Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Darth Zakryn on February 08, 2011, 10:25:14 AM
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Comments removed
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So...how do you feel about the parents again?
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None of the punishements seemed very harsh to me... Different from what my parents would have done, maybe, but not really harsh. Of course, by today's standard's where parents can't punish their kids at all for fear of being labeled as child abusers, I guess it's a little much.
And I don't remember a bomb being dropped on Cassie in number 14, but it's been a while since I read that one...
I do agree that the parents probably should have noticed that the Anis were staying out late and stuff, but after a while they were having the Chee cover for them more and more, which solved that.
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H's talking about the Dracon beam that fired at Zone 91.
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Ok, does anyone else think the Animorphs' parents were, well, um, not to put too fine a point on it, a bunch of dicks? I mean, yeah, they're fine and good most of the time, but when the Animorphs need to be punished boy they go to town on them. In fact, it's almost like they enjoy it. Jake's dad gives him a ****ing draconian punishment in MM#1 just because he stayed out late for a few hours, which he is remorseful for anyway, but STILL severely punishes him, and relents ONLY FOR A FEW HOURS if he will do the work he should have done HIMSELF. He may be a doctor, but he's an irresponsible ****.
Um, when I was thirteen, if I stayed out hours late without notifying my parents, I'd have been grounded for months. So would my friends, had they come home late. Draconian? Really?
The reverse happens in #12, where Rachel's mom not only doesn't notice that her daughter jumped or "fell" into a crocodile pit, but she doesn't punish her for it, severely or non! Hell, she doesn't even QUESTION her about it. Great lawyer, but HORRIBLE mother.
"Hey honey, that part where you almost died in a crocodile pit? You're grounded."
Then we have Cassie's parents in #14 embarrassing Cassie with great glee, snickering like high school pranksters and using something sweet to turn into something perverse for their own twisted ends due to their warped views of the world,
Because "aww, isn't out daughter growing up sweet and awkward" is exactly the same as child abuse.
which shows that Cassie's parents are the winners of the "Worst Parents of the Animorphs" Awards.
No way, Peter totally has a lock on that prize.
Not to mention Cassie's dad was nonchalant about what he believed to be a possible dropped bomb "ACCIDENTALLY" KILLING HIS DAUGHTER.
Yeah that was stupid. Then again, after Cassie goes missing in #19 apparently they can't stop hugging her for weeks afterwards, so it's not like they don't care about her.
Then we have Marco's dad making his son FERTILIZE the lawn with raw **** after he's out late. In addition to losing TV, of course, AND being grounded.
THAT'S what you choose to pick on Peter for? The child neglect, the obliviousness to the point of idiocy, the lack of authoritative power, the passive-aggression, the 'not noticing my sick kid's been gone for twelve hours', the ice cream for dinner, the two years in the Sad Cave, and FERTILIZING THE LAWN is his biggest flaw?
Really, who else LIKES the Animorphs' parents?
Me! Who cares if they're flawed people, they're fictional characters. And sometimes endearing ones at that.
And then, not only do they never relax on their punishments or, hell, just TALK to their children, but they never notice that their children are staying out later, and that so are their friends. The parents can keep in touch, so how hard would it be to figure out they're all going out around the same time? They never notice that they're getting moodier and depressed. Even if they thought that this was teenage angst, never confronting them about it or even just watching them or talking to them, or, you know, maybe PLAYING A PART IN THEIR LIVES, is totally irresponsible on their parts.
They do notice that their kids are getting moodier (#15, #16 and ugh #32 are good examples), but are they supposed to jump to the conclusion that their kids are participating in a war? Peter tries to reach out to Marco but is rebuffed, Jean tries to talk to Jake but assumes it's a normal part of growing up. And we know they play a role in their kids' lives, we see plenty of references to them doing things with their families.
Really, it seems ALL they care about is that they get grades and follow their orders.
Except, you know, the scenes between Jake and Jean in #16 and #31, Naomi protecting her daughters from a bear in #49, Peter trying to reach out to Marco in #10, #15 and #35, Cassie's parents putting their daughter's safety first in #49 and inviting her to participate in their work throughout the series, so on so forth. I think it's incredibly obvious that all the parents in the series really love their kids and want the best for them, and one of the things I love about the series is that all the parents have their distinct personalities and parenting styles. Sometimes the parents are infuriatingly clueless or easy to fool, but I don't think they're nearly worthy of this much hate.
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^ what she said. ;)
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Zakryn, don't mess with Lisa :p
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Lisa: Ok, you're right. Sorry if I got too overblown. And yes, you're right, I only touched the tip of the iceberg on Peter's failing as a parent...
And yes I'm changing how I operate here.
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How exactly is making one's son fertilize the lawn abusive? :eyebrow: It's called doing extra chores as a punishment. That's pretty... standard. Also, what do you think fertilizer IS?
Also, you might want to tone down the language in your posts. A lot.
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Sure there's maybe once or twice when their parents drop the ball, but making an occasional mistake is normal. For the most part I have to agree with Lisa, their parents did a pretty good job 90% of the time. The only major example of parenting screw up is Peter neglecting Marco for two years, but even that sadly isn't a rare thing after a tragic and traumatic event. Any other minor examples are more likely the result of KA not bothering to write an explanation into the books.
On the subject of the Chee filling in for them, they do mention examples of this causing some confusion with their families. Like "Cassie" getting incredibly high marks in a maths test in #44 and "Rachel" being too nice to her sisters.
Oh, and Steph is correct about your language Zakryn, please try to reduce the amount of swearing for the benefit of younger members.
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What's with all the rants, man? Not that I haven't gone into a rant or two myself...
I don't remember any instance where a parent took a belt to any of the kids. Does that count for something? I think they're all believable parents.
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out of all of the things to complain about animorphs you have to pick one thing ka did right.
the parents were fine. the only problem i had was that she didn't talk about them enough.
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When my dad was a kid, his older brother got onto trouble, and do you know what the punnishment was? My grandfather tied him to a tractor and left him there all night.
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I'm sorry, I don't mean to be scary!
My mom used to tell my brother and I that if we acted up she'd tie us up by our thumbs and starve us to death in the basement "like she did with the first three kids". Maybe I got my scary from her.
Post Merged: February 08, 2011, 04:27:34 PM
When my dad was a kid, his older brother got onto trouble, and do you know what the punnishment was? My grandfather tied him to a tractor and left him there all night.
:o JEEZ! Ladies and gentlemen, the days of yore.
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When my dad was a kid, his older brother got onto trouble, and do you know what the punnishment was? My grandfather tied him to a tractor and left him there all night.
Well... um... I bet he didn't do whatever it was he did again....
And also, even though they weren't his parents, I figure that Tobias' legal guardians (aunt and uncle) take the "Worst 'Parents' of the Animorphs' Award. He goes missing for MONTHS and they don't even bother to figure out where he was? I mean, come on! The lived on different sides of the country! What did he do? Hop a train to go to his aunt's house after school one day? Uncle and Aunt = Fail.
Loren had some lame-o siblings..... :P
Also, Rachel's dad (who hasn't been mentioned yet) seemed to be a pretty decent father... 'cept for the whole being divorced and moving across the country part. ::) I mean, when he moved, he thought of his children as well as his job. Rachel mattered to him (and so did his other daughters). When Rachel fell into the croc pit and then broke the house, her dad came that same day, flying in from wherever he lived. Actually, after it's said that they couldn't get to him in book 49, that was one of the saddest parts in the series, I thought.
Oh, and I think that Marco's mom is actually the prize winning Parental failure :P... Not that she had much choice, but still. My mom used to tell my brother and I that if we acted up she'd tie us up by our thumbs and starve us to death in the basement "like she did with the first three kids". Maybe I got my scary from her.
Wow.. that must have been effective... Not that my parent's didn't/don't have their own scare tactics.
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Well... um... I bet he didn't do whatever it was he did again....
That reminds me of something I heard a comedian say. He said when his father got mad at him or his siblings, he threw a shovel through a wall. Whatever they did to make that happen, never happened again. the skit was about if men actually discipline kids nowadays they have to go to counsiling and maybe take medication or some stuff. Nowadays you have people like Zakryn who think being made to fertilize a lawn as punishment is some horrible act of abuse. Heck i mowed the lawn as one of my summer chores. I never fertilized it, but I doubt whoever was made to do it had to handle feces with his bare hands or something.
Of course Zakryn is a guy that thinks throwing a snickers bar (or whatever candy bar type it was) into a pool and calling it a turd is disgustingly obsene.
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Well, I wouldn't agree it's obscene, but it's certainly wasteful...
Oi, and yes. Tobias' aunt and uncle. I mean, I guess there could've been stuff going on that we didn't hear about--at the very least his teachers must've notice he was gone. 13 year olds don't just disappear without something being done. It could conceivably be that there was just more important stuff for them to be dwelling on.
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There was actually one teacher that recognized him and was like "Tobias! Is that you? where have you been?"
But yeah, Tobias' folks take the cake. peter probably could have done better, but had the defense of being clinically depressed. Makes me wonder why Erek and his dad didn't do more or something. Though I'm not sure why marco and erek had a falling out at all.
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They didn't have a falling out. Erek was just a guy Marco sort of knew. And then he changed schools.
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Marco and Erek really didn't seem to know each other very well pre-series. It was definitely a 'I know this kid's name and occasionally talk to him' friendship, not a deep friendship. And even after Peter got his act together...he was still a terrible, terrible parent. Examples! (http://community.livejournal.com/animorphs/606373.html?thread=8874661#t8874661) Personally, I always sort of assumed Jake's family picked up some of Peter's slack in those two years, since Jake and Marco supposedly had been friends since they were tiny.
But yeah, Tobias' folks are just the worst, but I excluded them because they really aren't his parents. Although Loren and Elfangor could have a case for worst Aniparent if we ignore the circumstances. I mean, Elfangor inflicted a whole war on his kid. Whoops.
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I know Zakryn may have overreacted Chad, but we all have our own opinions about what is and isn't fair punishment.
When Tobias vanished, the school will have called his Uncle, who told them he'd moved. Nowadays the school probably would've followed up on that (or at least got angry at the Uncle for not telling them in advance that Tobias was leaving) but maybe not at the time the booms were written. Or maybe they did and that's how they found out he wasn't staying with either of them.
As for Marco and Erek, they were never friends as far as I recall, just guys who knew each other. Marco said a few people from school turned up at his mum's funeral and Erek was just one of them.
Oh, and Melissa may not have been an Animorph, but her dad certainly deserves considering for worst parent. He bloody told the Yeerks about Earth in the first place! He sold out humanity to the Yeerks and got a slug in his head in return. The fact that he doesn't remember any of it doesn't excuse him. The fact that he seemingly grew up to be a nice does redeem him slightly though (he became a Controller to save his daughter).
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I don't think making a horrible mistake when you're not a parent makes you a bad parent. ot that what Chapman did wasn't a wall banger.
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Ok, yeah, looking over my past posts, which I've never done before, I see how bad I am. I am going to change that starting NOW. And the point I was driving home (or trying to :-[) was that they're screw-ups and can't tell the difference about their kids. You know, maybe I was just raised to try the sensitive approach (****ing aside).
Not one of my prouder moments on this site...
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Well the important thing is that you know now Zak and you're willing to do something about it.
Although they did show moments where their parents expressed concern about them, it's something that would probably have been a bigger issue than we actually saw in the books. For the most part they were decent parents and would surely have noticed depression, aggression, insomnia, nightmares, staying out late with no explanation and a bunch of other things the Animorphs had to deal with. I can only assume they put it down to them being teenagers (and the fact that the Animorphs lied to them a lot to hide their problems).
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Well that gives me the hilarious mental image of the Animorphs being taken to counseling by their parents and them getting so worked up that they just blurt out "Earth is being invaded by aliens, and, by the way, I can turn into any animal I want!"
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When my dad was a kid, his older brother got onto trouble, and do you know what the punnishment was? My grandfather tied him to a tractor and left him there all night.
:wow:
your Grandma is AWESOME!
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None of the punishements seemed very harsh to me... Different from what my parents would have done, maybe, but not really harsh. Of course, by today's standard's where parents can't punish their kids at all for fear of being labeled as child abusers, I guess it's a little much.
And I don't remember a bomb being dropped on Cassie in number 14, but it's been a while since I read that one...
I do agree that the parents probably should have noticed that the Anis were staying out late and stuff, but after a while they were having the Chee cover for them more and more, which solved that.
And shouldn't TOM be wondering why Jake keeps staying out late, and otherwise behaving strangely (such as eating everything in sight during "The Capture")?
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When my dad was a kid, his older brother got onto trouble, and do you know what the punnishment was? My grandfather tied him to a tractor and left him there all night.
:wow:
your Grandma is AWESOME!
And on a related note, so is your Grandpa.