Tonight, Lisa explored the lives of parents who are parenting their children in ways others might consider extreme.
Lisa interviews the Pachone’s who are taking an approach sometimes referred to as “tiger parenting”. They have extremely high expectations for their 6 year old boys, their days are filled with structure and discipline. Their family is all about achievement, all the time. The kids go to a private school year round, followed by 3 hrs of extracurriculars such as chess and tennis. Their kids are not allowed to play team sports, only individual sports, because there is more pressure. The Pachone’s are also very strict when it comes to their boy’s behavior, dress, and manners. These parents make most of their children’s decisions for them, they feel that this is the way to best prepare their children for future success.
Next, Lisa visits the Sherman’s who practice what is called “unschooling”. Unschoolers reject the idea of an organized approach to education. These parents follow the children’s lead, not a curriculum. The mother describes unschooling as life learning, and learning from experiences, if a child has a passion, they can choose to immerse theirself in that. Unschooling is about letting a child be who he or she is, learning through everyday experiences, being creative and imaginitive, and following their passions and building on that.
The next family is the Carnie’s, This family is all about competition. Terry Carnie is not only his son’s father, he is also his personal trainer. His son Lewan starts every morning with a 2 hr workout. Their goal is for Lewan to get into the NFL. Lewan is also a blackbelt in karate. They are instilling physical and mental discipline into their son. Their reasoning goes beyond the obvious, They see it as a way to help their son become succesful and beat the odds. Terry Carnie knows firsthand about life on the street, and wants more for his son.
Lisa then makes her way to Davenport Iowa, where the Smith’s goal for their daughters is for them to become childhood stars. Their 2 yr daughter has entered and won pagents, and the one yr old is just starting out. The mother in this family, Kelly belives that being pretty is an asset in this world, and places great value on it. Kelly actually questions herself at the end of the show when her 2 year old beat her one year old for the crown when the one year old clearly did a better job, the judges said that it was all about beauty.
The underlying theme in all of these stories is that parents choose their parenting style based on how they were parented. In most cases, these parents feel like they lacked something in the way they were raised by their parents. In turn, they take an opposite approach, and sometimes to the extreme.
sources
Our America with Lisa Ling- Extreme Parenting on OWN