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?

There is so much nonsense about them on this thread! As if she bewitched Clive with her feminine wiles he already has another two kids from his first marriage who sometimes pop up on the show.

It's a very traditional way of life but it seems quite idyllic - of course, that will be edited to look incredible where it must be absolutely freezing and very hard work. Their family life on tv seems to really suit them, though (couldn't think of anything worse for me!).

I'd put a bit of makeup on too if I had a tv crew at my house!

Haven't read the article but watched the Ben fogle programme. Good luck to them, and lots to admire, but could not give a flying fuck on her opinions on other families or ways of living. Can't see why anyone would?

@Haffdonga Raven is studying Biomedical science at York.

@cerealgamechanger

She must have nannies and private tutors for the children. There is no way, she could manage all that on her own. Or maybe this is Yorkshire and the children's 'hard as nails' genes are seeing them through.

The children go to school

I don’t have much time for women who hold their parenting up as some kind of ‘right’ way to raise kids. Her kids are having an unique childhood, whether they’ll turn into decent adults, who the f knows? ESP. if schoolwork or education isn’t high up in their priorities.
My kids are city kids, I value education, I homeschooled
Then when I had to but they sure as hell aren’t snowflakes just because they don’t ride scramblers around a farm.
9 kids and a husband who won’t be around too much longer with that age gap... plenty of people would judge that set up.

Never going to parents evening (as she claims) is really bad imo, I need to know what's going on at school, kids are happy etc

My parents rarely went to mine. On one occasion she was told “you’re only here to hear about how brilliantly your daughter is getting on” That was particularly galling as the school had given the three line whip on that particular meeting. She never went again and took the view if there was a problem she’d hear about it. Worked well for us.

What do I think ? They run an upland sheep farm, and like every other upland sheep farm in the country, it's basically a 'job creation scheme'. The average upland sheep farm in Britain gets 86% of its income from taxpayer subsidies. Nice work if you can get it !

I detest the term 'snowflake'.

I too: and that word is the point at which I either stop taking someone seriously or stop listening to them entirely.

Were people aware aware of its highly dubious, racist origins, I have to wonder whether it would be bandied about so often as a lazy insult. First used for opponents of slavery abolition in Missouri, it was later the term favoured by Nazis to describe the ashes of their victims.

All told it's a pretty sickening name to call someone. Aside from which, it's hackneyed and tedious.

I do admire her a bit , she’s fairly tough and I enjoy the documentaries on her and the family ! Looks like a pretty cool childhood and a beautiful place to live ( I adore the dales tho ) in reality though I’d probably loving so remotely and I would imagine not all of her kids will follow into that sort of lifestyle as they grow up . May crave city life / more modern living .

Also thing it helps there is so many of them

Be slightly different just me and dc somewhere so remote

Probably not enjoy living so remotely I mean

@tanguero

What do I think ? They run an upland sheep farm, and like every other upland sheep farm in the country, it's basically a 'job creation scheme'. The average upland sheep farm in Britain gets 86% of its income from taxpayer subsidies. Nice work if you can get it !

@tanguero What rot!!! That's just utter Rubbish. Upland farmers work bloody hard not only to put food on our tables but also to protect and maintain the upland landscape. Not least maintaining water courses and helping to prevent flooding downstream. It's not an easy job and not for the faint hearted. Subsidies enable this work to continue.

I come from people like her. I really value that.

The way that the family operates is the way families used to live in rural areas. It’s not so very strange. Kids all look after each other, learn practical skills and self reliance. What I notice is how patient and loving they are with the kids. Questions are answered and there is a relationship of trust and love. Whatever goes on off camera, that relationship can’t be faked. I think they are brilliant parents. The kids may not go on foreign holidays or have lots of clubs and music lessons but they are clearly very happy and loved.

@Geamhradh

In fairness, I think people would warm to her if she wasn't quite so "I'm right and everyone else is wrong/snowflakes/my parenting is right and yours is wrong"

I find the idea of shepherdessing in rural Yorkshire fascinating. And I'd love to see and hear more about it. But no, I'm not interested in hearing a woman diss other people's choices and ways of parenting just because they're different to hers.

Exactly - its a very interesting way to raise children and no doubt she is doing a good job. But if I rocked up with my kids (visiting from the city) to let them roam her farm "independantly" and mix with the animals she mght be dubious. If me and all my friends, and all their friends and all their friends and all their children did, she would be furious. So its not exactly something that can be replicated. And thats fine. But the fact my children are brought up differently doesnt make them "snowflakes" or me inferior. However, to give her the benefit of the doubt it is possible that the smugness/snowflake bashing has been filtered in (at least in part) by the Daily Mail since that is their general take. It would be interesting to see the transcript of the interview versus the reported article.

All that business with the supermarkets being empty last year really made me think thank god for the existence of British farmers. (For food obviously, not ballgowned parenting tips). I’m happy to subsidise whatever keeps shelves full.

Upland farmers work bloody hard not only to put food on our tables but also to protect and maintain the upland landscape. Not least maintaining water courses and helping to prevent flooding downstream. It's not an easy job and not for the faint hearted. Subsidies enable this work to continue.

I agree that upland farmers work hard. But the food they produce is relatively small considering the enormous amounts of land used (uplands are very unproductive) and we still import a lot of meat. Naturally that landscape would have been forested and supported a wide array of biodiversity as well as trees naturally maintaining water tables.

I think we're so used to barren Dales as countryside that we forget they are in fact an entirely artificial creation and that mixed woodland with a range of wildlife is actually the natural state

I saw the program on the Ben Fogle program and thought she was amazing and bloody stunning! Her eldest daughter is also studying to be a doctor or similar. I don’t think she’s going far wrong with whatever her set up is!

I think she’s a very clever woman who knows what she wants and has gone all out to get it. Whilst her children are well brought up, they are also a product of their living environment and circumstances, not just her parenting. With 8 siblings and parents who require your help just to survive, they have little choice but to get on with it. Their lives are far removed from what is normal for the majority of children. As for her comments, it’s a shame she comes across as so preachy. I don’t think it will do her any favours.

'She expects all the kids to help on the farm and they don't really do devices/TV etc'

They don't do devices/ TV etc yet seem to be on the TV every week. It's just reality telly in the Dales.

Good luck to her, she's sold her 'homely' brand and they are reaping the financial benefits but she can stick her snowflake slurs up her smug arse.

I read her book and thought she sounded sensible and a good farmer. I grew up in an isolated rural area (not on a farm) and can quite understand that homeschooling wouldn't work in that environment and leaving the kids to it so your livestock don't all die seems fine to me. She may have invited all this criticism by having a public profile but at least she's given some people an insight to what life is like for a lot of people. Farming and rural living may not be 'normal' to lots of us but it is daily life for a lot of people producing the food we rely on.

When she uses a stupid term like Snowflake Generation - that's all we need to know - stupid, over generalising, populist shite.

I don't like the term snowflakes but I love Amanda, Clive and their DC.

Yes the programme will be edited, but you can't fake the respectful way the children speak to one another when they are filmed by themselves.

And I agree with her point in some ways, if children are entitled, then they are not to blame, they have just been brought up with their parents providing lots of material things for them, and more damaging, solving problems for them.

I disagree with everyone on here who is saying that the DC don't get a broad preparation for life on a farm. I've been privileged to become friends with some farmers over the past few years and crikey they have won my full respect. The ones I know can be awkward buggers, but they are hard-working, independent, and are not only skilled in animal husbandry and agricultural, but also in building, marketing, accounting, sales, land management, drainage, transport etc etc...I could go on. As far as I have observed, about every single problem a child might encounter in life is encountered on a farm. The children are being brought up and helping out in a commercial concern. I guess if one of the children wanted to be a high-flying academic, then they might not have sufficient grades, but having said that, Amanda's books are very intelligently and humourously written and she has a deep interest in local history and the history of agriculture in their area, which comes across in the books, and she is fostering the same in the DC. They are a resourceful family, so I've no doubt they could seek out extra learning support where necessary.

My only concern about it all is the DC potentially getting too much exposure and publicity in this sm age and it damages them in some way.

I think she’s great. She’s a very strong, independent, determined woman who followed her dream to be a shepherdess. They seem like a very happy family and work as a team. I would love to give my children the childhood her children are having.

Regardless of anything else I can't see how anyone could possibly think it's responsible to bring 9 children into the world, let alone have the last one with no support at the age of 46.

That said, good luck to them, but I'd hardly hold them up as paragons of virtue.

I think the original article was in the Radio Times, DM have just cherry picked what they want and made up the rest 🙄