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Big fat gypsy christenings

77 replies

JazzAnnNonMouse · 01/10/2013 21:31

Anyone watching?

Obviously not all travellers agree with the views and This isn't representative of travellers in general...
However - I'm surprised by the statistics and the opinions on breast feeding.

Also that man being killed 5 days after his baby was born Sad

OP posts:
deepfriedsage · 01/10/2013 22:52

I feel sorry for them also, they are like man and women children somehow.

Fairydust1986 · 01/10/2013 23:08

Lol

Fairydust1986 · 01/10/2013 23:11

Yes they're stupid but shame on channel 4 for turning it into a circus.
I'm a mother & I was horrified at the way they were treating the babies. This is what lack of education does

runningonwillpower · 01/10/2013 23:15

Sorry but what's the exact point of this programme?

Point and laugh?

Point and judge?

Fairylea · 01/10/2013 23:15

Oh gosh I really had my judgey pants on watching this....

Baby ear piercing :(
Babies squashed up together in a tiny cot bundled up with fleece blankets and not enough room :(
Babies stuffed into obviously uncomfortable clothing for the sake of some old traditions :(
Babies crying and people seemingly just ignoring them .... grrrrrrr.

I'm surprised my pants are still holding it together they are pulled so high.

I'm off to have a relaxing cocoa. I need it and a lie down after that!

YoureBeingADick · 01/10/2013 23:16

Channel 4 do that with everything though. Would never expect any different from them.

ggirl · 01/10/2013 23:21

'I feel sorry for them also, they are like man and women children somehow.' -yes exactly!

deepfriedsage · 01/10/2013 23:29

I don't think its stupidity, I just came away feeling so sad for them. They are in the body's of adults with the thinking of juniour school children.

YoureBeingADick · 01/10/2013 23:32

I agree that its not stupidity. it's ignorance due to the views they hold on lots of different things that make getting information difficult. Fears of being seen as immodest, or that it would seem odd for a girl to seek out information about childbirth before she was married or religious restrictions etc.

deepfriedsage · 01/10/2013 23:39

All the bling, Disney and no interest in comfort are all very childlike attractions. The inability to time keep for such important events. They seem to be very visual focused and don't seem to spend much thought on planning.

YoureBeingADick · 01/10/2013 23:45

Yes the time keeping reminded me very much of myself as a teen and some teens i know now. Its like the responsibility to the other person isnt a consideration.

YoureBeingADick · 01/10/2013 23:46

Responsibility to be on time for them and respect that they have other plans i mean

moanalot · 02/10/2013 00:05

On the whole they didn't come across as good mothers. They're so contradictory in the way they think it's shameful to breast feed because it would mean exposing the breasts and yet they see no harm in letting their very young daughters dress and dance so provocatively, and why don't they understand that the reason a lot of the venues they try to book for weddings and funerals don't want them is because half the time they can't behave and mass brawls is what often happens. They say they don't like our way of life....well I don't like their way.

deepfriedsage · 02/10/2013 00:17

I thought that it was strange the dress and dance like hookers, boobs out yet won't breastfeed. I found that hard to get my head round them saying it was shameful to breastfeed in public yet they don't find it shameful to dress like a streetwalker in church.

cooeeyonlyme · 02/10/2013 00:30

Come to where i live and you will see this every day. Some are nice but the majority are awful.
Our kids are often beaten up, our shed and gardens are ransacked, you will see children driving vans! We report them but nothing is done.

My beautiful village has been destroyed and it will never be the same again. I would move but the 5 huge sites that have popped up in the last 5 years surrounding my village has brought house prices down. Leaving most residence in negative equity.

Viewers may laugh and think this program is funny but it's not.
Only the other day a lady serving in my local shop was threatened and told to bring the hardest man in the village to fight a traveller. WTF!!

Land has been taken. We wake up and we find rubble dumped at the end of our drives or just tipped into the street so we're blocked in.

My child and his friends were dragged of there bikes. It was reported and the bikes were returned but no arrests were made. Why?

MrsDavidBowie · 02/10/2013 08:03

I caught about ten minutes of it...the funeral and burial (people fagging it by the graveside...nice) and the pregnant one in the car .

Even with editing, their way of life does not come across well.

Shellywelly1973 · 02/10/2013 08:12

If this show had been about a different culture, other then travellers- I wonder if a word like 'stupid' would be used in a post & not picked up on by other people posting one this thread...?

SelectAUserName · 02/10/2013 08:27

running on willpower, I think it's to make the viewers feel smug and superior and to allow them to express their smug judgmental superiority over one of the few minority groups that it is still seen, for whatever reason, as acceptable to poke fun at and demonise.

Vagndidit · 02/10/2013 08:45

Definitely a cringefest, particularly the attitudes about breastfeeding (although, to be fair, negative attitudes toward breastfeeding are not exclusive to the Travelling community, particularly in Britain)

I didn't realize that poor man was killed ( in part) by his own wife. Was wondering where his child's mother was in all the funeral activity.

YoureBeingADick · 02/10/2013 09:18

When did it say he was killed in part by his wife? I thought it was a revenge killing for a fight his dad had 20 years ago when a man died?

Amber76 · 02/10/2013 09:19

Found the whole programme very disturbing. I know that not all Travellers are like this but think the people shown are largely awful.

What about nutrition in pregnancy? Downing red bull when heavily pregnant!

I've a three month old baby who has almost exclusively worn only babygros because I want him to be comfortable. They harp on about how important family is but don't seem to care about the babies at all. The dummy with the stones on it? Why on earth is that woman still selling them if she is aware that some of the mothers don't understand that this would be dangerous in a baby's mouth??

I agree with the view that some Travellers are very childlike in their view off the world. I'd like to see channel 4 try and include some balance to the programme - think it is very irresponsible to portray all Travellers like this.

Retropear · 02/10/2013 09:28

I hate the way as a society we just sit back,watch these TV shows and do nothing- all in the name of being PC.

This show glamorises sexism,DV and poor childcare.

It's dreadful from start to finish when the husband started clobbering his wife,the same lovely soul who put own his wife's dreams,reused to support her in child birth,yelled at her and said babies was women's work.Nice.Hmm

But hey don't knock it otherwise you're racist.Hmm

Vivacia · 02/10/2013 09:37

I think the refusal to breastfeed is part of a 100 year old tradition. It's part of their family-focused culture.

Nancy66 · 02/10/2013 10:11

None of them knew how to hold a baby properly. the new-born's heads were flopping about all over the place.

Viviennemary · 02/10/2013 10:13

I certainly don't think it's amusing. I don't watch it usually but I did last night. I think it's because they are such an insulated community that these traditions are so inbuilt. What I mean is that we don't do what our grandmothers and mothers did just because. We might do but we decide for ourselves. Hopefully! But Channel 4 has got a lot to asnwer for.