The show hasn’t finished yet but I am already horrified by the militaristic way one of the families ‘operates’. I feel sad for those children who are being brought up like robots. IANA Parent but I’m pretty sure you don’t bring up children like you bring up army recruits.
You must not watch “Maury Povitch”.
Are your kids:
“Out of control?”
“Dress too sexy?”
“Disrespectful?”
Maury will put them through boot camp for you.
Be sure not to tune in to Nanny 911 then… You’ll really weep for the future.
Ahh, yes. This is the infamous episode featuring the Reimer’s method of child discipline: a wooden paddle called “The Whacker”. This episode is truly disturbing and I felt so sorry for the Reimer’s kids.
Check out the Reimer’s instruction manual
:eek:
Ditto. That seems like some kind of OCD. Clearly these people are insane, playing bringing up kids as if it’s some kind of 1984 nazi rollplaying game.
Was this the one with the five kids and the incredibly uptight drip of a husband?
:smack: Duh, I just looked at the link. Yes, I did see this one.
This was a clear example of two families at polar opposites: one really rigid and the other too loose. The Reimer Rules give me the creeps.
What, they can’t say, “Dad asked me to empty the trash”? They have to play some stupid game? That’s seriously messed up.
Holy crap. I just read that whole link. That’s so scary, that they would raise their kids like that. Homeschooled, too. Those poor kids are going to be a mess when they reach the real world. No wonder they never have play dates or go over to anyone else’s houses, they probably don’t have any social skills whatsoever.
Oh, come on. Yes, they’re strict and way into discipline. However, there’s nothing here to suggest abuse. Just because these people choose to live their lives and raise their children in a way you would not, doesn’t make them weird or abusive or anything but different.
If you think these parents are abusive, I invite you to volunteer at a local emergency children’s shelter or home for abused women.
I didn’t say it was abusive. I said it was scary. Two different things.
Okay, no, you didn’t say it was abusive. I’m an agnostic, meat-eating, inappropriate-TV-show-watching loose and casual type of parent, and I don’t see what’s so scary about this. Scary is my neighbor, who lets her children run around at all hours and do whatever they want. Scary is all the parents I know who give their kids Ramen noodles and hotdogs in place of nutritious meals. Scary is the 13, 14, and 15-year olds running loose after school and at night with absolutely no boundaries or adult supervision.
Come into the 'hood and get to know scary. These parents aren’t that bad, and I would bet cash money that most if not all of these children are going to grow up just fine.
Growing up in the Reimer house sounds like a special kind of hell.
I thought it was heart-breaking that these kids were allowed to go to a school for a few days.
You could see them really warm up and start to act like kids.
But then the program was over and they had to be home-schooled again.
I just wanted to fly over and free these kids.
I think they are just as sad as lab-monkeys.
I’m gonna have to disagree. I think the idea that your kids should have no freedom is pretty weird.
Come into the 'hood and get to know scary. These parents aren’t that bad, and I would bet cash money that most if not all of these children are going to grow up just fine.
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And if they end up being serial killers, they’ll be very efficient, mature serial killers. 
I saw an episode of Law & Order once and the dad was almost exactly the same-he was so rigid his daughters and his wife did NOTHING without consulting him, had no opinions outside of his. Everything was either, “Dad says, Dad thinks, Dad likes” or “Bill likes, Bill says, Bill wants.” Extremely creepy.
Some highlights from the “manual”:
According to Melissa Reimers’s bio, her children are: Molly, 15, Coby, 13, Jordan, 11, Jay, 10 and Lucy, 8.
So at fifteen, Molly can’t even take her own shower? And Coby, Jordan and Jay all have to fucking share a shower?
No time for ourselves, we must watch the kids 24/7 or they might actually THINK or ACT for themselves!
Oh for the love of…!!! Jesus Christ, lady, you have a dirty mind!
Homeopathic? I think that says it all.
From her bio:
The whole “keep them pure” and “negative outside influences” sounds incredibly anal. They’re not trying to bring their children up to be mature, fully-functioning adults, they want them to be little Stepford robots.
I really felt that these people need to have their children taken away.
I wouldn’t let them raise a frigging dog.
The terrible thing was that these were really sweet kids, who just weren’t allowed to be kids.
I worry that children raised in a strictly regulated environment will have adjustment problems, but probably no more than kids raised without rules. Most of us find a niche, don’t we?
Wife Swap and Trading Spouses are fascinating. How often do we get to see how other people really live? We’re all so different. Some more different than others, I admit.
On what do you base that idea?
There’s got to be a Logical Fallacy named for this…just because one thing; neglect, is bad, therefore it’s opposite; insane overcontrol, must be good? Hardly.
You have to admit, this part of the “manual” is pretty funny, though:
Quote:
“Paul does not really care for animals, but the dogs respect Paul as the master of the house and will sit as he passes them with the hope he will pet them.”
Probably everyone in the house does that, though.