That boy was so irritating. They treated him like a baby all the time too. There was one episode where he had to learn a song about the Mona Lisa for school, and he kept singing "the Mommy Lisa" like he was three years old! He must've been at least 8 or 9. Laura was so delicate around him, like he was their little china doll. I thought the show was very funny when the kid was not in the story.
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Bring back the old emoticons!
Well, Supernanny didn't exist yet, so the parents had an excuse for bad parenting.
This planet hasn't yet implemented the "Parenting License" or even the "Parenting Manual", and people want to reproduce for the wrong reasons (often even accidentally), without any plans or understanding of child psychology - people pop out kids just like they buy pets, without ANY consideration of their psychology being different, or how much they need rules, boundaries and limitations.
People go to a kennel and pick up a free dog, then label themselves a hero and a 'rescuer', so it's an egoboost. They select a 'cute' dog or 'pityful' dog instead of 'the right energy for you and your lifestyle' dog, instead of 'a complatible dog that doesn't have a lot of baggage and emotional problems'.
So basically people are guaranteed to bring the most problematic dog home, then wonder why their curtains and couches are being demolished and their neighbour's parrot disappeared mysteriously.
People have NO consideration for the future, they don't save money first and plan everything meticulously, they don't practice, they don't learn how GOOD even babies are at manipulating the parents, let alone toddlers, let alone older children. Some youtubers even admit their child 'plays' their mother completely, and no one sees anything wrong with this. Then they wonder why their little treasure turned out to be a psycho that had to be sent to some juvenile punishment facility, and ended up a heroin addict that steals cars and runs people over when drunk.
Rules, boundaries, limitations - discipline. These are the things these wannabe-parents never even consider, let alone learn. If they even TRY to 'discipline' a child, it's always something so stupid - they try some outrageous thing the kid KNOWS is just a lie (to intimidate the child, I suppose), and then NEVER follow through.
Two examples;
1) Someone I know told me they watched Supernanny, but her techniques don't work. When I inquired further, they revealed that they had sent their kid out to a freezing weather in the evening (wearing only flimsy pyjamas) and told the kid they won't let him in until morning. You can guess they of COURSE let the kid in after a minute or two, because the threat was RIDICULOUS to begin with, and the kid knows it.
OF COURSE it wouldn't work, if THAT is how you do it! The point is not to make the kid suffer physically, the point is to force the kid to be BORED for 5 or however minutes. Sigh.
2) In a stupid youtube compilation video about 'kids being owned by their parents' (or something idiotic like that), they show a PERFECT example of the parents NOT understanding anything about parenting, and definitely NOT owning the kid in any way.
A father says he's gonna give the kid a wonderful present, since the kid always says he doesn't want to clean his room or whatnot, so the present turns out to be 'freedom', when he opens the door and SHOVES the kid out the door. This is basically child abuse AND bad parenting AND I can 100% guarantee they let the kid in after a minute or maybe five. I would bet 1000 bucks right now that they let the kid back in before nightfall, and 10000 bucks that they let the kid in before morning.
This kind of 'EXTREME PUNISHMENTS' never work, because the kid KNOWS you are not going to follow through, you are not gonna make the kid stand outside the whole night. It becomes JUST ANOTHER EMPTY THREAT the kid doesn't have to take seriously.
This kind of stupidity and bad parenting is inexcusable in modern times, but back in 1960s, Supernanny wasn't a TV show yet, and since this planet even NOW hasn't yet implemented ANY kind of 'parental education' or any requirement for parents to know ANYTHING about child psychology, discipline, rules, boundaries or limitations, Richie isn't even that bad compared to what you see in supermarkets..