The Yorkshire shepherdess and the snowflake generation

[Marcia1989]

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9438725/Our-Yorkshire-Farm-star-Amanda-Owen-gave-birth-eighth-child-husband-ASLEEP-upstairs.html

Sorry for link to the Daily Mail. It was the only non-paywalled article but her comments are also reported in The Times and The Telegraph.

She runs a sheep farm in a remote part of Yorkshire and has 9 kids. She thinks that parents do not raise their children to be sufficiently independent, to look after themselves. She didn't really do home-schooling with them because she doesn't want to be a helicopter parent - she expects them to just get on with it. She expects all the kids to help on the farm and they don't really do devices/TV etc. Having watched her TV series, I agree that her kids seem admirably self-sufficient and mature and I do think generally it's really good for children to have some responsibility. But, I do also wonder whether a lack of individual attention is detrimental to them. And there will be some kids who don't get on with it, and is it really right to just leave them to it?

What does everyone think?

I won't listen to people why use such idiotic terms as 'snowflake'. To me, it means you have nothing of any value, nothing intelligent or considered to say. But then, this is in the Daily Mail.

She is right, I admire the woman and watch the programmes.
I wish in my day our own family had been more like hers, living on a farm, freedom and independence and able to let the children to become themselves. But it wasn't like that....I'm more than a little bit envious and quite in awe of her!

Nine kids is grim.

Whenever I see people championing their lifestyle as ideal and using terms like snowflake I roll my eyes.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all raise our kids on farms in Yorkshire?! As it is, many people have to raise them in cities and apartments or neighbourhoods where they can't just aimlessly roam because of roads, or crime, or them needing to be in childcare while their parents work away from home.

I also can't stand when women who birth in a certain way are put on a pedestal.

Don't get me wrong, her life is incredibly interesting and her kids seem great. But that doesn't mean she's superior to others in any way, shape or form.

@CovidCorvid

I don’t think she realises how fortunate she is. Letting your kids be semi feral/independent is great on a farm (same sort of childhood I had) but can’t be done for 90% of households.

It’s great her kids can have that sort of independence which I do believe gives them confidence. But it’s a bit unfair to them slag off kids who haven’t had those same opportunities.

The term “snowflake” against the younger generation is pigeon holing and a bit ageist.

Why do you think 'fortunate' rather than hardworking and ambitious?

She is where she is because she made it happen. She wasn't born into it.

I think she knows she's lucky, but it's largely luck if her own making

@CateTown

Nine kids is grim.

Why?

I won't waste my time on people who use terms like 'snowflake'. You have made it clear that you have nothing useful, considered or intelligent to bring to a discussion. But this is for the Daily Mail, whose readers are the epitome of low information and low education. Really, why bother.

@Toomuchleopard

The older children are at school 2 hours drive away so they spend hours every day on a bus. So not as great as it may seem

You could argue that for hundreds of rural communities around the UK. Or do you think people with children should all live in cities? How practical do you reckon that would be for the economy? Did you have lamb this Easter?

@midsomermurderess

I won't waste my time on people who use terms like 'snowflake'. You have made it clear that you have nothing useful, considered or intelligent to bring to a discussion. But this is for the Daily Mail, whose readers are the epitome of low information and low education. Really, why bother.

But you are... Otherwise why post?

No question, she's an excellent mum and a born teacher. She's constantly teaching her children.

Their mental health seems excellent and I bet they see a lot more of their parents than children with parents in city jobs or just full time demanding jobs outside the home.

The only issue I have is their use of quadbikes. There could be a tragedy there.

Think she is doing a good thing, for years schools have not promoted independence in the young, nor have some parents, who will be wiping arses at forty, the way some go on. Think she's doing a good thing, yes.

But the reality for many rural families is near or real poverty, the kids don’t choose an isolated lifestyle or having to “get on with it”.

Engaging with the ninny.

I saw some of the TV programme for the first time last night, I have heard of her from the radio.
Not got Instagram or read her columns but from what I saw for the first time last night was how she seems so positive and enthusiastic and her kids were happy and having fun, the youngest was very sweet. It was lovely in the sun shine but must be a hard life in the dark cold winters.

I did comment that not many children would be that independent at that age and they have the freedom that lots of us had when we were younger but children no longer have.
I used to play in shallow streams / woodland etc with friends and no parents but nowadays most of us would just not let our children do that without an adult present. Unless we lived somewhere so remote.

@OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow

But the reality for many rural families is near or real poverty, the kids don’t choose an isolated lifestyle or having to “get on with it”.

As a child who grew up on a farm in 'near or real poverty' it's only now as an adult I recognise it as such.

I knew at school when it was 'bring a toy in' on the last day of term etc that we clearly didn't have as much 'stuff' as other children, and our clothes were always secondhand.

But we were loved and we were encouraged and we were taught independence, given hard work ethics and became excellent problem solvers . We might have been money poor but as an adult I feel I had a rich upbringing which set me up well for adulthood and bringing up my own children.

So nerr

@OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow

But the reality for many rural families is near or real poverty, the kids don’t choose an isolated lifestyle or having to “get on with it”.

But you could make that argument for city kids too. Poor kids in cities don't choose. Pollution, litter and crime but they still grow up with those things.

You can't really judge a family for raising their children where their work is

I’ve met her.

I’ll leave it at that.

Hate the thought of bringing up 9 kids on a farm in Yorkshire, would be a nightmare! Also hate people who use the rude phrase ‘snowflakes’ about young people. But good for her if the lifestyle suits her.

*Why do you think 'fortunate' rather than hardworking and ambitious?

She is where she is because she made it happen. She wasn't born into it.

I think she knows she's lucky, but it's largely luck if her own making*

Yes and no. I suppose I'd be more impressed with her ambition if she worked herself up from a trainee shepherdess to owning her own farm, rather than marrying someone who already owned a farm shortly after arriving as a young trainee. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's not that she built this life from scratch. She clearly works hard and has ideas, and fair play to her for dreaming outside of the life that she was born into, but there was certainly a decent amount of luck in her position. (What if he had been married and not divorced, e.g.)

On a side note, I don't know why the Daily Mail keeps wide-eyeing at the "quick" nature of their love. (E.g. "Owen met her husband in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess. They quickly fell in love despite the age gap.") I mean, I suppose I do (to rile and to shame), but they never fail to impress me with how shit they can be.

But (in the TV series) she doesn't just 'leave them to it'. She is constantly involving them m, they work alongside her, she gives them a manageable task and praises them.

OK, clearly she knows how to run social media, and her modelling / presentation skills are clear. She knows how to market the family 'brand'. So?

How on earth does she have so much energy? (very envious)

@LunaNorth we have to know more . I generally think her approach could be applied elsewhere, but it is difficult because our current culture doesn’t encourage it, eg schools expect parents to be heavily involved, not safe for children to play independently outside etc etc

@N4ish
Couldn’t agree more. There’s a reason most people stopped having loads of kids and living on farms that barely provided a living.

But if she enjoys it, then fair enough! Would be boring if we were all the same 😂

I assume that with 9 kids and a farm they must be left to their own devices a lot but agree she seems to involve them really well

Nice bit of free labour making her kids work on the farm.

@Nancydrawn

*Why do you think 'fortunate' rather than hardworking and ambitious?

She is where she is because she made it happen. She wasn't born into it.

I think she knows she's lucky, but it's largely luck if her own making*

Yes and no. I suppose I'd be more impressed with her ambition if she worked herself up from a trainee shepherdess to owning her own farm, rather than marrying someone who already owned a farm shortly after arriving as a young trainee. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's not that she built this life from scratch. She clearly works hard and has ideas, and fair play to her for dreaming outside of the life that she was born into, but there was certainly a decent amount of luck in her position. (What if he had been married and not divorced, e.g.)

On a side note, I don't know why the Daily Mail keeps wide-eyeing at the "quick" nature of their love. (E.g. "Owen met her husband in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess. They quickly fell in love despite the age gap.") I mean, I suppose I do (to rile and to shame), but they never fail to impress me with how shit they can be.

She didn't marry someone that owned a farm.

Clive was a middle aged tenant farmer with no significant prospects and living in the arse end of nowhere barely making a living. They've both worked hard to make Ravenseat successful as a farm. Do you really think Clive would be doing well in his own as a single elderly tennant farmer with no family support/labour and without a wife who generates a significant income from books/cream teas/media and other diversification activities? She's created her own opportunities and if anything she'll be supporting him.

I have to admit to not reading the mail article - I can't bear to give them the clicks