Parenting...

I watched a disturbing episode of Supernanny on ABC last night. I was completely out of gas last night, after returning to work after nearly two weeks off. The commercial advertising the new episode caught my eye because they mentioned the fact that this was the first show that the parents didn't call for help on, the children did; in particular, the two older daughters, ages 17 & 14.

Without going into disgustingly laborious detail, here's a quick breakdown on the important facts of the episode:

• Father worked full-time and mother had her own photography business, for which she was gone all day
  
• Besides the two older daughters, there were three boys, two of which were twins. I don't recall their exact ages, but they couldn't have been over three years old.
• Both parents leave for work while all the kids are in bed
• The two older girls attend an online, charter school
  
• The two older girls were expected to entertain the younger kids, take care of the younger kids and clean the house during the day

These two girls were nothing short of slaves for the parents. I have never seen or heard of a set of parents that were any more selfish and self-centered than these two parents. They knew that there was a problem, but they did nothing to try and fix it until the girls called in Supernanny.

What really hit home were some of the comments that Joe Frost (Supernanny) made to the father concerning his role as role model for his two daughters. This really hit home with regards to the book that I'm about a third of the way through at the moment, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. If you have a daughter and haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's linked to in the right-hand column of this page under 'Books I'm Reading'. Clicking on the book cover will bring you directly to Amazon or you can click here. I'll write more about it when I finish it and get around to transcribing all the underlined passages and scribbles I've made in the margins.

I've been discussing the book in dribs and drabs with my wife. To me, the book seems very anti-feminist and against a lot of the things that would be considered norms in today's society. From my vantage point however, it all just seems to make sense. It's amazing to see the relationship between a father and daughter broken down to see all the little things that go into molding and shaping a young girl into a woman. It has caused me, someone who thought that they were involved nothing but positively in my daughters life, to rethink things that I may say or do that have been identified in the book as being a negative influence on a young girl.

Perhaps this book should wind up on this father's reading list. He may be able to save his relationship with his daughters and his daughters, before it's too late!