Here Comes Honey Boo Boo

[Alana Rickman]

Today I learned that Mama is 32, Dad is 40, and the oldest of the four girls (who "Honey Boo Boo" calls "the pregnant-est" of her three sisters) is 17. So Daddy impregnated Mama when he was 23 and she was 15.

[galaxygirl]

What what what??? :shock:

This is for reals?

I don't watch this show, so Idk anything about these people... ::goes off to Google::

......

OH DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN AND FRIED CHEESE STICKS... The pictures... I can't. I don't even want to read any articles because I'm already scared.

You really want to try to find the Toddlers&tiaras episode. It's all sorts of glorious in a trainwreck kinda way.

[slickcat79]

Today I learned that Mama is 32, Dad is 40, and the oldest of the four girls (who "Honey Boo Boo" calls "the pregnant-est" of her three sisters) is 17. So Daddy impregnated Mama when he was 23 and she was 15.

That is so not right. Forget whether or not they're rednecks, how about whether or not they're criminals?

Are we sure it's the same Daddy for all of them? :o

[2xx1xy1JD]

Aye, she's like kids from round here. It's not appalling.

She's a bit cheeky but her mum shows her a lot of love.

How exactly are you defining love?

I'm sure she adores her in a rather selfish "my kid is cute and cuddly, and I'll show her off" sort of way. I just don't see her doing the more mature "I'm so concerned about my child that I am determined to put real effort into making the best decisions possible and making her ultimate well-being my top priority" thing.

Feeding your child Red Bull and Mountain Dew is downright dangerous.

[Witsec7]

I want to rename the series, "To train up a pole dancer".

[JesusFightClub]

How exactly are you defining love?

I'm sure she adores her in a rather selfish "my kid is cute and cuddly, and I'll show her off" sort of way. I just don't see her doing the more mature "I'm so concerned about my child that I am determined to put real effort into making the best decisions possible and making her ultimate well-being my top priority" thing.

Feeding your child Red Bull and Mountain Dew is downright dangerous.

Sorry, I'm from an area where this looks like a positive childrearing decision, because you aren't telling them to fuck off and hitting them if they won't.

Her mum seems to definitely love her. She may make bad choices but there is love there.

[2xx1xy1JD]

"Better than totally shitty" doesn't mean that something is necessarily good.

Again, I think it's a higher level of love to go beyond looking at how someone else can please you and make you feel good, and to consider how you can do the best thing for them whether or not it feels good for you.

[JesusFightClub]

Come round where I live sometime and see how ethical you feel then.

I live where most people are unemployed, and there's a lot of drug addiction and alcohol addiction. I don't need lectures off lawyers who are probably paid multiples of what I earn.

Take a stroll with me to my local shops. I'd take you there. It's not very far away.

You won't like it much though, there are women screaming at their kids and calling them fucking cunts and bitches. There are men who are blatantly drunk or stoned. There are fights. It'll not be like where you live, at a guess.

So bringing up a child with love is a good thing. We aren't overburdened with chances. We're not Oxbridge material or on course for Olympic gold. We do the best we can.

I'm a high earner here on 17k, do you know that? I'm regarded as posh round here. The people who call their kids "the wee bitch" probably do love them. But it's not easy to tell.

Honey Boo Boo is obviously loved. There may well be missteps, but she is loved.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Come round where I live sometime and see how ethical you feel then.

I live where most people are unemployed, and there's a lot of drug addiction and alcohol addiction. I don't need lectures off lawyers who are probably paid multiples of what I earn.

Take a stroll with me to my local shops. I'd take you there. It's not very far away.

You won't like it much though, there are women screaming at their kids and calling them fucking cunts and bitches. There are men who are blatantly drunk or stoned. There are fights. It'll not be like where you live, at a guess.

So bringing up a child with love is a good thing. We aren't overburdened with chances. We're not Oxbridge material or on course for Olympic gold. We do the best we can.

I'm a high earner here on 17k, do you know that? I'm regarded as posh round here. The people who call their kids "the wee bitch" probably do love them. But it's not easy to tell.

Honey Boo Boo is obviously loved. There may well be missteps, but she is loved.

Have you read anything that I've posted about the type of law that I practice? I do family and child protection law. Much of what I've done was working with Legal Aid clients in Scarborough, one of the poorest sections of Toronto. I've also worked for a child protection agency. When I started out, my earnings were around the same level as yours, since Legal Aid was going through massive cut-backs. Please don't make ignorant guesses about where I've lived or what I've seen. I can deal with drunks and drug addicts, who are quite common in my practice. I have a harder time with the babies who have broken ribs because mom's boyfriend is an asshole who couldn't take going without sex for 6 weeks.

My clients loved their kids. I know that. They just didn't always love them well. In some cases, that love wasn't enough to overcome the other problems.

With some, I saw the greatest examples of courageous love. One girl had been molested by her father, rejected by the rest of the family for disclosing the abuse, and then bounced around the foster care system until it declared that she was thoroughly screwed up. She turned 18, was out on the street, and got pregnant. As soon as she found out about the pregnancy, she hitchhiked thousands of miles from her home poverty-stricken province to Toronto, because she wanted her child born in a place with more opportunity. Street workers discovered that she was pregnant, and she was placed in a maternity home where she absolutely thrived. When the baby was born, though, he was taken away, and we couldn't convince the courts to place him back with his mother at the temporary care hearing. I went through the options and process with my client, and she stopped me. She knew that it could take time to fight to get her son back, and she couldn't stand the thought of him being in foster care the way that she was. I wanted her to really think it over, but after she took a bit of time her position was the same. She would place him for adoption. As a result of that decision, she lost her spot in the lovely maternity home, and was back on the streets in the youth shelter. When she came to court to sign the papers, I had to buy her breakfast, because she hadn't eaten in 24 hours. She had done everything, and sacrificed everything, to give her child a better life.

[freejoytoo]

This will sound cruel but that child is just so obnoxious! Guess I can't blame her though.

[Mela99]

Have you read anything that I've posted about the type of law that I practice? I do family and child protection law. Much of what I've done was working with Legal Aid clients in Scarborough, one of the poorest sections of Toronto. I've also worked for a child protection agency. When I started out, my earnings were around the same level as yours, since Legal Aid was going through massive cut-backs. Please don't make ignorant guesses about where I've lived or what I've seen. I can deal with drunks and drug addicts, who are quite common in my practice. I have a harder time with the babies who have broken ribs because mom's boyfriend is an asshole who couldn't take going without sex for 6 weeks.

My clients loved their kids. I know that. They just didn't always love them well. In some cases, that love wasn't enough to overcome the other problems.

With some, I saw the greatest examples of courageous love. One girl had been molested by her father, rejected by the rest of the family for disclosing the abuse, and then bounced around the foster care system until it declared that she was thoroughly screwed up. She turned 18, was out on the street, and got pregnant. As soon as she found out about the pregnancy, she hitchhiked thousands of miles from her home poverty-stricken province to Toronto, because she wanted her child born in a place with more opportunity. Street workers discovered that she was pregnant, and she was placed in a maternity home where she absolutely thrived. When the baby was born, though, he was taken away, and we couldn't convince the courts to place him back with his mother at the temporary care hearing. I went through the options and process with my client, and she stopped me. She knew that it could take time to fight to get her son back, and she couldn't stand the thought of him being in foster care the way that she was. I wanted her to really think it over, but after she took a bit of time her position was the same. She would place him for adoption. As a result of that decision, she lost her spot in the lovely maternity home, and was back on the streets in the youth shelter. When she came to court to sign the papers, I had to buy her breakfast, because she hadn't eaten in 24 hours. She had done everything, and sacrificed everything, to give her child a better life.

Totally OT, but can I PM you? I'm in law school now and I'm making serious considerations for child abuse and neglect/family law.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Mela - go ahead.

Re love:

To add to my rantings above, I have to say that I've seen both the lower form of selfish love and the higher forms of love at all socio-economic levels.

I'm cynical, I suppose, because I don't think believe in big declarations of love, nor do I think that it is all that a child needs.

Drug addicts still love their kids. My client whose toddler was found filthy and grossly neglected in a crack house and who gave birth to a premature crack baby loved her kids. My client who had neighbors calling the police because the kids were running around undressed while she was in the middle of a drinking binge loved her kids.

Parents with deep psychological issues still love their kids. My client with a traumatic past deeply loved her child - even though one of her "multiples" (she had what used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder) had been violent toward her. My client whose daughter was conceived as a result of a brutally violent rape loved her daughter - but that didn't stop her from trying to strangle her during an episode of rage. Another client who was pregnant as a result of a rape loved her baby-to-be and didn't want to abort because she pictured little fingers and toes - but that didn't prevent her from continuing to smoke and failing to make sure that she was eating anything remotely nutritious.

Parents who are deeply manipulative can make some of the most dramatic declarations of love. My own Toxic Relative loves to do this and declare that she's the most loving in the world - but when we learned the truth, we discovered that she was an evil selfish bitch, who enabled and actively covered up her husband's sexual abuse of more than one relative, and emotionally terrorized those of us who dared to challenge her or failed to "respect" her molester husband. She didn't want her comfortable middle class life disturbed in any way.

[Terrie]

I have some relatives who are the non-Southern version of this family. I have no doubt they love their kids and do their best. It's just that their best is pretty darn mediocre. I have one cousin who abandoned her kids with her parents because she was a drug addict and she didn't want her kids in the middle of that. She did it because she loved them, but that didn't prevent them from having some serious issues. There are missteps and then there are damaging choices. I consider being on this show to be the latter.

[AtroposHeart]

Damn, this show ruined biscuits for me

[tropaka]

so who watched it? My husband threatened separation if I put it on.

[MandyLaLa]

Omg I mean just when you think reality tv had hit its lowest point it keeps on digging. They wash their hair in the sink. Do they ever shower?

I'm impressed they didn't save the cheese balls that were on the floor.

Eta: Never mind they ate them off the floor later. This is actually uncomfortable to watch :shock:

Maybe this train wreck is on so that when the Bates come on they'll look like a decent normal southern country family.

[Patsy]

Come round where I live sometime and see how ethical you feel then.

I'll add that this doesn't in any way rebut 2xx's point that "better than the worst" does not = good.

Was this family so extraordinary compared to the rest of the pageant families in Toddlers and Tiaras? I'm wondering why, when they are all trainwrecks (∴ marketable) and famewhores (∴ willing to make a show) this family was chosen. What's so exceptional?

[FrancineFishpaw]

so who watched it? My husband threatened separation if I put it on.

I made my husband watch the first few minutes and I thought the top of his head was gonna blow off!

[ADoyle90815]

If cable were al la carte, the Duggars would suddenly find their show completely gone because of shows like this causing people to get rid of TLC. I guess this new show is also a way to make the Duggars and Bates appear "normal."

[ElphabaGalinda]

I could only watch about 10 minutes before it became too much too watch. They're not rednecks because they have their teeth? That family is the definition of rednecks. I felt bad for the daughter they called chubs, she obviously didn't like it. That go go juice is going to be seriously damaging for little Honey boo boo, and I don't like to think of how much money that, or any other family, is waisting on pageants. Do they know how ridiculous this show will make them look?

[wildcatgrrl]

They butchered up a roadkill deer for meat, saying the money it saved them could go toward pageants. Well, OK. If a deer isn't hit too badly and if it's soon enough, I guess that is doable. But they named it, like Mama June said they do to all their roadkill critters. This one was "Darlene" and they showed Honey Boo Boo cuddling with a big hunk o' raw Darlene in a towel. Later, she was talking to Darlene in her belly, while manipulating the belly with her hands. Darlene wanted out, and Honey Boo Boo was telling her to shut up. It was so bizarre.

[Just_Jane]

:shock: That show sounds horrifying

[JesusFightClub]

I'll add that this doesn't in any way rebut 2xx's point that "better than the worst" does not = good.

Was this family so extraordinary compared to the rest of the pageant families in Toddlers and Tiaras? I'm wondering why, when they are all trainwrecks (∴ marketable) and famewhores (∴ willing to make a show) this family was chosen. What's so exceptional?

Sorry to both you and 2X. My family could be described as a trainwreck in multiple ways I guess. I suppose I get a bit touchy because I feel like people look on and judge while we're dealing with serious and tough issues, sometimes struggling a bit but trying our best. We feel like we're getting there. But it's a slow process and it's not helped by people sneering or shouting from the sidelines.

I know that's totally not what you would ever do. But some do and it's a wee bit difficult. I maybe mistook 2X for a person like that, which was paranoia. She is an upstanding poster.

[slickcat79]

I'll add that this doesn't in any way rebut 2xx's point that "better than the worst" does not = good.

Was this family so extraordinary compared to the rest of the pageant families in Toddlers and Tiaras? I'm wondering why, when they are all trainwrecks (∴ marketable) and famewhores (∴ willing to make a show) this family was chosen. What's so exceptional?

There could be more to the story, but I have a feeling they just hit all the lowlights of kiddie pageants. You've got the overweight or unattractive mother living out dreams of beauty and glamor through her child. You've got the family living in near-poverty but still wasting their money doing pageants. You've got a whole group of personalities in the family, and they are all loud and pretty much unashamed of who they are.

They've also got built-in publicity already. After being on T&T, they appeared on a couple of different talk shows, so TLC didn't even have to put out that much for promos. It's also possible that, given their apparent lifestyle, they were a cheap proposition. If you're not used to making much money, you could probably be convinced to sign a contract for less than the going rate.

[keeperrox]

What, exactly, does Sugar Bear/Dad do for a living? Glitz pageants are fucking expensive, and it blows my mind to see some people, who admittedly live paycheck to paycheck, blowing some serious money on them when the return is absolutely zero.