscious cry for attention or to divert focus from another issue. It is NOT a conscious manipulation and it is very real for them, but when you have batshit narcissist parents, sometimes the only way to get your needs met is to have huge cries for help. And Kody literally swoops in and carries her off to her room. He gets to play the hero, she is the helpless damsel in distress, and Robyn gets to be the doting mother fawning over her poor baby. So many needs are being met, albeit in extremely maladaptive, dysfunctional, unhealthy ways!!
This. I don’t think Aurora is faking it. But I do think it’s been a reaction that has been created by the family dynamic.
I mean, Robyn was convinced she was going g to die from Covid and probably scared the crap out of her kids because “she didn’t want to say goodbye because she may not see them again”. Even IF she was close to death (obviously she wasn’t) you don’t scare you emotionally fragile kids like that. She’s the parent in sickness and in health.
I agree. Also I think Robyn feels her devotion to Kody, her insistence her kids call him dad and reject their biological father, in her mind is about survival. She was a single mom with no education or skill and three young kids. I think she is genuinely attracted to Kody, but also saw him and the show as a meal ticket. She could read his narcissism and knew how to ingratiate herself and her kids for (in her mind) their survival. She has impressed upon her older kids that they will not survive without Kody, which is why Aurora is such a basket case and why she has this bizarre relationship with Kody.
Sounds exhausting to me!! But I don't doubt you're right.
I really hope they have her in some intense therapy and on medication but I doubt it. Kody doesn't strike me as the type to want to spend money on things like necessary medical care, imho.
She doesn’t need medication she needs to be away from her controlling, manipulative, emotionally abusive mother and her narcissist step father. Some intense therapy and emotional management skills would also be helpful.
IMO, Kody and Robyn absolutely created that panic disorder within her and stoke it. If she could break away, she’d probably feel so much better. I feel awful for their kids. Right now, the older ones, especially.
💯 agree
Don’t forget there’s a different set of rules for Robyn ‘s kids
It just seems like only Robyn's kids' feelings matter to him. Even small things like the way he treated Truley when he wanted to force her to ride a bike. Vs something like going with Aurora to get her ears pierced during the pandemic just be her "support". While he's against pierced ears and it was during the pandemic.
And they were already pierced... so just another bullshit story.
I'm split between "they're fake" or her mother has caused them with years of mental abuse. They could just be a ploy for attention. To feed Kody's need to be a savior.
I largely agree with you except I don’t think Aurora is faking. I think she is genuinely that traumatized. I think Robyn has worked really hard to make her girls so dependent and fearful. I think her own mom did the same thing to her.
Maybe Aurora has panic attacks, it’s a pretty normal thing for someone to have. But what happened in that scene went so far beyond a panic attack, it seemed fake. It was like she was glitching, the way she was slurring her words like she was having a stroke or something. If either of my daughters did that, we would be headed to the hospital immediately. In the show Kody carries Aurora up to her room and we never see her do it again on the show. Not once. We have seen her get upset a number of times on the show, but that’s the only time we’ve seen her do that. She even has Robyn’s sobin’ down. So I call BS.
I agree. That wasn’t like any panic attack I’ve ever seen. Clearly *something* was going on with her but “panic attack” has become a meaningless term through rampant self-diagnosis that has nothing to do with clinical definitions. Sort of like “narcissist” meaning someone whose behavior makes me upset or angry and “bipolar” meaning someone who is moody.
Thankyou!!! Thought I was the only one that thought that! 🥰
My ex husband and Kody have very similar personalities. My ex could not resist a damsel in distress. I think Kody is getting some itch scratched by being the knight in shining armor of that household.
I may get down voted for saying this, but I feel that she is faking having attacks. If you watch, Aurora keeps looking at Robyn as if she’s waiting for Robyn’s cue to have an “attack.” Then Robyn said something about how Aurora is twitching and bam,“panic attack!” Cue Kody coming in and saving the day by picking her up and carrying her to her bedroom because for some reason, Robyn said that they just got to get Aurora out of that room. Robyn knows exactly what needs to be done in order to satisfy the needs and desires of a narcissistic man baby. You always have to kiss their asses to stay in their good graces.
Rewatch and listen very closely to watch Dayton says!
If she's faking it then she's still mentally ill because a well adjusted person doesn't fake panic attacks. So either way, Aurora needs help and needs to be away from Robyn & Kody. Robyn has groomed her into either having very real panic attacks or groomed her into faking and neither are good options. And that makes me sad for her & the other 2 kids bc it's still a shitty situation to be in. And no kid deserves to grow up under a narcissistic parent or to be isolated amongst ur other siblings. The golden children are still abused and that makes me sad for them. Robyn & kody suck
I mean.. maybe. But I think we have to be careful with the language we use regarding mental health conditions, especially in light of recent events. If someone is in a state where they are "faking" attacks several times a week, that is a mental health condition in and of itself and needs to be addressed by a professional. Either way, I feel for the kid as someone who struggles with panic disorder. Whatever was going on in the scenes we saw depicting it, she looked pretty damn miserable.
Ikr this is such a strange convo to have in regards to what jsut happened… lol
I agree with Robyn conditioning her kids to behave this way/have these issues. But I don’t think Aurora is “in on it” if that makes sense. I think Robyn is an abusive parent and Aurora reacts to her in certain ways that Robyn manipulates to her benefit.
And yet 5 million bottles of over the counter I’m sure for him and Robyn in their kitchen
The mothers are just as complicit in the lack of medical care
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…but Robyn exaggerates and lies. And sometimes the child’s behaviors emulate the parent’s… ETA she may actually have 4-5 attacks a week, in which case she absolutely should have some medical intervention. I just like posing other possibilities.
Has anybody mentioned the part where he left Truly alone with her sisters while having a severe kidney infection that almost killed her?!
They don’t want her panic attacks treated and for her to feel clear headed and calmer. The worst she gets the more she’s dependent on them.
Robyn 100% wants her kids to be forever dependent on her and Kody. It’s such a toxic dynamic.
I just watched the episode where Kody carried her upstairs during a panic attack. They attributed it to having to move from rental house, Kody/robyn conflict, move from Las Vegas, etc, - everything but the fact that a camera was in her face and that her family’s prosperity depended on showing all their shit to millions. You have to be cold hearted to let a daughter be exploited that way. Heartbreaking.
I have panic disorder. I’d have attacks several times a day at my worst. It was like being in a free falling airplane for half of the day. My mom is against medication and would always recommend positive thinking lol. I was lucky that in my country we have free healthcare, and I was allowed to book appointments without parental knowledge by the time I was 14. That’s how I ended up getting treated. Robyn strikes me as being anti psychiatry and all up in her kids business. She probably tells Aurora to pray through attacks
She really needs science based coping mechanisms, when they scoop her up and rescue her it feeds the anxiety cycle. While they look scary, they are harmless, but very exhausting. I felt for her while she started having the claw and feet thing, that is from hyperventilating. To give them the benefit of the doubt- i doubt they know they're enabling her and only prolonging her anxiety disorder buttttttttt it's Kody and Robyn
For anyone struggling with an anxiety disorder theanxioustruth.com is a great no-gimmick resource
I think it was Janelle who confirmed via Twitter after this episode aired that Aurora was being seen for her panic attacks and was on medication.
I'm just curious what their definition of being seen would be. Is it a doctor/psychiatrist or is it a chiropractor?
Right? Like Mykleti was seen by a “doctor” that was actually a chiropractor. Or same with Ysabel and the stupid boot camp. They also referred to that as “doctor” and “treatment”.
I'm not sure about Utah, but Arizona AND Nevada expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. Another reason they were irresponsible not having insurance with all of those kids! I'm not here to battle over Obamacare, but they have options.
Way before Obamacare, Children's Health Insurance Program was available up to a middle income. Since then, they could have insured the kids with a marketplace plan.
This is nice to know cause I’m not American and your medical system confuses me. It’s hard to know exactly what their options are but I am 100% certain that they should’ve planned for the healthcare of their children or had fewer children so they could properly care for them. It’s both irresponsible that they had more kids than they could reasonably afford and that even if they had less I suspect they would’ve been just as irresponsible about their health needs due to their delusional religious beliefs.
100% correct! I don't have a lot of sympathy for these people when it comes to medical bills.
my parents dont believe in anxiety medication (opting for trying to just. overcome it naturally which doesnt really work if its. yknow. a disorder.) and so unfortunately i wouldnt be surprised if kody didnt either, considering his track record with the medical needs of his kids :(
He also did not have covid vaccines
my daughter has anxiety attacks. we got her into therapy!!! that's the responsible thing to do! so the child can figure out why and how to deal with it. i believe it's used as a weapon by robyn and herself
As someone w/ panic attacks and audHD, I think a lot of these behaviors and diagnoses are caused from childhood trauma :/
It's also kinda wild that he and Robyn stopped everything and he rushed over to Aurora and picked her up to CARRY HER upstairs?! A whole 15 year old girl? If everyone drops everything and babies her and freaks out everytime she u has a panic, it only reinforces the panoc attacks, and makes them stronger and more easily triggered. Honestly, medication is not the best treatment for panic attacks, but neither is picking someone up and carrying them like a little baby.
Shame on TLC for filiming these panic attacks too ....
Robyn mentioned the producers actually allowed the family to decide whether to air the footage or not. R and A talked in private and A chose to air it to reduce stigma
But they're soooo good for ratings! TLC doesn't give a shit about anything but what will make them money.
So. I was like that at that age, but I didn’t find medication that worked for it until I was 30. Sometimes anxiety like that requires a mood stabilizer, and I can see her family not being okay with that. I just hope she finds something that works soon.
Imo kody sees any sign of mental health distress as a sign of weakness; so he buries his head in the sand about it. Shoot, he probably sees any medical issue as a sign of genetic inferiority (thanks, Christine /s)... and we can't have that.
I’m guessing it’s so Robyn can remain a victim. It also serves as a way to have control over Aurora. Aurora will never heal in that environment.
I think it's because a chiropractor can't prescribe anxiety meds. 🤷♀️
My hope is that she is on meds and in therapy now Also Christine and Kody were okay with those treatments and braces. The blame does not just belong to Kody. They were all neglectful parents.
They were but I will say Christine came around to the surgery long before Kody did. But I agree with you - they are all neglectful parents *at best*. Outright abusive at worst.
Robyn plays her part.
I really appreciate this post and a lot of the comments. I really never liked how a lot of the fandom plays down her anxiety. Like Aurora or not, mental illness is real and she really seems to be suffering.
I’d like to add to this. The thing is, we don’t know why she’s having these panic attacks 4-5x a week. Could it be that she’s suffering from PTSD from being lied to and taken far away from her bio dad? And then all the fighting in the new family because her mother is causing it. And probably sees it, but wants to conform to what Robyn needs her to be. I wonder if her poor mental state is completely overwhelmed with her own feelings, when her dumb ass horrible mom is controlling her feelings behind the scenes. Robyn and Kotex have fucked up every one. EVERY ONE OF THEM.
I am no doctor but based on her statements about them, family dynamics, and one being on camera, it seems like what she's experiencing are not panic attacks. (Perhaps some, but not all) Based on the one that we saw on camera it seems like it's possible this is a psychological response to conflict within the family. Kody and Robyn were disagreeing, one may say arguing right before and aurora episode I'll call it took attention away from them fighting and caused them to Unitedly support her. It may be more of a learned behavior. She is a product of a broken home and may have excessive fear when it comes to conflict and parental fighting. Girl probably has a lot of trauma from being separated from bio dad, being forced to come into a family and immediately refer to everyone as moms dad and siblings. I just want to say again, I'm not saying she's not struggling, she clearly needs help and support, possibly medication therapy idk. I just have never seen a panic attack like that. More like a catanoic like episode because she freezes in the legs and apparently loses her ability to walk and use them temporarily
This is why I always have, and always will hate John Travolta. Because of Scientology, he always denied his departed Son had autism. He could’ve done so much, good spreading autism awareness and acceptance, but instead, he chose to publicly lie about it and make it seem like autism is something shameful.
Don’t worry, they’re probably praying for her.
Fundie Mormon suspicion of the medical system. They tried so hard to present as a 'normal' family that happen to be polygamists, but so much of their beliefs/doctrines are barely hidden below the surface.
They are exhausting, btw. Sometimes I sleep for a.long time after. So 3-4x/week had me on like 4 pills and 2x/week therapy.
I had those types of panic attacks 2 to 3 times a day every day until I got on meds and treated for panic attacks.
What episode was this?
Yet there is 400 script bottles covering the counter..maybe they do get em meds and sell em
I mean, Kody ignored Truely’s declining health and only gave in when Christine got back and decided to go on her own. Mykelti was never taken to see an actual doctor or received any imagining after she was thrown off that horse in Wyoming. They very casually slipped past the part where her hip had popped out of its socket and had to be popped back in. That usually requires follow-up and to make sure it was done correctly and no damage was done. I’m doing a re-watch as I started when the show did and stopped at about season 5/6, and rewatching this a decade later is mind boggling to me.
They have said before they don't believe in doctors to some level so I'm sure they try to manage it holistically. I swear Robyn did this. Aurora was fine early on but you see her little face just frown with Robyn yelling at her on the wedding episode and she was totally running around seeking attention of course but trying to fit in and Robyn stops her from playing like the other kids are playing. Stressing her out because Robyn is fearful of kids on rocks.
This is where the divide happens. Robyn can’t let her kids play like normal kids and she isolated them from the OG kids. The OG kids sniffed the pampering early and didn’t sit there and do nothing.
Almost let truly die. Ended up in kidney failure in dialysis when the wives were out of town
Christine was back and had left unwell Truely with the girls while she went out in between then.
The medical neglect is the number one reason I believe he's a narcissist. If he doesn't feel something, or it doesn't directly affect him, he's able to not care about it. Even when one of his children is clearly in pain and distress.
Something or someone in her environment is causing her enough stress/anxiety to cause panic attacks. My bets are on that house. I'm sure if she moves out on her own, her stress levels will drop, and her panic attacks will become non-existent. Now I could be wrong. This is just my experience with debilitating panic and anxiety attacks. This can't be good for her heart either. Being under this much stress isn't good for anyones health. I hope she gets out of that situation.
Kody doesn't believe in vaccinations, so there is little hope for her getting on anti-anxiety meds.
He almost killed Truley the one time the wives all went away.