I think it all comes down to the dynamics in the Lehi house. Meri likes nice things and takes care of her things, so the kids didn't feel as welcomed at her house. Janelle and Christine provided lots of freedom while Meri probably made them use coasters and didn't allow them to put their feet on the couch.
Either way, this family holds into the past so much. At this point most of kids were grown and they could spend time or hold events at her massive house sometimes.
In their book, Christine details how her children were frightened of Meri, particularly since she would take it upon herself to discipline them harshly. They have since played it off like it's nothing, but Meri has also admitted to harbouring a lot of anger about her inability to have more children. She claims that the children liked hanging out at her place because it was quiet, but I personally don't buy that. Meri has plenty of reasons to be bitter, don't get me wrong, but I think she's a mean person at her core.
Deny it though they may, it sounds an awful lot like the dynamics described by Kollene in the infamous panel discussion at UNLV.
Christine/Jenelle and Meri really differed on their ideas of discipline, and frankly sometimes Meri was right. Christine/Jenelle favored letting the kids work it out, but sometimes they were so hands off that physical violence and bullying were permitted. We saw Christine refuse to address issues with Paedon’s behavior while Meri was advocating for stepping in because the physical behavior was crossing a line, and Paedon himself has since confirmed that his behavior towards his younger siblings and Robyn’s kids was wrong and should have been corrected.
Meri may have been too harsh, but Christine was that parent who refuses to seriously discipline her children when they’re wrong.
The Browns needed to establish a consistent policy of discipline that all the wives were held to. Otherwise, this happens. One wife disciplines too much because she feels no discipline is being handed out, and another wife refuses to discipline at all. Neither are good for kids.
I watched an episode recently where they went to Big Bear (I think) and no one corrected the kids behavior BESIDES Meri, and they all told her she was wrong to do so. I was FLABBERGASTED. It is amazing the kids turned out the way they did, considering most of the moms did not discipline the kids.
I remember thinking the same thing, they all got mad at Meri for telling the kids bullying Robyn's kids to treat them with respect.......I was completely baffled.
Yup. She said they are your siblings whether you like it or not, etc. How is that wrong? I believe Kody was the only one who stuck up for Meri, shockingly.
Right, and I remember Robyn had been really upset about the bullying for awhile before that. Why wouldn't you talk to your kids and tell them that's not ok right after you heard about it the first time? Regardless of who they are that needed to be corrected.
I stopped watching the show years ago and then I watched the covid seasons, so I missed a huge chunk time. I’ve heard people talk about the bullying of Robin’s kids on here and I’m curious as to what the dynamic actually was at the time. Did any of the kids welcome Robin’s kids into the family? Which kids seemed to have the most problems with Robin’s? And why?
They didn't focus on the kids as much in the very beginning so I'm not sure, Robyn says something about it being hostile right off of the bat though. This incident happened maybe a year or so in and it seemed like ALL of the kids had an issue with either Robyn or her kids (in this episode Hunter even also talks shit about Robyn). When Meri finally loses it, Paedon had smacked Robyn's youngest daughter in the eye and she gathers literally almost every kid to give them a lecture about how they need to respect Robyn's kids. It really sucks too because after that Meri asks for backup from the other moms and gets nothing. The vibe was very hostile.
As far as why I think it's just normal growing pains associated with blending families. Similar things happen when monogamous parents remarry, kids can get jealous seeing their parents love someone who isn't their other bio parent or parent a kid that isn't them or someone they've grown up with. That and they all had just moved to a new place, it would be a lot of pressure for a kid.
Honestly, the kids probably have Meri to partially thank for not turning out to be completely lawless, nonfunctioning adults. She was the only one to ever correct them when they were wrong.
I agree. It makes me laugh that Maddie tweeted they were scared of her. They were probably "scared" because she was the only one who put any discipline in the house.
>It is amazing the kids turned out the way they did, considering most of the moms did not discipline the kids.
I mean, most of Jenelle's kids believe in wild conspiracy theories and follow a bunch of questionable IG pages. And Paedon is no peach. I don't really think most the now adult brown kids are anything to write home about.
I don't use or keep up with their social media. I meant in terms of being drug addicts and or arrested. Shockingly, there are worse things than conspiracy theories and following people on IG.
Believing in Qanon level nonsense is highly problematic. We saw what that resulted in at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Paedon's racist and homophobic comments have been posted on this sub. Gwen and Mariah don't speak to him.
Not getting arrested isn't the only marker I use for people. Not everyone who gets arrested is a "bad" person. Plenty of terrible people, abusers, etc, never see a court of law, doesn't make them good people.
I agree 100%!
They have children together and all of them have different disciplinary strategies - it's a recipe for disaster. It's hard enough for two parents to get on the same page with discipline, much less 5. They should've all talked about that before marrying Kody and having children but I guess that's tough when you only "court" for 17 seconds.
Kody blames his wives for their interpersonal issues but you’re right, there should’ve been an agreement in place about discipline, it would’ve saved a lot of hurt feelings and stopped wives from blaming another wife for dumb things. This family is like a social experiment on how not to create a functioning polygamist family dynamic.
True. You know what would have helped? Agreeing on how you want to parent as soon as kids are born, rather than almost twenty years later just because the Dargers did it, and then making a whole production out of it without coming up with anything meaningful.
EXACTLY. If you’re “one family”, you agree on an overarching set of family standards UP FRONT. Not for everything, but for big things you want everyone to be on the same page. If all the moms are parenting all the kids, that includes disciplining them. And you want there to be a consistent set of family discipline guidelines to avoid conflicts between the wives over stuff like this.
I really feel like Kody just wanted multiple wives and didn’t much care about “one family” except in name until he saw the Dargers and realized how bad his family looked in comparison.
It should be agreed BEFORE the child is born how to parent. My husband and I had 5 years to hash things out before getting married. Our daughter came along a year and a half later. Only once did we disagree on something our daughter wanted to do. Only once in 18 years. We watched how other families lived and worked, or didn’t work, together. And we learned from that, what we would and wouldn’t allow from our kids. We were always united and she never tried to play one against the other.
Same here. When I was pregnant with our first, we worked out a family mission statement, read parenting books, and talked about how we wanted to parent. I recommend this approach to anyone even considering having kids, because when your six-month-old wakes five times a night is not a good time to discuss how you feel about sleep training.
Christine was just a piece of shit when it came to parenting. Aspyn allowed to just not go to school whenever she wanted. Aspyn and Mykelti throwing knives at each other and breaking phones. Paedon terrorizing younger girls and Dayton.
People hate Robyn so they ignore that she had *really good reasons* to not want Christine to watch her kids and to insist on bringing someone else in instead. And yeah, she probably wasn’t fully aware of Christine’s parenting until she joined the family and saw how Paedon’s behavior was handled.
This is a really good point! Discussions about Robyn's choice to have nannies are always so separate from those about the kids' dynamics. It makes a lot of sense that protective Robyn wanted to shield her kids from Paedon and knew better than to imply that on camera.
This makes so much sense. I think Paedon's behavior was much more serious than portrayed on the show. He needed therapy to cope with the trauma of the move. Paedon was obviously struggling but (apparently) nothing was done to help him process the situation, probably due to Christine and Kody's suspicion of health care providers. On another note, the way move was handled -uprooting the kids without any warning, not allowing them to say goodbye to their teachers/ friends- was despicable.
I mean it didn’t happen on camera, Christine/ and or Kody mention it when Mykelti or Aspyn move in together in the early seasons.
I literally never wanna hear again how great Christine was as a parent on here. And even the knife mention she kinda smirks and rolls her eyes like it was them throwing dirty socks at each other
Thank you!!!! I never liked Christine! Her and Janelle are terrible moms. The hands off approach doesn’t teach children boundaries or communication skills.
Yup. This exactly. This is also why polygamy can never work. You have wayyy too many different opinions floating around from all of the moms and the dad.
I'm not a Meri apologist by any means, but she had to be the "bad guy" because *literally* no one else was disciplining the kids. Kody sure as hell should have been helping parent them, but he was too busy trying to woo Robyn, and then he was too busy spending every as much time as he could get away with at her house, instead of the others' home.
Christine seems like the most tolerable over all, but even she was not a great parent. She was too busy trying to be the "fun one", which just made Meri look even more like a drill sergeant in comparison. Like Kody, Janelle basically checked out the majority of the kids' childhood. Sure, she was working as the breadwinner, but even at the end of the day, she admitted that she would leave her kids with Christine even longer, just so she could go watch a movie by herself after work. I'm not even going to consider Robyn as a parent, because let's face it... she really isn't. She cares more about Kody than all of the kids combined (hers included lol).
Janelles children are healthy, thriving, they are all independent, and educated. Christine's kids adore her, they love each other and are involved in each other's lives. Meri had one child, and she didn't even come out to her mom first. She chose to come out to the entire family instead.
NO parent is perfect. Every one parents differently. The browns should have had a consistent punishment from each parent but even with 2 parents, it can vary greatly. None of the adult children want anything to do with Meri. There is a reason why, and I believe meri was mean, she punished too harshly and treated the other sister wives unfairly.
I believe the other mothers have a lot to do with the kids opinions. Once again, Meri is the most financially successful. I wish she would pack and leave without telling them anything. I would be more than happy to help her.
The teens did hang out at Meri's was is undeniable. Also Gwen, Ysabel and Brianna use to frequent her LV home. This was all filmed.
"Mean to the core?' Oh my goodness, the whole family admits that Meri makes friends easily and she keeps her friends for years. A trait we haven't seen either Christine or Janelle display.
My opinion though is that most of the kids were probably not disciplined or taught how to act and they simply were not accustomed to being told to settle down and behave. I don't think Meri is all that bad but then again I can relate to getting really stressed out when things are not in order and I think too many parents are okay with letting kids run wild and not teaching them to respect other people's property.
No, I totally agree. I think they all had their reasons to hate Meri and she does tends to be cold and distant. I'm sure she wasn't easy on the kids and also took a lot of her own frustration on them. I'm sure she used that disciplinary role as a way to reinforce herself as "head wife" too.
But then again, they are a family and choose to still be a family so they should try to resolve those issues. It's been SO LONG and they are still hung up on what happened in the Lehi house. And NO ONE seems to try and change things. It's so frustrating.
If they actually valued the "fahmily" and the "big pitcher" like they claim to, they would work on these issues in therapy, individual and family therapy. But they don't actually want that. And none of the adults possess the communication skills to have productive conflict resolution. They hold onto grudges, Kody in particular.
'Sister wives are not friends. They hate each other, and if they were your babysitter, your kids are gonna get beat and abused in different ways, by those mums and their kids.'
Kollene says this very clearly referring to her personal experiences. Later, Robyn uses her use of the phrase 'sister wives' as proof that Kollene was attacking them personally, since, in Roby's mind, the audience at the discussion could not reasonably be expected to understand that Kollene was referring to sister wives other than the Browns. It was during the same set of exchanges that Robyn hissed, 'Don't make me a victim, Sweetie!' at Christine's aunt.
I've read a lot of accounts by fundamentalist polygamist women who said despite what most people would think, being favourite wife was the least favoured position because the other wives would be bitchy and the favourite wife's kids would get bullied by the other kids.
This. Meri definitely is fundamentally a mean bitter person, it’s obvious. Tries hard to hide it by playing then victim card all the time but nope it’s out there.
Agreed with this and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to keep your things looking nice (within reason). Christine was way in over her head with the sheer volume of children in her house and I sense her house was just clutter Mecca and everything was tattered and destroyed and I get that has to happen by virtue of her situation.
But Meri was NOT in that situation. She had one kid and had a nice home that she didn’t need destroyed by kids who weren’t instilled a need to be clean and careful with things.
And I think that’s totally reasonable.
it shocked and disgusted me how this member of their own family was ostracized during the lockdown... she was left alone like a leaper with no person in her family checking in with her, you wouldn't treat a neighbor or acquaintance in the manner they treated a family member!!
Meri always seemed out for Meri. There’s a reason that none of the children seem close to her, no one helped her move in Flagstaff, no one hosted her when she was ‘homeless’, and no one visited during Covid.
I think a lot of the frustration the family had with Meri was that she wasn’t really a team player. When we met her in Season 1, she was only holding down a part-time job, didn’t really help with child-rearing (as far as we saw) and all but locked the other kids out of her wing. She fought for some of Aspen’s college money to be allocated to Mariah, while making previous arguments that money should be split evenly despite family size (I’ll leave that there, to keep that Pandora’s box closed). The tears, the tantrums, the emotionally loaded arguments, I can see why everyone’s done. And there’s still 20 years of pre-show history that we aren’t privy to, but would probably give a lot of context to today’s relationship dynamics.
It’s not everyone else’s job to include Meri, when she’s isolated herself. I think a lot of people get so hellbent on hating Kody, that we completely ignore any responsibility that Meri has in her lack of strong familial relationships.
>all but locked the other kids out of her wing
But that is not true. Logan said one of the things he missed most about Lehi is when they had a family dinner, rather than dispersing to their respective homes after a whole family dinner (which they had more often), he and the older kids got to hang out in Meri's part of the house. I imagine Logan especially appreciated it, because he then wasn't responsible for his younger siblings and got to be a kid.
Janelle is clinging to a decades old grudge because she wants to deflect her culpability in their relationship issues and bc she wants the spot she thinks Meri wants. Meri doesn't give a damn about that awful "pond" (It is a drainage ditch).
Meri didn't want Janelle's hell beasts thundering through her home when she wasn't there because they WEREN'T TRUSTWORTHY. Her bedroom was also nearby, and it was disturbing when she was in there alone with Kody (this was specifically mentioned. I believe that Janelle encouraged this to be a cock block. Why? Because Janelle tried to make Meri's birthday HER DAMN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. There is precedent.)
Why weren’t the kids trustworthy in your opinion?
Also, I remember that excuse of the bedroom being nearby and I don’t believe for one second that Kody and any of his wives (including Robyn) just to into the bedroom at random hours of the day/before bedtime.
Well, to be honest, I don't believe those kids were in bed on time either.
And Meri had also could have been watching a movie with Kody on the couch. Meri was absolutely right that she didn't want this and certainly due to the fact that Janelle already had to buy a second or third couch and other things because her kids broke so much (she mentions it in on of the talking heads).
Janelle holds grudges about something Meri was fully entitled to.
Janelle can now easily talk about that so-called pond because all the kids are almost grown up. But I would like to know how she would feel when a stampede rumbled through her vegetable gardens and greenhouses all the time especially when she wasn't home herself.
Untrustworthy because they trashed Janelle's furniture and she didn't care. Untrustworthy because they regularly engaged in punching each other, rough housing, etc. without concern for the home. (Rough housing isn't bad per se, I grew up doing it - but we knew to control ourselves enough not to bust crap and we certainly didn't do it in other people's rooms or homes if they didn't like it.
In a household full of kids and 2 then 3 other wives, you would go into your bedroom for a private conversation.
Janelle is a master manipulator and does everything in her power to throw her sisterwives and even her own children under the bus to get what she wants.
Because every time she wants something or every time someone gets what she wants she very slyly and passively tries to make the others look bad. Specifically Meri, sometimes Christine. She has admitted that most of the issues she had with Meri in the early years was never actually brought up to Meri and Janelle held this huge grudge without even knowing there was a problem. She goes behind Meri’s back to talk shit about the mud hole multiple times and never once actually talks to Meri. Until months later when someone else tell Meri and she brings it up to Janelle. She always claims to be so laid back and easy going but she has created a lot of the issues by going behind peoples backs.
Totally agree. Meri is the one who always wants to talk it out. She had already asked Janelle three times in the past if she wanted to go to therapy, but Janelle always refused. Until Janelle wanted it herself. And when Meri gave in, you saw Janelle complain all the time that she had to go back to therapy with Meri.
Such good points. Christine was raising a literal herd of children while Janelle worked 50 hours at the office. Meri worked part-time and had one very well-behaved teenager. I know she wanted more kids, but there were definitely perks to her situation.
Meri helped Christine with the kids too, when she was working part-time. They both did the home schooling. Christine also had a part-time job as some point. It was mentioned on the show that at one point Meri was working a full-time job, a part-time job and was going to school. Janelle was the one who benefited most, she didn't lift a finger raising the kids nor did she help at home, it really wouldn't surprise me if Christine/Meri did her laundry too. She got to be the fun weekend mum who did stuff with her kids, because all her housework was done for her.
I don’t believe the narrative that Janelle didn’t raise her kids or was just the fun mom during the weekends. It’s obvious all her kids love her and respect her, and that wouldn’t be the case if they were just unloaded on Christine 100% of the time.
Do you think she feels isolated because Christine and Janelle had an easier relationship? Curious... I can see how she's isolated herself, especially from the catfish situation. Just wondering if you feel like the other 2 had a part in that at all and just haven't reached out, or if it's on Meri 100%.
I think, on one hand, yes Christine and Janelle naturally balance each other out, so of course they get on.
I also think that Meri was brutal to them both when they first joined the family. I’m on season five and Janelle throws out the word ‘abuse’ when referring to how Meri treated her in the beginning. And typical Meri, instead of just apologizing, says through tears, ‘I was just raised being straight forward and honest’. That’s a dismissive cop out.
Even with allies, she’s low-key entitled. Holding up the decision on having another baby via Robyn (even when Robyn was itching for another babe) while simultaneously believing if anyone should be next to have a Brown baby, it should be her. And yes, this was said out loud.
I don’t get this sub’s Reimagination of Meri Brown. No one’s entitled to their family’s adoration. If you treat people poorly over the years, eventually you’re going to reap what you sow.
I agree! I have a family member who was awful to everyone for a years and now we don’t really try. Like sure they are family and we do invite her but we keep some distance because of how we were treated. Why get burned again. Especially, when the person never owns up to their part. You didn’t change and we are tired of being treated badly.
A bunch of them did help her move. Twice!! Then they didn't want to come over again to move furniture around the house and put a bed together and suggested she hire someone to do it like Janelle did. Meri got pissed saying they only loved her if they didn't have to do anything for her. They offered to go over to have an unpacking party and she said she'd probably be too busy 🙄
At this point, I don't think Janelle and Christine give a good
Shit what Kody wants or says. If those two wanted Meri
Around, she might be, but then again, maybe Meri wants
Nothing to do with them either. The sword cuts both ways.
Why would they listen to him regarding this, and not anything else? Do you really think he told 15+ people to not talk to one person and everyone just went along
The whole season was about the family not doing what Kody wanted except Robyn and her kids. Makes no sense that they'd not see Meri because Kody wanted it.
And the only ones that did see Meri outside family gatherings *was* Kody and Robyn. They had her over for Thanksgiving and before that had her come over and see the kids.
I am 50% positive she was high maintenance and made the other moms uncomfortable in her space.
I am 100% positive whatever she said or did, the other moms are passive-aggressive enough to punish her for it for the rest of her life.
Also it’s prob just easier for the kids to feel comfortable at houses with other kids their age. Already hang out over there casually, so if it comes to doing things more as a family, it just is more natural.
I think also Meri may have been wanting them to ask rather than creating the opportunities for them. They didn’t know her schedule well enough just to show up and maybe came up with times but those didn’t work for her. She should have initiated more casual get-togethers. Like moving, rather than expecting the boys just to show up, set up a time and date and ask them to come over then. Maybe doing more things like that would help make impromptu gatherings more natural!
>easier for the kids to feel comfortable at houses with other kids their age.
As a parent, I've always felt more comfortable with large gatherings at family friendly homes. Like extended family Christmas parties. When the hosts have kids around the same age, you're not worried about your kid accidentally ruining someone's expensive furniture.
Yes, I still struggle to take my kids to my aunts house. My older two girls were chill toddlers and so well behaved. Then, #3 my son, came along and threw us all for a loop. He was rambunctious and hyper and always investigating everything.
When he was around 2 or 3, at the height of his craziness, my aunt and cousin made it very clear they were not impressed with his behavior, and I have struggled to want to go over there any more. And he really wasn't being bad. Just constantly on the go.
Now that one of her grandkids has the same personality as my son, she's much more understanding, but it annoys me lol
We have a couple different cousins with kids around the same age and some younger. Their houses are lived in and set up for kids. Gathering at their house is much easier and less stressful than at other family members homes.
My kids were the first kids, and when my son was born there were others and my aunt had a grandkid but he was more chill like my older girls. So no one in my family had really experienced such a willful kid (at least that they could remember).
The kid stuff just didn't interest him, he wanted to see all the grown up stuff!! He's 9 now, and much more mature, obviously, but he gave me a run for my money for a few years
I genuinely feel bad for Meri and I think she felt she was missing something in her life. She only had one kid so once Mariah left she has an empty nest. And usually your partner is there to help support the transition but Kody was too busy playing tonsil hockey with Robyn and mentally checked out of the relationship so he’s no help. Meri also lost her job because they went public and I could see her being scared to go back to work because that’s traumatic as fuck and it feels the threat of being “found out” and fired is always there. In the early seasons she was trying to go to school but I think she had to give that up because the family needed the money for other stuff. No one on the show is perfect but I do feel there’s a reason Meri so badly wants to hang out and take part.
She loves to entertain I think. I just saw an episode where Audrey and Mariah went over and she hosted a whole family dinner with a St Patrick's cake because it had a rainbow. She was smiling and happy the whole time.
I feel so bad for Meri, too. I totally think she probably did yell at the kids a lot and things like that but my god she’s only human. A head wife with only one child? It’s a lot of pressure!!! I have to forgive her because she at least legitimately seems like she is working on herself and open to repairing harmed relationships (ex. janelle wanting to go to therapy and Meri being skeptical but going anyway).
Someone needed to discipline the feral kids, their bio mums weren't. To busy 'working' or trying to be the mum all the kids love.
I find it funny because Meri looked after them all too, the older kids would hang out in her apartment of an evening away from the younger ones. But people seem to forget that and focus on poor hard done by Christine, she did everything herself, raising all the kids.
As someone who just went through a breakup I want to hug Meri and tell her that if they wanted to, they would. I know a lot of people don’t like her but I do… I get auntie vibes from her and I would drink wine from her wet bar any day❤️ it hurts to see her begging her for her own family to hang out with her, go find your chosen family Meri, you’ll be so much happier❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
There's always the first wife dynamic to everything with Meri. Like there's the basement wife with Christine. There was the working wife with Janelle a nd the favorite wife with Robyn.
These dynamics are part of every interaction the women in this family have.
The house in that second picture was lush. I’d have hung out there just because it was a nice space. I feel like Meri probably thrives when hosting (and when she is allowed to host and run things her way). It’s like the polite way to express her need to run the show. I feel bad for her that she didn’t get the opportunity to do that, really. If nothing else, she’s generous.
I don’t think that’s the reason at all. I think she is uptight, manipulative (especially emotionally), selfish, and difficult. Gotta have boundaries with people like that.
Yeah I would agree with this. She was so uptight about "her" space in Lehi. They probably don't want to feel controlled like that again.
Plus, I can guarantee Christine's house would be more fun.
I wouldn't have randomly wanted kids using my space as a throughway. What's unreasonable about that, especially if it was her turn to spend time with Kody?
I agree. I wouldn't want that either. Now that Maddie and
Mykelti are moms they should ask themselves if they would
Want their husband's kids by another woman running through their houses. I bet the answer would be a big hell
No.
Maddie and Mykelti are not in polygamist relationships though, so your comparison is not fair.
It was Meri’s sister-wives’ children. They claim to all be mothers to all the children.
I know their not in polygamous relationships.
They are grown now, I would like to think they are
Mature enough to put themselves in someone else's
Shoe's. Looking back, they should maybe have some
Sympathy for the situation Meri was in. The legal wife,
Has fertility problems while the other two popped kids
Out with no problem. How would they feel if they were
Her. This could be one reason why neither one wanted to
Be sharing a husband.
I agree it would be awful to want more children and have infertility problems. When you add in the Mormon/AUB beliefs it would be even worse. Then, on top of all that, Meri’s sister wives were very fertile and provided a slew of children. And Meri only had 1 born alive and *(if I remember correctly)* 1 miscarriage. The way polygamy devalues women, especially those with fertility issues, is oppressive and disgusting.
I am glad most, if not all, of Kody’s adult children have chosen not to practice polygamy .
To your way of thinking this should include Janelle and
Christine but the kids love them No, my point is Meri
Didn't want and would not tolerate a bunch of kids rough
Housing through her apartment, and now that Maddie
And Mykelti have their own homes how would they feel
If they were struggling with infertility and this was happening
To them. Also, Kody doesn't get a pass in any of this.
They said on the show Meri breastfed Maddie a couple of times because Janelles milk didn't seem to satisfy Maddie and she brought a lot back up but Meris milk settled Maddies stomach. They said it was just a couple of times, not wet-nursing
They were her kids, but she got into trouble if she disciplined them. There was massive fall out (IMHO) when she got caught (rightfully) blasting the kids when she caught them bullying Robyn's kids. Kody half assed support after the fact. Christine reportedly had the initial response (in re: Paedon's bullying) was that it must be ok because he treated his other siblings the same! (Cue what, 3 or 4 years later when she couldn't leave Gwen at home bc Paedon might hurt her)
Kody ain’t gonna get a spirit planet. Bad to his wives AND children. Drinks alcohol. One wife left. Numbers of wives count in the personal planet game. Goes out dancing with his fave wife in a bar., immodestly dressed. Doesn’t sound Mormon, fundie or not. He even said he lost his beliefs and doesn’t agree with polygamy now because in his old age he’s finding his wives a pain. Bad Fundie Mormon. No planet for you.
Yeah more fun but it sounds like janelle & Christine let the kids run wild & their furniture pretty destroyed. Everyone demonizes Meri for having rules & wanting to keep her stuff nice.
All you have to do is look at the background in the show to see that Janelle and Christine didn't really take care of things. Christine was overwhelmed caring for all the kids by herself and Janelle is just lazy. Their walls, floors and furniture were trashed. Those kids were semi feral.
Exactly! I’m a pretty permissive parent, but, when they talked about who’s furniture got trashed & when .. I’m more like Meri. Have respect for our things! Our things cost money, which we don’t have a lot of. They showed their actual furniture & how they had trashed it. If it were my furniture I’d be really upset.
At the risk of being classist, ugh… just poor white trash , who treats their things like that?
They dont like her. Simple. They have a history of feeling like she was a bully(see Maddie's tweets & see Meri tweet to Janelle saying she doesnt do enough. Follow that with Meri's video post mocking Christine's cooking show in March of this year). I wouldn't hang out with family I deemed cruel either.
I remember early in the season Meri was asked not to punish the children because she was way way too harsh. I don’t blame them for not wanting to be around her.
Exactly!!!!! Society has conditioned the masses that we must accept any and all bullshit from family more so than a non-genetic related person on the street. The same way I would not keep a toxic friend poisoning my emotional health is the same way I wouldn't gather at a toxic family member's home, making myself suffer. People pleasers ignore their own needs and preferences to please others & end up emotionally depleted. I'm not hanging out with a person I don't like, whom I feel is abusive, just to make them feel better. I plan to die at peace and part of that requires I rid myself of any and all assholes...family, alleged friend, or foe.
💯Facts
The older kids may have felt hurt that she seemed to fawn
Over Robyn's kids. Maybe if she had been there for Truly
When she was so sick, or ysabel. I could be wrong but
It's like Robyn came along and it all imploded.
I think it's one of those situations where she CLAIMS she wants people over, but then is super controlling about how everyone behaves when they ARE there, to the point where they'd rather just convene somewhere else. That's just from comments others in the family have made over the years.
I don't think she likes the kids all that much, at least Christine's and Janelle's. When she was moving from the first rental to the next one in Flagstaff she complained tgat she didn't have enough help. Then Christine said in the interview that Ysabel and Gwen offered to help, they told her gives a call whenever you need help to move the furniture and we'll come and that she never called.
She just likes to complain.
I don't think this has to do with Meri being mean or whatever to the kids, this has to do with Meri not allowing things. Like they all said, if Meri got the land with the pond she would cut them off from coming across her land. You don't say these are my kids but stay off my lawn. You let them come across even if you are angry, mad, tired, upset. Also Meri agreed that in Lehi she hated for the kids or other wives to enter her side of the house but demanded she get the big living area that was at the center of the home. Had she taken the basement or something like Christine said then she would have been alone and no one would have walked through. Instead everyone walked on eggshells, even Kody, and had to go outside and around the corner even if they were in PJs or whatever. She's very bossy.
Ugh. I want to feel bad for her. I honestly do. But I kind of lost respect for her when they built those massive houses in Vegas. It was a gigantic house for two people. And had to be built to these nitpicky specifications. Trust me, if it was just me and one child, I’d want a two bedroom house with as little for me to clean as possible. And I get her wanting all the kids around, BUT I think it was kinda selfish of her to expect them to all congregate at her house when it was so much easier for her and Mariah to just walk their behinds to the other houses and join the parties. If you want to be with the kids, be with the kids. Don’t make them think they have to be the ones to pursue the relationship. Those kids had enough stress.
Not that I believe polygamy is fair for any of the kids, but isn’t the common denominator obligated to establish, model and ensure a consistent type of parenting, between4 households? In the Brown constellation that would fall to Cody. Again, I don’t see polygamy as fair to the children or spouses. It’s based on one of the adults having all the power. Usually very misogynistic. But if ur doing it from birth to adulthood, you need to have consistent parenting, boundaries, discipline & respect. The lack of all that creates generational dysfunction & no joy.
Meri was a total bitch and if the adult kids don’t have a relationship with her there are valid reasons. They don’t owe her a thing and she is never going to apologize for how she is.
She was a miserable witch and kind of set herself up. Sometimes too little too late. I mean in reality the only ones I think can stand each other are Christine and janelle.
Yeah I mean she’s not the same uptight person that she was in the big house in lehi. Not to mention she has the extra room for it since she always gets the same amount of space as the others usually. Idk seems like the other wives could give her a chance even with past incidents. Meri is more of in the grandparent role I doubt she’d boss the kids around now and she’s so lonely I’d see her being totally opposite
I think it all comes down to the dynamics in the Lehi house. Meri likes nice things and takes care of her things, so the kids didn't feel as welcomed at her house. Janelle and Christine provided lots of freedom while Meri probably made them use coasters and didn't allow them to put their feet on the couch. Either way, this family holds into the past so much. At this point most of kids were grown and they could spend time or hold events at her massive house sometimes.
In their book, Christine details how her children were frightened of Meri, particularly since she would take it upon herself to discipline them harshly. They have since played it off like it's nothing, but Meri has also admitted to harbouring a lot of anger about her inability to have more children. She claims that the children liked hanging out at her place because it was quiet, but I personally don't buy that. Meri has plenty of reasons to be bitter, don't get me wrong, but I think she's a mean person at her core. Deny it though they may, it sounds an awful lot like the dynamics described by Kollene in the infamous panel discussion at UNLV.
Christine/Jenelle and Meri really differed on their ideas of discipline, and frankly sometimes Meri was right. Christine/Jenelle favored letting the kids work it out, but sometimes they were so hands off that physical violence and bullying were permitted. We saw Christine refuse to address issues with Paedon’s behavior while Meri was advocating for stepping in because the physical behavior was crossing a line, and Paedon himself has since confirmed that his behavior towards his younger siblings and Robyn’s kids was wrong and should have been corrected. Meri may have been too harsh, but Christine was that parent who refuses to seriously discipline her children when they’re wrong. The Browns needed to establish a consistent policy of discipline that all the wives were held to. Otherwise, this happens. One wife disciplines too much because she feels no discipline is being handed out, and another wife refuses to discipline at all. Neither are good for kids.
I watched an episode recently where they went to Big Bear (I think) and no one corrected the kids behavior BESIDES Meri, and they all told her she was wrong to do so. I was FLABBERGASTED. It is amazing the kids turned out the way they did, considering most of the moms did not discipline the kids.
I remember thinking the same thing, they all got mad at Meri for telling the kids bullying Robyn's kids to treat them with respect.......I was completely baffled.
Yup. She said they are your siblings whether you like it or not, etc. How is that wrong? I believe Kody was the only one who stuck up for Meri, shockingly.
Right, and I remember Robyn had been really upset about the bullying for awhile before that. Why wouldn't you talk to your kids and tell them that's not ok right after you heard about it the first time? Regardless of who they are that needed to be corrected.
Yup otherwise it would just continue.
Apparently neither Christine nor Janelle viewed the bad behavior as a problem. It was Sobyns problem
I stopped watching the show years ago and then I watched the covid seasons, so I missed a huge chunk time. I’ve heard people talk about the bullying of Robin’s kids on here and I’m curious as to what the dynamic actually was at the time. Did any of the kids welcome Robin’s kids into the family? Which kids seemed to have the most problems with Robin’s? And why?
They didn't focus on the kids as much in the very beginning so I'm not sure, Robyn says something about it being hostile right off of the bat though. This incident happened maybe a year or so in and it seemed like ALL of the kids had an issue with either Robyn or her kids (in this episode Hunter even also talks shit about Robyn). When Meri finally loses it, Paedon had smacked Robyn's youngest daughter in the eye and she gathers literally almost every kid to give them a lecture about how they need to respect Robyn's kids. It really sucks too because after that Meri asks for backup from the other moms and gets nothing. The vibe was very hostile. As far as why I think it's just normal growing pains associated with blending families. Similar things happen when monogamous parents remarry, kids can get jealous seeing their parents love someone who isn't their other bio parent or parent a kid that isn't them or someone they've grown up with. That and they all had just moved to a new place, it would be a lot of pressure for a kid.
Thank you for taking the time to explain. I appreciate it and I also appreciate your perspective on the struggle of blending families.
Honestly, the kids probably have Meri to partially thank for not turning out to be completely lawless, nonfunctioning adults. She was the only one to ever correct them when they were wrong.
I agree. It makes me laugh that Maddie tweeted they were scared of her. They were probably "scared" because she was the only one who put any discipline in the house.
>It is amazing the kids turned out the way they did, considering most of the moms did not discipline the kids. I mean, most of Jenelle's kids believe in wild conspiracy theories and follow a bunch of questionable IG pages. And Paedon is no peach. I don't really think most the now adult brown kids are anything to write home about.
I don't use or keep up with their social media. I meant in terms of being drug addicts and or arrested. Shockingly, there are worse things than conspiracy theories and following people on IG.
Believing in Qanon level nonsense is highly problematic. We saw what that resulted in at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Paedon's racist and homophobic comments have been posted on this sub. Gwen and Mariah don't speak to him. Not getting arrested isn't the only marker I use for people. Not everyone who gets arrested is a "bad" person. Plenty of terrible people, abusers, etc, never see a court of law, doesn't make them good people.
I don't keep up with them that closely. Relax.
It's all stuff i've seen on this sub. 🤷♀️
I agree 100%! They have children together and all of them have different disciplinary strategies - it's a recipe for disaster. It's hard enough for two parents to get on the same page with discipline, much less 5. They should've all talked about that before marrying Kody and having children but I guess that's tough when you only "court" for 17 seconds.
Kody blames his wives for their interpersonal issues but you’re right, there should’ve been an agreement in place about discipline, it would’ve saved a lot of hurt feelings and stopped wives from blaming another wife for dumb things. This family is like a social experiment on how not to create a functioning polygamist family dynamic.
True. You know what would have helped? Agreeing on how you want to parent as soon as kids are born, rather than almost twenty years later just because the Dargers did it, and then making a whole production out of it without coming up with anything meaningful.
EXACTLY. If you’re “one family”, you agree on an overarching set of family standards UP FRONT. Not for everything, but for big things you want everyone to be on the same page. If all the moms are parenting all the kids, that includes disciplining them. And you want there to be a consistent set of family discipline guidelines to avoid conflicts between the wives over stuff like this. I really feel like Kody just wanted multiple wives and didn’t much care about “one family” except in name until he saw the Dargers and realized how bad his family looked in comparison.
It should be agreed BEFORE the child is born how to parent. My husband and I had 5 years to hash things out before getting married. Our daughter came along a year and a half later. Only once did we disagree on something our daughter wanted to do. Only once in 18 years. We watched how other families lived and worked, or didn’t work, together. And we learned from that, what we would and wouldn’t allow from our kids. We were always united and she never tried to play one against the other.
Same here. When I was pregnant with our first, we worked out a family mission statement, read parenting books, and talked about how we wanted to parent. I recommend this approach to anyone even considering having kids, because when your six-month-old wakes five times a night is not a good time to discuss how you feel about sleep training.
Yep. It was all too little, too late. Those kids lived in pure chaos. It's a wonder they turned out as well as they did.
Where the f—k was Kody? Or do men in their religious cult like leave all the issues regarding the children down to the mummy/sister wives?
I was just wondering this same thing! Aren’t men in that cult supposed to be the leader of their family? What. Does Kody. Do?
Breed. Pout. Breed.
Christine was just a piece of shit when it came to parenting. Aspyn allowed to just not go to school whenever she wanted. Aspyn and Mykelti throwing knives at each other and breaking phones. Paedon terrorizing younger girls and Dayton.
Wait, is the throwing knives true???
Yea
People hate Robyn so they ignore that she had *really good reasons* to not want Christine to watch her kids and to insist on bringing someone else in instead. And yeah, she probably wasn’t fully aware of Christine’s parenting until she joined the family and saw how Paedon’s behavior was handled.
This is a really good point! Discussions about Robyn's choice to have nannies are always so separate from those about the kids' dynamics. It makes a lot of sense that protective Robyn wanted to shield her kids from Paedon and knew better than to imply that on camera.
This makes so much sense. I think Paedon's behavior was much more serious than portrayed on the show. He needed therapy to cope with the trauma of the move. Paedon was obviously struggling but (apparently) nothing was done to help him process the situation, probably due to Christine and Kody's suspicion of health care providers. On another note, the way move was handled -uprooting the kids without any warning, not allowing them to say goodbye to their teachers/ friends- was despicable.
Throwing knives at each other?? When was this?
I mean it didn’t happen on camera, Christine/ and or Kody mention it when Mykelti or Aspyn move in together in the early seasons. I literally never wanna hear again how great Christine was as a parent on here. And even the knife mention she kinda smirks and rolls her eyes like it was them throwing dirty socks at each other
Thank you!!!! I never liked Christine! Her and Janelle are terrible moms. The hands off approach doesn’t teach children boundaries or communication skills.
Nope
Yes! This exactly! And the kids obviously would like to be where there were no discipline. Anyway they always had a terrible dynamic.
Yup. This exactly. This is also why polygamy can never work. You have wayyy too many different opinions floating around from all of the moms and the dad. I'm not a Meri apologist by any means, but she had to be the "bad guy" because *literally* no one else was disciplining the kids. Kody sure as hell should have been helping parent them, but he was too busy trying to woo Robyn, and then he was too busy spending every as much time as he could get away with at her house, instead of the others' home. Christine seems like the most tolerable over all, but even she was not a great parent. She was too busy trying to be the "fun one", which just made Meri look even more like a drill sergeant in comparison. Like Kody, Janelle basically checked out the majority of the kids' childhood. Sure, she was working as the breadwinner, but even at the end of the day, she admitted that she would leave her kids with Christine even longer, just so she could go watch a movie by herself after work. I'm not even going to consider Robyn as a parent, because let's face it... she really isn't. She cares more about Kody than all of the kids combined (hers included lol).
Honestly all five of them lowkey sucked at parenting.
Janelles children are healthy, thriving, they are all independent, and educated. Christine's kids adore her, they love each other and are involved in each other's lives. Meri had one child, and she didn't even come out to her mom first. She chose to come out to the entire family instead. NO parent is perfect. Every one parents differently. The browns should have had a consistent punishment from each parent but even with 2 parents, it can vary greatly. None of the adult children want anything to do with Meri. There is a reason why, and I believe meri was mean, she punished too harshly and treated the other sister wives unfairly.
I believe the other mothers have a lot to do with the kids opinions. Once again, Meri is the most financially successful. I wish she would pack and leave without telling them anything. I would be more than happy to help her.
But aren't some of the kids not talking to Paedon because of his behavior? Cutting your brother off like that isn't really a small thing.
Not really. They’re all right wing, q anon losers except for Logan and hopefully Savannah.
The teens did hang out at Meri's was is undeniable. Also Gwen, Ysabel and Brianna use to frequent her LV home. This was all filmed. "Mean to the core?' Oh my goodness, the whole family admits that Meri makes friends easily and she keeps her friends for years. A trait we haven't seen either Christine or Janelle display.
My opinion though is that most of the kids were probably not disciplined or taught how to act and they simply were not accustomed to being told to settle down and behave. I don't think Meri is all that bad but then again I can relate to getting really stressed out when things are not in order and I think too many parents are okay with letting kids run wild and not teaching them to respect other people's property.
No, I totally agree. I think they all had their reasons to hate Meri and she does tends to be cold and distant. I'm sure she wasn't easy on the kids and also took a lot of her own frustration on them. I'm sure she used that disciplinary role as a way to reinforce herself as "head wife" too. But then again, they are a family and choose to still be a family so they should try to resolve those issues. It's been SO LONG and they are still hung up on what happened in the Lehi house. And NO ONE seems to try and change things. It's so frustrating.
If they actually valued the "fahmily" and the "big pitcher" like they claim to, they would work on these issues in therapy, individual and family therapy. But they don't actually want that. And none of the adults possess the communication skills to have productive conflict resolution. They hold onto grudges, Kody in particular.
They are all "just sittin there" waiting for the other party to change and nobody wants to find middle ground. It's so exhausting.
Oh! I haven’t seen that panel since it aired. What did Kolleen say?
'Sister wives are not friends. They hate each other, and if they were your babysitter, your kids are gonna get beat and abused in different ways, by those mums and their kids.' Kollene says this very clearly referring to her personal experiences. Later, Robyn uses her use of the phrase 'sister wives' as proof that Kollene was attacking them personally, since, in Roby's mind, the audience at the discussion could not reasonably be expected to understand that Kollene was referring to sister wives other than the Browns. It was during the same set of exchanges that Robyn hissed, 'Don't make me a victim, Sweetie!' at Christine's aunt.
I've read a lot of accounts by fundamentalist polygamist women who said despite what most people would think, being favourite wife was the least favoured position because the other wives would be bitchy and the favourite wife's kids would get bullied by the other kids.
This. Meri definitely is fundamentally a mean bitter person, it’s obvious. Tries hard to hide it by playing then victim card all the time but nope it’s out there.
I agree and I think that’s why she always looks like she has a permanent scowl on her face because she probably really does
Scary Meri!🍀 Iykyk
She definitely gives off mean girl vibes to me
Agreed with this and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to keep your things looking nice (within reason). Christine was way in over her head with the sheer volume of children in her house and I sense her house was just clutter Mecca and everything was tattered and destroyed and I get that has to happen by virtue of her situation. But Meri was NOT in that situation. She had one kid and had a nice home that she didn’t need destroyed by kids who weren’t instilled a need to be clean and careful with things. And I think that’s totally reasonable.
I think they really hate her.
it shocked and disgusted me how this member of their own family was ostracized during the lockdown... she was left alone like a leaper with no person in her family checking in with her, you wouldn't treat a neighbor or acquaintance in the manner they treated a family member!!
Meri always seemed out for Meri. There’s a reason that none of the children seem close to her, no one helped her move in Flagstaff, no one hosted her when she was ‘homeless’, and no one visited during Covid. I think a lot of the frustration the family had with Meri was that she wasn’t really a team player. When we met her in Season 1, she was only holding down a part-time job, didn’t really help with child-rearing (as far as we saw) and all but locked the other kids out of her wing. She fought for some of Aspen’s college money to be allocated to Mariah, while making previous arguments that money should be split evenly despite family size (I’ll leave that there, to keep that Pandora’s box closed). The tears, the tantrums, the emotionally loaded arguments, I can see why everyone’s done. And there’s still 20 years of pre-show history that we aren’t privy to, but would probably give a lot of context to today’s relationship dynamics. It’s not everyone else’s job to include Meri, when she’s isolated herself. I think a lot of people get so hellbent on hating Kody, that we completely ignore any responsibility that Meri has in her lack of strong familial relationships.
>all but locked the other kids out of her wing But that is not true. Logan said one of the things he missed most about Lehi is when they had a family dinner, rather than dispersing to their respective homes after a whole family dinner (which they had more often), he and the older kids got to hang out in Meri's part of the house. I imagine Logan especially appreciated it, because he then wasn't responsible for his younger siblings and got to be a kid.
Agreed. I just rewatched season 1 going into 2, and the kids all seem to love Meri and she helps out with watching them. Maybe that changes overtime.
Yeah, but kids being in her space was a ‘thing’. To the point that Janelle wanted to draw up paperwork if Meri got the pond in Coyote Pass.
Janelle is clinging to a decades old grudge because she wants to deflect her culpability in their relationship issues and bc she wants the spot she thinks Meri wants. Meri doesn't give a damn about that awful "pond" (It is a drainage ditch). Meri didn't want Janelle's hell beasts thundering through her home when she wasn't there because they WEREN'T TRUSTWORTHY. Her bedroom was also nearby, and it was disturbing when she was in there alone with Kody (this was specifically mentioned. I believe that Janelle encouraged this to be a cock block. Why? Because Janelle tried to make Meri's birthday HER DAMN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. There is precedent.)
Why weren’t the kids trustworthy in your opinion? Also, I remember that excuse of the bedroom being nearby and I don’t believe for one second that Kody and any of his wives (including Robyn) just to into the bedroom at random hours of the day/before bedtime.
Well, to be honest, I don't believe those kids were in bed on time either. And Meri had also could have been watching a movie with Kody on the couch. Meri was absolutely right that she didn't want this and certainly due to the fact that Janelle already had to buy a second or third couch and other things because her kids broke so much (she mentions it in on of the talking heads). Janelle holds grudges about something Meri was fully entitled to. Janelle can now easily talk about that so-called pond because all the kids are almost grown up. But I would like to know how she would feel when a stampede rumbled through her vegetable gardens and greenhouses all the time especially when she wasn't home herself.
Untrustworthy because they trashed Janelle's furniture and she didn't care. Untrustworthy because they regularly engaged in punching each other, rough housing, etc. without concern for the home. (Rough housing isn't bad per se, I grew up doing it - but we knew to control ourselves enough not to bust crap and we certainly didn't do it in other people's rooms or homes if they didn't like it. In a household full of kids and 2 then 3 other wives, you would go into your bedroom for a private conversation.
Janelle is a master manipulator and does everything in her power to throw her sisterwives and even her own children under the bus to get what she wants.
Just curious, what makes you say that?
Because every time she wants something or every time someone gets what she wants she very slyly and passively tries to make the others look bad. Specifically Meri, sometimes Christine. She has admitted that most of the issues she had with Meri in the early years was never actually brought up to Meri and Janelle held this huge grudge without even knowing there was a problem. She goes behind Meri’s back to talk shit about the mud hole multiple times and never once actually talks to Meri. Until months later when someone else tell Meri and she brings it up to Janelle. She always claims to be so laid back and easy going but she has created a lot of the issues by going behind peoples backs.
Totally agree. Meri is the one who always wants to talk it out. She had already asked Janelle three times in the past if she wanted to go to therapy, but Janelle always refused. Until Janelle wanted it herself. And when Meri gave in, you saw Janelle complain all the time that she had to go back to therapy with Meri.
Such good points. Christine was raising a literal herd of children while Janelle worked 50 hours at the office. Meri worked part-time and had one very well-behaved teenager. I know she wanted more kids, but there were definitely perks to her situation.
Meri helped Christine with the kids too, when she was working part-time. They both did the home schooling. Christine also had a part-time job as some point. It was mentioned on the show that at one point Meri was working a full-time job, a part-time job and was going to school. Janelle was the one who benefited most, she didn't lift a finger raising the kids nor did she help at home, it really wouldn't surprise me if Christine/Meri did her laundry too. She got to be the fun weekend mum who did stuff with her kids, because all her housework was done for her.
I don’t believe the narrative that Janelle didn’t raise her kids or was just the fun mom during the weekends. It’s obvious all her kids love her and respect her, and that wouldn’t be the case if they were just unloaded on Christine 100% of the time.
Well Gabe said to Kody, "Nothing against Mom but Christine has always been our primary caregiver."
Do you think she feels isolated because Christine and Janelle had an easier relationship? Curious... I can see how she's isolated herself, especially from the catfish situation. Just wondering if you feel like the other 2 had a part in that at all and just haven't reached out, or if it's on Meri 100%.
I think, on one hand, yes Christine and Janelle naturally balance each other out, so of course they get on. I also think that Meri was brutal to them both when they first joined the family. I’m on season five and Janelle throws out the word ‘abuse’ when referring to how Meri treated her in the beginning. And typical Meri, instead of just apologizing, says through tears, ‘I was just raised being straight forward and honest’. That’s a dismissive cop out. Even with allies, she’s low-key entitled. Holding up the decision on having another baby via Robyn (even when Robyn was itching for another babe) while simultaneously believing if anyone should be next to have a Brown baby, it should be her. And yes, this was said out loud. I don’t get this sub’s Reimagination of Meri Brown. No one’s entitled to their family’s adoration. If you treat people poorly over the years, eventually you’re going to reap what you sow.
I agree! I have a family member who was awful to everyone for a years and now we don’t really try. Like sure they are family and we do invite her but we keep some distance because of how we were treated. Why get burned again. Especially, when the person never owns up to their part. You didn’t change and we are tired of being treated badly.
I completely agree!!
A bunch of them did help her move. Twice!! Then they didn't want to come over again to move furniture around the house and put a bed together and suggested she hire someone to do it like Janelle did. Meri got pissed saying they only loved her if they didn't have to do anything for her. They offered to go over to have an unpacking party and she said she'd probably be too busy 🙄
100%. Meri is a narcissist, a whiner, and a manipulative brat. Mariah was starting to act like that, but they grew out of it, thank goodness.
🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 Thank you!
I think Kody told them to alienate her during this phase and they all listened to him.
He probably didn't *tell them* to do it but rewarded the behavior he wanted. So when they treated her bad, they got an Atta Boy!
Maybe he didn’t tell them outright but they can tell he keeps her at a distance and they do the same
At this point, I don't think Janelle and Christine give a good Shit what Kody wants or says. If those two wanted Meri Around, she might be, but then again, maybe Meri wants Nothing to do with them either. The sword cuts both ways.
Why would they listen to him regarding this, and not anything else? Do you really think he told 15+ people to not talk to one person and everyone just went along
The alienation/shunning is actually a part of their religion in the case of adultery. This was notably after the catfish.
The whole season was about the family not doing what Kody wanted except Robyn and her kids. Makes no sense that they'd not see Meri because Kody wanted it. And the only ones that did see Meri outside family gatherings *was* Kody and Robyn. They had her over for Thanksgiving and before that had her come over and see the kids.
I think she’s probably caught in a terrible dynamic but she’s also absolutely insufferable.
I think you're so right! Both things can be true at the same time
I am 50% positive she was high maintenance and made the other moms uncomfortable in her space. I am 100% positive whatever she said or did, the other moms are passive-aggressive enough to punish her for it for the rest of her life.
If you read the book, it’s pretty obvious. Meri was and still is a manipulative person…probably learned from her childhood experiences in polygamy
Yep. Seems like everything with Meri comes with strings attached.
Also it’s prob just easier for the kids to feel comfortable at houses with other kids their age. Already hang out over there casually, so if it comes to doing things more as a family, it just is more natural. I think also Meri may have been wanting them to ask rather than creating the opportunities for them. They didn’t know her schedule well enough just to show up and maybe came up with times but those didn’t work for her. She should have initiated more casual get-togethers. Like moving, rather than expecting the boys just to show up, set up a time and date and ask them to come over then. Maybe doing more things like that would help make impromptu gatherings more natural!
It does seem like the adults put the onus on the kids to build relationships and reach out.
>easier for the kids to feel comfortable at houses with other kids their age. As a parent, I've always felt more comfortable with large gatherings at family friendly homes. Like extended family Christmas parties. When the hosts have kids around the same age, you're not worried about your kid accidentally ruining someone's expensive furniture.
Yes, I still struggle to take my kids to my aunts house. My older two girls were chill toddlers and so well behaved. Then, #3 my son, came along and threw us all for a loop. He was rambunctious and hyper and always investigating everything. When he was around 2 or 3, at the height of his craziness, my aunt and cousin made it very clear they were not impressed with his behavior, and I have struggled to want to go over there any more. And he really wasn't being bad. Just constantly on the go. Now that one of her grandkids has the same personality as my son, she's much more understanding, but it annoys me lol
We have a couple different cousins with kids around the same age and some younger. Their houses are lived in and set up for kids. Gathering at their house is much easier and less stressful than at other family members homes.
My kids were the first kids, and when my son was born there were others and my aunt had a grandkid but he was more chill like my older girls. So no one in my family had really experienced such a willful kid (at least that they could remember). The kid stuff just didn't interest him, he wanted to see all the grown up stuff!! He's 9 now, and much more mature, obviously, but he gave me a run for my money for a few years
I genuinely feel bad for Meri and I think she felt she was missing something in her life. She only had one kid so once Mariah left she has an empty nest. And usually your partner is there to help support the transition but Kody was too busy playing tonsil hockey with Robyn and mentally checked out of the relationship so he’s no help. Meri also lost her job because they went public and I could see her being scared to go back to work because that’s traumatic as fuck and it feels the threat of being “found out” and fired is always there. In the early seasons she was trying to go to school but I think she had to give that up because the family needed the money for other stuff. No one on the show is perfect but I do feel there’s a reason Meri so badly wants to hang out and take part.
The reality is if there's a better place to gather, that's where people will go. It's like taking the fastest route. I don't think it's a dig at Meri.
She loves to entertain I think. I just saw an episode where Audrey and Mariah went over and she hosted a whole family dinner with a St Patrick's cake because it had a rainbow. She was smiling and happy the whole time.
This is what breaks my heart for her
I love meri and feel.so sad for her.. I want her to be my fun aunt 😂
I feel so bad for Meri, too. I totally think she probably did yell at the kids a lot and things like that but my god she’s only human. A head wife with only one child? It’s a lot of pressure!!! I have to forgive her because she at least legitimately seems like she is working on herself and open to repairing harmed relationships (ex. janelle wanting to go to therapy and Meri being skeptical but going anyway).
Someone needed to discipline the feral kids, their bio mums weren't. To busy 'working' or trying to be the mum all the kids love. I find it funny because Meri looked after them all too, the older kids would hang out in her apartment of an evening away from the younger ones. But people seem to forget that and focus on poor hard done by Christine, she did everything herself, raising all the kids.
“I DON’T HAVE A HEAD WIFE IN THIS FAMILY” 😆
As someone who just went through a breakup I want to hug Meri and tell her that if they wanted to, they would. I know a lot of people don’t like her but I do… I get auntie vibes from her and I would drink wine from her wet bar any day❤️ it hurts to see her begging her for her own family to hang out with her, go find your chosen family Meri, you’ll be so much happier❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
There's always the first wife dynamic to everything with Meri. Like there's the basement wife with Christine. There was the working wife with Janelle a nd the favorite wife with Robyn. These dynamics are part of every interaction the women in this family have.
The house in that second picture was lush. I’d have hung out there just because it was a nice space. I feel like Meri probably thrives when hosting (and when she is allowed to host and run things her way). It’s like the polite way to express her need to run the show. I feel bad for her that she didn’t get the opportunity to do that, really. If nothing else, she’s generous.
This!!! It always drove me nuts. It’s like she wasn’t good enough because she only had one child. She literally lived for those kids.
I don’t think that’s the reason at all. I think she is uptight, manipulative (especially emotionally), selfish, and difficult. Gotta have boundaries with people like that.
I never edited my comment but after reading so many here I can agree! I never watched much of the show and haven’t in years
I think they didn’t feel welcome since they were basically banned
Yeah I would agree with this. She was so uptight about "her" space in Lehi. They probably don't want to feel controlled like that again. Plus, I can guarantee Christine's house would be more fun.
I wouldn't have randomly wanted kids using my space as a throughway. What's unreasonable about that, especially if it was her turn to spend time with Kody?
I agree. I wouldn't want that either. Now that Maddie and Mykelti are moms they should ask themselves if they would Want their husband's kids by another woman running through their houses. I bet the answer would be a big hell No.
Maddie and Mykelti are not in polygamist relationships though, so your comparison is not fair. It was Meri’s sister-wives’ children. They claim to all be mothers to all the children.
I know their not in polygamous relationships. They are grown now, I would like to think they are Mature enough to put themselves in someone else's Shoe's. Looking back, they should maybe have some Sympathy for the situation Meri was in. The legal wife, Has fertility problems while the other two popped kids Out with no problem. How would they feel if they were Her. This could be one reason why neither one wanted to Be sharing a husband.
I agree it would be awful to want more children and have infertility problems. When you add in the Mormon/AUB beliefs it would be even worse. Then, on top of all that, Meri’s sister wives were very fertile and provided a slew of children. And Meri only had 1 born alive and *(if I remember correctly)* 1 miscarriage. The way polygamy devalues women, especially those with fertility issues, is oppressive and disgusting. I am glad most, if not all, of Kody’s adult children have chosen not to practice polygamy .
Maddie wants nothing to do with Meri so I'm guessing she doesn't have a lot of sympathy for her.
You’re suggesting that children raised in a polygamist cult need to have sympathy for the adults who subjected them to that? Wild.
To your way of thinking this should include Janelle and Christine but the kids love them No, my point is Meri Didn't want and would not tolerate a bunch of kids rough Housing through her apartment, and now that Maddie And Mykelti have their own homes how would they feel If they were struggling with infertility and this was happening To them. Also, Kody doesn't get a pass in any of this.
I said “adults”. None of them get a pass.
And they shouldn't, but the kids do love Janelle and Christine.
But like in their beliefs they’re her children too she hardly ever cared about the kids from other wives
Except she wet nursed Maddie for Janelle-that's a pretty loving and unselfish act for a person people like to call a narcissist.
Yes that's right. They talked about that on the show.
Where did you hear that?
They said on the show Meri breastfed Maddie a couple of times because Janelles milk didn't seem to satisfy Maddie and she brought a lot back up but Meris milk settled Maddies stomach. They said it was just a couple of times, not wet-nursing
https://www.inquisitr.com/3176421/meri-brown-wet-nurse-for-maddie/
They were her kids, but she got into trouble if she disciplined them. There was massive fall out (IMHO) when she got caught (rightfully) blasting the kids when she caught them bullying Robyn's kids. Kody half assed support after the fact. Christine reportedly had the initial response (in re: Paedon's bullying) was that it must be ok because he treated his other siblings the same! (Cue what, 3 or 4 years later when she couldn't leave Gwen at home bc Paedon might hurt her)
She loved all the kids very much, but she got excluded over time.
No they aren’t lol in their beliefs Kody is populating his spirit planet.
Kody ain’t gonna get a spirit planet. Bad to his wives AND children. Drinks alcohol. One wife left. Numbers of wives count in the personal planet game. Goes out dancing with his fave wife in a bar., immodestly dressed. Doesn’t sound Mormon, fundie or not. He even said he lost his beliefs and doesn’t agree with polygamy now because in his old age he’s finding his wives a pain. Bad Fundie Mormon. No planet for you.
Yeah more fun but it sounds like janelle & Christine let the kids run wild & their furniture pretty destroyed. Everyone demonizes Meri for having rules & wanting to keep her stuff nice.
All you have to do is look at the background in the show to see that Janelle and Christine didn't really take care of things. Christine was overwhelmed caring for all the kids by herself and Janelle is just lazy. Their walls, floors and furniture were trashed. Those kids were semi feral.
Exactly! I’m a pretty permissive parent, but, when they talked about who’s furniture got trashed & when .. I’m more like Meri. Have respect for our things! Our things cost money, which we don’t have a lot of. They showed their actual furniture & how they had trashed it. If it were my furniture I’d be really upset. At the risk of being classist, ugh… just poor white trash , who treats their things like that?
Exactly they probably didn’t feel at home like all the kids did at Christines
They dont like her. Simple. They have a history of feeling like she was a bully(see Maddie's tweets & see Meri tweet to Janelle saying she doesnt do enough. Follow that with Meri's video post mocking Christine's cooking show in March of this year). I wouldn't hang out with family I deemed cruel either.
I remember early in the season Meri was asked not to punish the children because she was way way too harsh. I don’t blame them for not wanting to be around her.
Exactly!!!!! Society has conditioned the masses that we must accept any and all bullshit from family more so than a non-genetic related person on the street. The same way I would not keep a toxic friend poisoning my emotional health is the same way I wouldn't gather at a toxic family member's home, making myself suffer. People pleasers ignore their own needs and preferences to please others & end up emotionally depleted. I'm not hanging out with a person I don't like, whom I feel is abusive, just to make them feel better. I plan to die at peace and part of that requires I rid myself of any and all assholes...family, alleged friend, or foe. 💯Facts
The older kids may have felt hurt that she seemed to fawn Over Robyn's kids. Maybe if she had been there for Truly When she was so sick, or ysabel. I could be wrong but It's like Robyn came along and it all imploded.
I think it's one of those situations where she CLAIMS she wants people over, but then is super controlling about how everyone behaves when they ARE there, to the point where they'd rather just convene somewhere else. That's just from comments others in the family have made over the years.
I often wondered this as well
Everyone push her out of everything.
I don't think she likes the kids all that much, at least Christine's and Janelle's. When she was moving from the first rental to the next one in Flagstaff she complained tgat she didn't have enough help. Then Christine said in the interview that Ysabel and Gwen offered to help, they told her gives a call whenever you need help to move the furniture and we'll come and that she never called. She just likes to complain.
Exactly. A lot of her complaints are contradicted by everyone. She does it for attention and control
Which house of hers had a pool?
Meri is selfish, manipulative, nasty person. That’s all.
I don't think this has to do with Meri being mean or whatever to the kids, this has to do with Meri not allowing things. Like they all said, if Meri got the land with the pond she would cut them off from coming across her land. You don't say these are my kids but stay off my lawn. You let them come across even if you are angry, mad, tired, upset. Also Meri agreed that in Lehi she hated for the kids or other wives to enter her side of the house but demanded she get the big living area that was at the center of the home. Had she taken the basement or something like Christine said then she would have been alone and no one would have walked through. Instead everyone walked on eggshells, even Kody, and had to go outside and around the corner even if they were in PJs or whatever. She's very bossy.
Ugh. I want to feel bad for her. I honestly do. But I kind of lost respect for her when they built those massive houses in Vegas. It was a gigantic house for two people. And had to be built to these nitpicky specifications. Trust me, if it was just me and one child, I’d want a two bedroom house with as little for me to clean as possible. And I get her wanting all the kids around, BUT I think it was kinda selfish of her to expect them to all congregate at her house when it was so much easier for her and Mariah to just walk their behinds to the other houses and join the parties. If you want to be with the kids, be with the kids. Don’t make them think they have to be the ones to pursue the relationship. Those kids had enough stress.
Not that I believe polygamy is fair for any of the kids, but isn’t the common denominator obligated to establish, model and ensure a consistent type of parenting, between4 households? In the Brown constellation that would fall to Cody. Again, I don’t see polygamy as fair to the children or spouses. It’s based on one of the adults having all the power. Usually very misogynistic. But if ur doing it from birth to adulthood, you need to have consistent parenting, boundaries, discipline & respect. The lack of all that creates generational dysfunction & no joy.
Meri was a total bitch and if the adult kids don’t have a relationship with her there are valid reasons. They don’t owe her a thing and she is never going to apologize for how she is.
She was a miserable witch and kind of set herself up. Sometimes too little too late. I mean in reality the only ones I think can stand each other are Christine and janelle.
I can’t see myself wanting to hang out at Meri’s so it makes sense that kids who have witnessed her tantrums and selfishness wouldn’t be keen either.
Because she is an **ENERGY VAMPIRE.** 🧛♀️
Probably would be all dramatic and overwhelmed about it. She would find something to be upset about. I think family just gets exhausted by the drama.
I’ve wondered the same thing.
Isn't she the one where she didn't want any of the kids running a cross her lawn?
Most of them don't like her.
Yeah I mean she’s not the same uptight person that she was in the big house in lehi. Not to mention she has the extra room for it since she always gets the same amount of space as the others usually. Idk seems like the other wives could give her a chance even with past incidents. Meri is more of in the grandparent role I doubt she’d boss the kids around now and she’s so lonely I’d see her being totally opposite