Super Nanny Returns!!!
We missed the first episode last night, but caught the second…and sit there pissed off. We knew we were in for a good ride when the children contacted Jo with a cry for help.
The 2 oldest daughters, ages 14 and 17, stayed at home all day with their 3 younger brothers, who seemed to be 6 or younger. The 2 girls were responsible for the boys, all day, and were also home schooled. By whom, you ask. By themselves, on computer. Their was absolutely no parent input. So these kids were parents to the boys and trying to complete “school” work. They would do housework, kiss boo boos, break up fights…all while trying to study. The father then had the audacity to say “They could do more” when asked how he thought they were doing.
I was pissed on multiple levels. First, these parents had decided to home school and were leaving it 100% up to the girls to accomplish. Really? That’s better than public or private school. That’s a 0 to 2 teacher student ratio. And, throw in the fact that the 17 year old could not drive. So you have a house of 5 children, with no way to get out if their is an emergency. Just call the mom, you say. Well they tried that when she was almost an hour late, and she didn’t pick up her cell phone. And when she did get home, one of the boys was throwing a fit, and after an hour, she gave up and passed him off to the girls…who had had them all day and were responsible for cleaning up after dinner. What about the dad, you ask. Well, he was of the opinion that they had the older girls to be au pairs to the boys.
It was bad, and affecting the oldest’s health. She actually passed out during one confrontation with the father. She looked like hell. I don’t know how any parent could look into their daughters hollow eyes and not know something was wrong.
I was beside myself. These parents were so extremely selfish. And the daughters said, “Once the cameras and microphones are gone, the parents will just go back. They don’t want to have to work so hard.” Wow.
It makes me wonder. One of my problem with home schooling is this lack of a definitive structure. Watching this, I saw how extreme that could get. And it was all legal and withing homeschooling specifications. These poor girls, trying to get an education, with no guidance other than the computer classes. It just raised my hackles.
super nanny, glenn and sara chapman
January 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
[...] Sympathy Pain [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 9:54 am
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Bryan Comer [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I saw it too! Dude, if I were Joe, the minute I left that house I would have been on the phone with DSS. I cannot believe they televised such an obvious case of abuse and NEGLECT!
Also, the problem with homeschooling, is that there are no mandated reporters….so you have kids in homes where they are being abused and neglected and no one knows about it, and kids have to suffer silently.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
That was my thing, too. Where was child services? You’ve got a houseful of kids, none of them “of age”, and the parents leave them for eight to ten hours at a time. It’s a violation of child labor and child services. I’d have blown their asses in in a heartbeat and then gone and helped another family.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] by Bryan Comer While on the “Super Nanny Rules” page, I saw this article about the Chapman Family. Thought I’d share. I did track done Sara’s “Full Time [...]