World's Strictest Parents

I found myself binging this on YouTube last weekend. I'm not a fan of reality shows, especially ones where the same thing happens every single episode, but World's Strictest Parents is addictive for some reason. Judging from the premise, it sounds annoying. Two obnoxious and disrespectful teenagers, a boy and girl, go live with a couple who has children for a week, because their parents can't control them and don't know what else to do. They're either American, Australian, or British. Here the teens are American (also, don't know what the other reviewer was talking about, but a majority of the teens were not from LA. I remember only one of them being from there. The rest were from various states). The so-called "strict" parents really aren't as intimidating as they're made out to be. I was also a teenager during the time this show was on MTV. We had cable for a couple of years, and I remember watching this and thinking the parents were strict, but looking at it now as an adult, I realize their expectations are sensible. Do your chores when you're told, come home by a certain time when out with friends, homework comes before playing video games or watching TV, no swearing, drinking, or drug use. That sounds simple enough, but it's hard for teens who have gotten accustomed to doing whatever they want whenever they want, and not experiencing any consequences. Some of them dropped out of school, so they sleep until the afternoon every day. They curse at their parents whenever they're asked to help out around the house, and care more about partying than looking for a job, applying to colleges, or just mapping out some kind of future for themselves. They have no structure or guidance.

The teens stay with families in Sweden, Argentina, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Africa, India, New Zealand, Texas, Ohio. It's interesting to see how people live around the world, and I feel like that's where the intriguing factor comes from. Many of them live on farms. And to be honest, it's actually quite funny how dumb these kids are. Talking back equals doing chores, so the more they got smart with the strict parents, the more chores they had to do. Farm work is strenuous, so you'd think after a certain point they would catch on and shut up, but all they do is extend the amount of time they're outside doing physical work. There is predictability to it, because of course they cuss after the strict parents told them foul language wasn't allowed in their house. The rules are typed out for them, and they sign the paper, but seconds later they start wreaking havoc. It's astonishing how fearless they are with disobeying the strict parents, including the ones who are military vets. They have something sarcastic to say to every adult they encounter. There was an episode where an Aussie teen got smart with the person who was in charge of a boot camp.

My only complaint is that I wish they had covered more of the teens' family life. It seemed like there was a lot happening behind closed doors that wasn't documented. Most of these kids were being raised by a single mom, and didn't have a relationship with their father. Based on the appearance of their neighborhood, they were poverty-stricken, especially the British teens. It was like they lived in the poorest areas of England. Now don't get me wrong, I do think some of the kids didn't necessarily have a problem, other than being spoiled. They were usually taken to a local nonprofit, to get out of their selfish bubble by volunteering. For the teens who took their comfortable life for granted in particular, the strict parents felt like it was important for them to meet people who were less fortunate. In some of the episodes, they participated in a group counseling type of thing with teenagers who came from abusive households. In one episode, the girl told the story of how she was screaming at her dad and pushed him down the stairs, the kids in the group were like why are you so angry and violent, were you ever abused, neglected, abandoned, and she answered no each time. That's what made her realize she didn't appreciate how nice her parents treated her. But the teens from a low socioeconomic background, I feel like they needed therapy, or perhaps medication. The audience is made to think it's normal teenage rebellion that just so happened to get out of hand, but there was most likely a lot more going on behind the scenes. They might've had family members who were on drugs, or a psychiatric illness, but their parents never thought of taking them to a therapist because mental health wasn't discussed back then.

Unlike the majority of reality programming, it's enlightening. It makes you think about the value of family, respect, kindness, and understanding that all of our actions are choices. It's a shame they haven't brought this back, not just for teenagers, but young adults too. A lot of people in their 20s and 30s are emotionally immature, and could really benefit from watching this show. I feel like I'm a good person, most of the time (I really do try), and I watch it for the life lessons that I was taught as a teen. It never hurts to be reminded, because we all slip up and say or do something that we shouldn't have. If Extreme Home Makeover came back, I don't see why this can't, but I'm sure it never will. TV execs are trying to dumb us down. I'm glad there's episodes on YouTube. If you've never seen this, I would highly recommend it, even more so if you have kids.