Crazy Middles and 22 Kids

[gossboss14]

Questioning whether siblings have dated is so fucked up and honestly it’s sick that you are even thinking about that. Nobody would question it at all if it was biological siblings so why do people feel the need to for adoptive siblings? It’s disgusting and narrow minded. These kids are family, you may not see it that way, but they are. Blood doesn’t determine family. It is also not our place AT ALL to question somebody else’s sexuality?! Halie has a boyfriend, they’ve been together for months, the “therapy” place she went to was definitely not traditional therapy but it wasn’t gay conversion therapy.

 

[JDseasonings4life]

Lizzy has moved out of CP home and now Shelley and Jared are looking at adopting again

I didn't know Lizzy was living with the Crazy Pieces.

I wondered about dating, especially from CP when they have kids who didn't become siblings until they were already hormonal teens. Like Bella and Luke going off together on Disney. Thought the groups they split into was intresting. Why was Max hanging with his parents and not the other teens?

 

[paigelemonade]

I didn't know Lizzy was living with the Crazy Pieces.

I wondered about dating, especially from CP when they have kids who didn't become siblings until they were already hormonal teens. Like Bella and Luke going off together on Disney. Thought the groups they split into was intresting. Why was Max hanging with his parents and not the other teens?

My mistake, I meant to say CM. She’s moved out to live with an Auntie, though I did find it weird as we’ve never heard of this aunt. I wonder if it’s to hide the fact she has moved in with her boyfriend… good for Lizzy for carrying on with her nursing studies though.

I find it strange how much both CP and CM force dating on their kids. It’s definitely not like that here in the UK, in the CM life update video- nearly every kid is crushing on/has a relationship which is just odd. Teen romance is nice, but shouldn’t be the forefront of their lives like Shelley and Jared push it to be. I still can’t believe Alex from CP proposed so young. I know fans too often speculate about dating within CM, and loads of people were asking Spencer if he was dating Cynthia on Instagram recently.

I wonder if Max would have felt out of place with the rest of the teens, as Hallie had gone off separately with her friend

 

[JDseasonings4life]

My mistake, I meant to say CM. She’s moved out to live with an Auntie, though I did find it weird as we’ve never heard of this aunt. I wonder if it’s to hide the fact she has moved in with her boyfriend… good for Lizzy for carrying on with her nursing studies though.

I find it strange how much both CP and CM force dating on their kids. It’s definitely not like that here in the UK, in the CM life update video- nearly every kid is crushing on/has a relationship which is just odd. Teen romance is nice, but shouldn’t be the forefront of their lives like Shelley and Jared push it to be. I still can’t believe Alex from CP proposed so young. I know fans too often speculate about dating within CM, and loads of people were asking Spencer if he was dating Cynthia on Instagram recently.

I wonder if Max would have felt out of place with the rest of the teens, as Hallie had gone off separately with her friend

Do you think the dating obsession is coz of their religion? Are they Mormons?

You'd of thought Max would of been comfortable round Alex at least.

 

[paigelemonade]

Spencer throwing ‘shade’ at Alex
The two no longer follow each other on insta, despite being close and posting pics of one another in the past

The CP insta account has also unfollowed spencer too

People wonder why there’s speculation over if any of the CM/CP kids are dating…. It’s because of captions like these. I’d never post a picture with my brother with a caption like that

 

[lokencrepis]

View attachment 1137027 qView attachment 1137028 qView attachment 1137029 qView attachment 1137031 q
Spencer throwing ‘shade’ at Alex
The two no longer follow each other on insta, despite being close and posting pics of one another in the past
View attachment 1137049 qThe CP insta account has also unfollowed spencer too
View attachment 1137032 qPeople wonder why there’s speculation over if any of the CM/CP kids are dating…. It’s because of captions like these. I’d never post a picture with my brother with a caption like that

someones commented asking if cynthia is his partner, someone else responded saying thats a horrible thing to ask, and the OP came back saying "whoaaa why would he write that about his sister??" other person says they need to not think dirty??? These fans are actually insane.

It's bloody hard to not think that when he literally puts a caption, that in no uncertain terms, would be a relationship caption to literally everyone else on the internet.

 

[leabytottle]

Questioning whether siblings have dated is so fucked up and honestly it’s sick that you are even thinking about that. Nobody would question it at all if it was biological siblings so why do people feel the need to for adoptive siblings? It’s disgusting and narrow minded. These kids are family, you may not see it that way, but they are. Blood doesn’t determine family. It is also not our place AT ALL to question somebody else’s sexuality?! Halie has a boyfriend, they’ve been together for months, the “therapy” place she went to was definitely not traditional therapy but it wasn’t gay conversion therapy.

Wow! Angry much? Bella and Lucas haven’t grown up together, so it’s very different than siblings, like Alex and Hannah, who’ve grown up together. You can’t say for sure what therapy she had, unless you are actually part of the CP family. Just to add, I have zero issues with anyone being gay, and that’s certainly not what I was meaning. I just think their religion doesn’t necessarily think the same, therefore if any of their children were gay, I wonder if they would not feel comfortable

 

[GiggleBee]

Ive always thought things were odd between cynthia and spencer

 

[JDseasonings4life]

Wow! Angry much? Bella and Lucas haven’t grown up together, so it’s very different than siblings, like Alex and Hannah, who’ve grown up together. You can’t say for sure what therapy she had, unless you are actually part of the CP family. Just to add, I have zero issues with anyone being gay, and that’s certainly not what I was meaning. I just think their religion doesn’t necessarily think the same, therefore if any of their children were gay, I wonder if they would not feel comfortable

Alex and Hannah? I'm new to these families. Feel like I have a lot of HW to catch up on. I did wonder if Hallie's friend was in Florida was more than just a friend?

 

[gossboss14]

Wow! Angry much? Bella and Lucas haven’t grown up together, so it’s very different than siblings, like Alex and Hannah, who’ve grown up together. You can’t say for sure what therapy she had, unless you are actually part of the CP family. Just to add, I have zero issues with anyone being gay, and that’s certainly not what I was meaning. I just think their religion doesn’t necessarily think the same, therefore if any of their children were gay, I wonder if they would not feel comfortable

I know what therapy she had because the programme she went to only offer one kind of therapy. Growing up together or not doesn’t change that they are SIBLINGS. What kind of creep talks about teenage siblings potentially dating?!?

 

[lokencrepis]

I know what therapy she had because the programme she went to only offer one kind of therapy. Growing up together or not doesn’t change that they are SIBLINGS. What kind of creep talks about teenage siblings potentially dating?!?

That's great and all, but I know a family of 4 bio siblings and 2 adopted and one of the bio sons had a crush on his adopted sibling. This crap happens. The two girls were adopted at ages 12 and 14, then bio kids were all 17+.

 

[Prettyinpink25]

Can we stop the talk on the siblings dating now? They are SIBLINGS!!

Spencer’s caption was on several photos not just that one with Cynthia I think Aubrey was in one as well his whole Instagram is weird including his replies to people so I wouldn’t read too much into it!

Before reading this thread I would never have thought anything of Like and Bella going off in Disney by themselves! For a start she’s younger than his bio sister and anyway they are siblings, she has come into the family as a sibling, they just get on well which is lovely!

Let’s put it to bed now and stop speculating on disgusting things, there is so much more to talk about than that, such as why the older CM kids don’t seem to finish high school and instead drop out to do their GED? Or why all the CM kids seem to move out ASAP when they are old enough? Harlan is literally counting down the days until he moves out!!

 

[paigelemonade]

Can we stop the talk on the siblings dating now? They are SIBLINGS!!

Spencer’s caption was on several photos not just that one with Cynthia I think Aubrey was in one as well his whole Instagram is weird including his replies to people so I wouldn’t read too much into it!

Before reading this thread I would never have thought anything of Like and Bella going off in Disney by themselves! For a start she’s younger than his bio sister and anyway they are siblings, she has come into the family as a sibling, they just get on well which is lovely!

Let’s put it to bed now and stop speculating on disgusting things, there is so much more to talk about than that, such as why the older CM kids don’t seem to finish high school and instead drop out to do their GED? Or why all the CM kids seem to move out ASAP when they are old enough? Harlan is literally counting down the days until he moves out!!

Chill. People aren’t massively speculating, it’s been mentioned casually by a few users on here, as well as many of the CM fans due to the behaviour and things the kids do publicly. Its not a crime to gossip on a gossip website, at least people are doing it on here instead of in the kids’ comment sections. If you don’t like what you read, move on and stop trying to moderate.

Bella (born 2007) is a year older than Savannah (born 2008)- so she isn’t younger than Lucas’ bio sister.

And those things aren’t speculated as they have been answered in vlogs.
1) As the kids moved from St Johns to the valley, some of the credits for classes they took aren’t valid, so they can only graduate high school if they start from freshman year again. More specifically, Cynthia’s credits from her homeschooling aren’t recognised as acceptable credits for the valley high school. Redoing the whole of high school from freshman year is not something that, rightly so, the kids and Shelley + Jared see as doable so instead some are doing GEDs.
2) This has been speculated before. Many believe it’s to do with the freedom the kids gain when they turn 18, due to the oppressive rule books that Shelley and Jared enforce. It has been noted by many that CM home feels more like a big group home instead of a family like CP does. Or, it has been speculated that the CM biological families have better relationships with Shelley and Jared than CP biological families do with Aaron and Crystal, so the kids often move out to be with biological family members.

 

[LLR]

Halie was very open about her issue being anxiety and honestly I think her issues are much most likely due to her exposure to the foster system because whilst she has living a great life with wealthy loving parents who are together and lots of siblings she's been exposed to all the kids coming in and out of the house. A lot of the kids are dealing with their own trauma but Halie, who was originally the oldest child before Alex and Melinda were adopted, has always been looking out for her younger siblings.

She seems highly empathetic and I think the exposure to the foster system has probably shown her too much of the evils of the world too young. They talk about a foster sister who Halie was really attached to and then their adoption for this child fell through as they were sent back to their bio parent. They talk about a child arriving with nothing and wearing a shower cap as she had headlice and Halie immediately offering to share her things. Foster care is traumatic for everyone involved.

I think getting away from everyone else and their trauma probably gave her the headspace to work on her own.

 

[Louisej3]

elsewhere I saw it suggested that she might be pregnant and because of their religion, quick wedding

Won't be the first quick wedding this one won't be secret tho I'm guessing

 

[lokencrepis]

Halie was very open about her issue being anxiety and honestly I think her issues are much most likely due to her exposure to the foster system because whilst she has living a great life with wealthy loving parents who are together and lots of siblings she's been exposed to all the kids coming in and out of the house. A lot of the kids are dealing with their own trauma but Halie, who was originally the oldest child before Alex and Melinda were adopted, has always been looking out for her younger siblings.

She seems highly empathetic and I think the exposure to the foster system has probably shown her too much of the evils of the world too young. They talk about a foster sister who Halie was really attached to and then their adoption for this child fell through as they were sent back to their bio parent. They talk about a child arriving with nothing and wearing a shower cap as she had headlice and Halie immediately offering to share her things. Foster care is traumatic for everyone involved.

I think getting away from everyone else and their trauma probably gave her the headspace to work on her own.

I am all for people fostering and adopting, but when its damaging the health of children already in your home? Surely thats when you need to have a bit of a regroup and think about the impact? This is beside the point of 'how can two people emotionally care for 20 odd traumatised and abused children' (the simple answer is you can't), it's 'our children are suffering, let's look after the ones we've already got'... why don't they see this? It's not heroic to adopt 10s of children, imo its heroic to raise some/a few children to be healthy, happy and absolute credits to themselves, their families and their community. Both the CM and CP are just doing all this for the money, it's blatantly obvious.

This is separate, but I don't understand why people think that Crystal and the rest of the CP are close/a good family environment?! Crystal acts about 16, Aaron looks high half the time, and those kids don't seem to have a parental or older adult connection with either of them. The lack of rules (compared to the CM household, and I don't think the rules at CM's are right... they're weird and controlling...) doesn't make them better parents imo, it just means that their underage children, who are vulnerable, don't have the regular routine and structure of life that they should. There needs to be a healthy balance, which I don't see from either family

 

[LLR]

This is beside the point of 'how can two people emotionally care for 20 odd traumatised and abused children' (the simple answer is you can't),

I think both families have problems but the kids, especially when compared to other YouTube families seem to be doing well. They are seem to be doing well in school, are engaged with clubs and activities and have friends that they go off with that is not shown on camera. Nobody's parenting is going to be perfect and I think they are both just doing what they think is best.

I think there is probably a lot of parenting going on behind the scenes in both families and they are both showing us how they want to be perceived. Crystal wants to be seen as the fun mum and I think part of that is that she is younger and had Halie when she was young. I checked and both families only have 11 under-18's in their care currently and only 5/6 pre-teens each (CP have Logan, Brody, Aurora, Rylan and Liam and CM have Mason, Braxton, Anaeveah, Brinley, Kason, Trey) and all the kids are now school aged with Aurora starting at preschool. They both have good support systems in place which is why I think that the number of kids they have works for them while it would not work for other families.

I think saying they do it for the money is wrong. It is a huge time and money commitment taking in all those kids and they don't cheap out on their kids either especially the CP. The CP buy the kids lots of name brand clothing and shoes, the kids have iPhones, laptops and gaming equipment and if you've watched their Christmas videos then you can see how many expensive things they buy their kids.

 

[lokencrepis]

I think both families have problems but the kids, especially when compared to other YouTube families seem to be doing well. They are seem to be doing well in school, are engaged with clubs and activities and have friends that they go off with that is not shown on camera. Nobody's parenting is going to be perfect and I think they are both just doing what they think is best.

I think there is probably a lot of parenting going on behind the scenes in both families and they are both showing us how they want to be perceived. Crystal wants to be seen as the fun mum and I think part of that is that she is younger and had Halie when she was young. I checked and both families only have 11 under-18's in their care currently and only 5/6 pre-teens each (CP have Logan, Brody, Aurora, Rylan and Liam and CM have Mason, Braxton, Anaeveah, Brinley, Kason, Trey) and all the kids are now school aged with Aurora starting at preschool. They both have good support systems in place which is why I think that the number of kids they have works for them while it would not work for other families.

I think saying they do it for the money is wrong. It is a huge time and money commitment taking in all those kids and they don't cheap out on their kids either especially the CP. The CP buy the kids lots of name brand clothing and shoes, the kids have iPhones, laptops and gaming equipment and if you've watched their Christmas videos then you can see how many expensive things they buy their kids.

If they're not doing it for money... why are they on youtube? Why clickbait with their children? You do realise they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars on their channels? Surely that is a influence on them filming point blank?

 

[LLR]

If they're not doing it for money... why are they on youtube? Why clickbait with their children? You do realise they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars on their channels? Surely that is a influence on them filming point blank?

I think you're misunderstanding me, they are obviously using making YouTube videos as a way of making money as a lot of other people do I just don't think they keep adopting kids to make money. They've both said they started making videos to have memories of their kids and that

It is possible that earning additional money from YouTube is helping them support more kids than they would be able to otherwise but both families have other sources of income. They are earning money in a lot of other ways as well (stock trading, real estate, app development) which are probably all a lot easier that fostering to adopt.

I did some double checking. They started doing foster care over a decade ago, their channel was created in August 2015 after already having adopted Ariana the year before in 2014 (which is when they were initially wanting to adopt Melinda) and they've only really been making regular content for the last 3 years. Their second video is the adoption video for Alex, Hannah and Brody.

The Middles also joined YouTube in 2015 and at that time they already had adopted Cody, Lacey, Lizzie, Jonathan, Destiny, Cynthia and were fostering Weston, Spencer and three others.

That's a lot of kids pre-YouTube if they are not genuinely interested in foster care and adoption.

 

[lokencrepis]

I think you're misunderstanding me, they are obviously using making YouTube videos as a way of making money as a lot of other people do I just don't think they keep adopting kids to make money. They've both said they started making videos to have memories of their kids and that

It is possible that earning additional money from YouTube is helping them support more kids than they would be able to otherwise but both families have other sources of income. They are earning money in a lot of other ways as well (stock trading, real estate, app development) which are probably all a lot easier that fostering to adopt.

I did some double checking. They started doing foster care over a decade ago, their channel was created in August 2015 after already having adopted Ariana the year before in 2014 (which is when they were initially wanting to adopt Melinda) and they've only really been making regular content for the last 3 years. Their second video is the adoption video for Alex, Hannah and Brody.

The Middles also joined YouTube in 2015 and at that time they already had adopted Cody, Lacey, Lizzie, Jonathan, Destiny, Cynthia and were fostering Weston, Spencer and three others.

That's a lot of kids pre-YouTube if they are not genuinely interested in foster care and adoption.

Oh yeah, of course they have other income streams and started adopting before youtube. I do not judge their choice for initially starting adopting and fostering whatsoever. I think they are genuinely interested in adoption and love looking after children. That doesn't take away from the fact that they are using those adopted children to make money on youtube.

You wouldn't get videos of 'new adoption' of 'my new adopted name' in the voyeuristic tone that they do, without there being a draw with the money. If it was only about adoption, they wouldn't blast it out there for the world to see. This is genuine virtue signalling. Aren't we wonderful, we've adopted all these vulnerable children... only to put them on youtube, where people on tattle and in their comment sections judge and comment on the children's appearance or personality and their history, that is simply not protecting your children. They are aware of the mental health implications that social media brings, they are not stupid... yet they continue to film their vulnerable children... make it make sense? And that's without saying that the 'my adoption story' 'meeting bio siblings for the first time' is exploitative of their privacy, and never-mind the money that brings in. How could you say that earning 100.000s doesn't influence them on adopting more and more children. It is a money earner, whether thats what they were originally aiming for or not.

The idea of showing the children and 'teasing' the audience with shots of them BEFORE they are adopted is weird. There are full shots of those three newly adopted kids before they were legally adopted. That's breaking their fostering regulations.... so theyre risking their license for... clicks? For more money? Or are their editing skills not up to par? If their editing skills are not good enough to blur a child, then perhaps filming is too risky? You know, because theyre doing it for their love of children and adopting... but they dont, they clickbait these children and their injuries (don't get me started on the hospital videos and car wreck videos) within an inch of their lives. If they were doing it all and only for the kids welfare, they would't have them on camera at all, until adoption. They also have them reiterate traumatic stories and why they were adopted on youtube videos as well?? They're children, they need protecting. Especially the ones who had to go to court.

And they can make videos and memories, why does it need to be publicly posted to youtube? I have videos of my childhood, stored on disk and vhs, there is absolutely no need to have it publicly available. If theyre doing it for other adopted/adoptive parents....why does it have to be monetised if they're just giving advice to other people? Why does it all have to be branded? Why does it need to be a cliff hanger on some videos? Why are they buying newer camera equipment or asking their audience for ideas of what they want to see? That doesn't tell me that they're making memories. It tells me they've created a business.

Also, children cannot consent to having their image and story out there. So even if they are happy now, to tell all these deeply personal stories for millions to watch and judge, they physically and mentally cannot grasp the long term implications of this. University? Jobs? Future relationships?

Mukbangs = the people who do this, ate before. They enjoyed many a meal in their lives before they popped it on youtube. Does not mean that they aren't doing it for money now? I think not. I think you can do something for many years, doesn't mean you won't monetise it in the future. And then do more of said thing, to make more money. Think of nikocadoavocado. 1000000% monetised something he was already doing, did more of it to make more money. CP and CM, adopted before youtube, started making money, so they did it more.