Gotta protect their precious bodily fluids.
I wonder why all the kids have to take showers together? Is it to save water or to prevent the kids from masturbating in there? Frankly, I’m not sure, especially after the we won’t like the girl stay in a house with young men line.
There are two elements I can think of that may make the Reimer method work:
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The adherence to consistency.
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The adherence to a regular routine.
Everything else I completely disagree with. But kids, especially young children are supposed to thrive on consistency and routine. The Reimer method should have these in spades.
Regardless of how horrible you and I must think being a kid in that household is, you can’t argue with results. So, we’ll see when all of them turn 18 and become adults in the real world.
Who knows? Perhaps this upbringing will turn them into perfect citizens in Red-State America.
I can’t see good results coming from depriving children of regular contact with other children.
If, amazingly, they turn out ‘well adjusted’ It still makes me uncomfortable. I had no idea people could be like this and I sincerely hope this family is rare.
“perfect citizens in Red-State America”… Is that a good thing?
I guess that depends on whether you’re a Red-State American!
False Dilemma. Also elements of Excluded Middle Fallacy.
I’m no fan of home-schooling, because most if not all of the home-schooled kids I’ve met have had no idea how to deal with other people. You don’t just learn how to read and write and add and subtract at school, you learn how to deal with people who think differently and live differently than you do.
These are kids, not juvenile delinquents who are in boot camp.
I believe discipline is important for kids, but too much of anything is a bad idea. Sooner or later, every kid gets to the point where they start rebeling against their upbringing, and if their upbringing consisted of total control, they’re going to react to that by swinging all the way to the other end of the spectrum: total irresponsibility. I predict at least one death by drug overdose, teen pregnancy, or long term jail-sentence for the kids in this family. Not all of them, I hope, but at least one of these kids is going to come out of their childhood severely broken.
Why, thank you. I knew someone here would know it.
Hmmm… so doesn’t participation in Wife Swap completely undermine the only good thing about their parenting?
Kinda makes you wonder about the people who participate in these shows, doesn’t it?
Personally, I don’t think any of it is real.
That last post was mine.
Whoa. 
I can see a twisted game potential here:
Parent: Kid Number 4! Empty the dishwasher!
Kid Number 4 begins to empty dishwasher
The Whacker: WHACK!
Parent: I didn’t say “Simon Says!”
So the mother applied for the family to be on a show that the children are not allowed to watch? They then participated in an “inappropriate” show?
How did the mother even know about the show and, given her stated philosophy, why would she even consider participating?
I went to public school for most of my life. My youngest sister was exclusively homeschooled. She is without doubt MORE confident (not entirely without problems, mind you), MORE popular, and BETTER able to express her feelings than I ever have been.
Going to public school ripped from me almost every ounce of self-esteem I might ever have had.
I’m not saying that public school is ALWAYS bad and homeschooling is ALWAYS best. I just want to point out that the main argument against homeschooling–that they’ll be socially stunted–is false. Sometimes, they learn all the wrong “social skills” in public school–mainly that the way to be popular and succeed is to treat nerdy kids like crap and find loads of entertainment in someone else’s pain (until test time, when they’re so nice to you and you foolishly believe that giving them answers will make them like you better. Afterwards, it’s back to low place on the totem pole).
Social skills can be learned by the homeschooled–my sister does this and she takes them on field trips with other HS parents and we visit each other and go to church and to town regularly. They aren’t deprived of contact with other people. And they are friendly extroverts. (I was homeschooling, but right about the time my oldest needed all the attention and time for it, I had a baby–and two years later had another. I just couldn’t seem to put in the time and effort when I had two little ones that apparently had massive “destruct” glands! So I sent her to public school and she’s doing well there. I may yet return to HS when they are a little older and have some of the basics mastered.)
Sorry if I stayed on my soapbox too long! I just wanted to point out that not all HS kids will turn out introverted, socially stunted people!
Hypothetical:
Okay, so you’re a fifteen year-old girl. You’re on your period. But you have to take a shower with your 8-year-old little sister.
Eyew. I can’t believe there’s not even a little privacy. Do they have to share toilet flushes as well? Those Reimers were over the freaking top and “The Whacker” should have earned them a visit from Child Protective Services, I don’t care what your philosophy is regarding spanking. That’s the only family I’ve seen where the dip into a slighly more relaxed world did them all a lot of good. I think they could stand a session with Dr. Phil while they’re at it.
Hm, perhaps I should have said, “I’m no fan of homeschooling when the parents are fundie Christians who are “keeping their children pure from outside influences,” which seems to be everyone outside the family, and who believe in beating children with wooden paddles.”
If someone is homeschooling their kids, and they get plenty of exposure to other people, that’s probably ok. Also, I know that my parents would be absolutely horrible at teaching me, and I went to a really excellent elementary school that really cracked down on bullying, so even though I was scrawny and geeky, I got along just fine. (Although we didn’t go on many field trips.)
Anyone whose homeschool reason is “purity” scares me. As do parents who hit their kids with wooden paddles.
I think the website mentioned that they attend church twice on Sundays, so they do meet other people. On the other hand, the mother thought they wouldn’t get on the show because they were too “normal,” so they are clearly not getting exposure to anyone very different.
In my day, we’d call people like that a “cult.”