I watched this strange parenting show yesterday and WTF?

[saberivojo]

There was a TV show on yesterday about unusual parenting choices.  I watched and I just got to say...people are a little weird.  The next time anyone says anything about John Winchester and his parenting choices, I'm gonna have to refer them to this.

Comments

[leavingslowly]

You'd think natural selection would've weeded out stupidity like this, but no.

[saberivojo]

The kicker was these folks were smart! I mean, articulate, bright, good jobs, lovely home. I wonder if their children will present themselves that way when they are adults.

[feliciakw]

I have not read the comments, but from what you wrote in the entry, about not schooling the kids at all, the parents shouldn't be surprised if the local school board or some other government representative comes knocking at their door. Even home schooled kids have to meet certain state testing requirements. And if they ever want a hope of going to college, they at least need a GED. Which requires, you know, study of subjects. They are doing their children a huge disservice, and I wouldn't be surprised if an authority figure (*gasp*! There are authority figures in the real world. How will the kids respond to them?) decides to file charges of neglect.

And not raising a child with any sense of who the parent is . . . that's just . . . I have no words.

As far as the other . . . again, no words.

[saberivojo]

Agreed. I think one of the strangest things was that the parents were highly educated and bright people. They just thought that their children could be better educated at home but without any structure, rules or actual structured learning. While I agree with alternative learning, there is no way that you can learn to read without learning to read. It just doesn't happen!

But the education part of it is just a part of it. Kids need parents and rules and structure. They won't admit it for the most part but they need it. They feel safer with limits. Eventually, they need to test those limits, that what growing up is about.

Crazy stuff, I tell you.

[feliciakw]

Kids need parents and rules and structure. They won't admit it for the most part but they need it.

That's just it. Kids are kids. They don't know what they need, or if they do, they don't always know how to articulate it. And as I understand it, kids will push and push until they do discover what the limits are. And if there are no limits . . . .

This kind of thing makes me sad.

[saberivojo]

You are right about abuse. It is just another kind of abuse. These parents don't see it that way, they think they are letting their children soar undhindered into the world. But they are in fact, making the rest of their life hell.

As far as JW and your dad? I think that is kind of cool. I always think that John had the propensity to be a difficult person. I think that Mary helped rein that in. I think her death clicked over that Marine gene, you know. Where you need to be tough and hard to survive. That becoming a bastard to make sure that his kids could fight the good fight would be okay with him. I don't even know if he made a specific effort to be a bastard, more that what happened in his life and how he needed to protect his children and that was a natural progression of that

Your dad is one smart cookie. *taps nose*