The world's strictest parents

[BroccoliSpears]

Did anyone else just watch this?

I am surprised by how much I liked the American family.

I liked the way they praised their children. I liked that he told them he was proud of them every day. I like the idea of both parents spending one-to-one time with each of the children.

I thought they were a lovely couple. They really cared about their family, and saw raising their kids as a job worth doing rather than just letting it happen naturally. If you have that attitude it's not that hard to find something worth praising in your children.

What really surprised me about the father (given that they lived in the not-very-tolerant South) was how accepting he was of the young lad's sexuality and that he didn't force his religious beliefs on either of the Brit kids.

Mind you, I couldn't stop thinking of Ned Flanders

I thought he was really good, when i first turned over I thought oh god hes not going to see their point of view at all. The british lad was so childish as to be unbelievable and the only thing that stuck a bit was that the american teen had to tell his parents about the smoking in the bowling alley.
I think it was unfair to call them the worlds strictest parents.

I saw this as well and initially my heart sank when I saw the Alabhama couple, but they were fair and took time to understand and talk - the one to one thing is something I'd really like to do with my 3 when they are a bit older maybe.

I hope those 2 got sorted out - they looked like they had just lost their way.

i thought they would be worse actually, i think its a bit far to call them The World's Strictest Parents.

Im really surprised that for such a religious man, he was so accepting of the boy being gay. Good on him!

(can i just say, "You dropped the F bomb?????!!!!!")

pmsl at the f bomb, might have to use that in RL

I really liked them. I think maybe they went a bit overboard in some things, but can see why they supervised internet, tv etc.

I would like to go and stay with them for a week.

One thing that really stuck out for me was how interested they were in their children adn how they treated them as individuals, spending one on one time just listening to them. And how he liked to tell them how proud he was of them and praise them so often. Also I think although they were seen as making their kids decisions for them, I think they also encouraged them in learning how to make decisions by themselves. Giving them the back up on what to do.

And forgiveness - the now you have apologised then it is over we will start again thing, really struck me.

And learning the consequences of your actions.

And talking about/explaining their feelings as well as their kids. And teaching their kids to respect themselves.

I don't see me being as strict with ds in monitoring everything he does - but I like a lot of their ideas, mostly i think that cover boosting self esteem and taking responsibility for yourself and your actions.

I don't think they were strict so much as just very involved. Strict to me means totalitarian with no awareness of your children as individuals - I don't think that was an acurate description of them.

Am very interested in next weeks one.

Yes, "the F bomb" made me snigger.

I was thinking though, the dad obviously made his mistakes when he was younger. He seems to think that he can prevent his children making bad choices. Don't bad choices make you the person you are? Can you really be a fully rounded individual without some bad as well as good choices in your past?

yes broccoli i agree about the fact that the dad made the mistakes and he learnt that way, i wonder if there will come a time when his children just want to break out and learn for themselves

Found myself in tears a couple of times - I think telling your kids you are proud of them is hugely important. The whole program was really unexpected - I also expected the boy's sexuality to be a big issue.

Just watched this on iplayer. Gosh, wasn't the American family lovely? Dad was a bit too much of a control freak, I think the mum would have been a bit more laid back given the chance, but they did a great job with the British teenagers.

He was a control freak, but also really warm and caring, I thought. I do wonder how their own kids turn out when they have to make their own way, but maybe they do have the tools to cope.

Yes, he was a teddy bear! I would have been really interested in seeing more of how they parent their own kids - if what we saw is true, I'd guess that their self-esteem is probably so good that they won't go far wrong.

I liked their house - given that my dh also works in pharmaceuticals, and yet we have a house that would probably fit in their swimming pool, I think we should go transatlantic-job hunting!

Maybe the house helps, but it is in Alabama.

I often suspect that some physical punishment is required to create these spookily well-behaved kids - it wasn't mentioned in this case. I guess they won't be inflicting it on any of the British teens even if they have on their own at some stage.

I've spent the evening telling my kids how proud I am of them!

I think to begin with I was expecting the parents to be really bad but by the end I actually admired their parenting skills.
Could'nt help thinking of Jerry Springer every time I saw the dad though