in being so bloody offended that Channel 4 have aired tonight's Wife Swap

[AdelaideJo]

Please tell me i'm not the only one sick to my stomach at what the Bristol family are putting that 18 month old baby girl through on a daily basis.

snigger, it obviously does not mean that all abused children grow up to be abusers but the fact is most abusers have been abused.To then hate them for t (while understandable perhaps) seems short sted and unhelpful.

IMO this little girl was being neglected and the whole family clearly needs help. Help as far as I'm concerned does not include venemous name calling...

The baby was neglected. Without question. It is shocking and horrifying to think that social services have more serious cases to prioritise, but that does not mean this baby was not very severely neglected.

The mother obviously has mental health issues. She needs support and it does no one any good to judge her. But that poor sweet little girl has been neglected. No getting away from it.

LewisFan How exactly do you live that you feel it would provoke this reaction?

I have watched the programme and it wasn't squalor imo.
What did the father do to address the supposed squalor? Why aren't we questioning that??

She looked like a very lovely happy little girl and I'm sorry that that upsets some of your sensibilities.
In an ideal world everyone has all the answers but for some it's a really steep learning curve and it was obvious that she was willing to learn and change.

In some respects she may be a better mother than some of you....there is no magic tick list
Does it make you feel better or like better mothers to think that your way is the right or best way

Maybe she's doing her best and is a work in progress

'being lazy isn't a red flag for child abuse, FFS!'
Being lazy allows other people to abuse your kid.

There were three clear parallels to the baby P case:
Filthy house with animal shit everywhere.
Mother sleeping in and essentially abandoning her baby from evening until next day lunch time.
Mother spending huge amount of time on the PC while child fends for itself.

The main difference is that the man in this house was benign
and not a Nazi-loving sadist.
The open question is whether lazy woman would have been able to tell the difference.

But yes, in this case all's well that ends well.

don't me, thanks - I've already explained that i lived in a very similar style to the woman until very recently....

I just think the utter vitriol on this thread is entirely uncalled for

IT IS ONLY TELLY they don't live like that always as any fule can tell by watching between the lines.

Just watched this and although I agree that the leaving the baby in bed and giving her crisps for breakfast was very bad parenting, I don't agree that the house was in such a state that social services neded involvement.

I think the mum was stuck in a rut and hopefully the programme gave her a big enough kick up the back side to sort herself out.

Lewisfan. Don't rise to it. This thread is full of very weird shouty people!

thanks to this thread, and the link provided,
i shall watch and keep my judgements to myself.

or perhaps i wont watch judging by everyone else's reactions!

Oh, I agree completely that name-calling is unlikely to lead to positive results - I volunteer with homestart and appreciate how much a kind word can support someone's self-image, I just find the 'I had a bad upbringing, it's not my responsibility' defence hard to accept.

Erm and there were many clear non-parallels.

Mother was not involved in abusing child.
Mother did not turn blind eye to child abuse from partner and family friend.
Mother did not walk in on man raping child and do nothing.
Mother did not lie to social services and doctors about injuries.

I could go on but Baby P upset a lot of people and dragging it in here is both inappropriate and irrelevant.

If you feel need to discuss and draw comparisons suggest you resurrect appropriate thread.

To draw comparisons between the two is obscene.

can we please not dignify the Baby P parallels with any sort of response

tis the musings of a madman

The utter vitirol is entirely called for. She is lazy and neglected her child. No excuse for it!
Lets all be nice and excuse the lazy bitch and her revolting house. We don't want to upset her , do we.

Um sorry this thread moves fast!

FWIW I'm with lewisfan if they came and filmed here for a week or 2 they could easily cut it to make me look like a dreadful parent.

The 1.30 thing stood out for me though. No need for that.

Sorry ronaldinho you are right, was just so ridiculous I couldn't help myself.

weird.

shouty.

It's telly ffs.

Do you kiss your children with that mouth??

Snigger - I was very taken with how much like Homestart this was. Someone not coping. Someone else comes in and helps them get their act together. Great outcome.

I explained how it could be relevant and the point of my post was
that the producers might have realised this, too.

It's not at all obscene to see the link betwen extreme levels of filth and neglect
to full-blown abuse.

I wonder if those of you who are so quick to defend this woman also spend all day on the internet. Seriously , how can anyone think that it is ok.

let's not get abusive now, Ronald, no need for that on this thread

meh

Not defending her Gino - just saying she accepted she needed to change.

quite so

I agree Litchick - almost classic response from someone who's probably been enabled in their earlier behaviour.

Sometimes a mirror up to your behaviour can be enough to promote change - for anyone, in any environment.