Wife swap: these rules aren't going!
The other night I was watching TV waiting for the new "Old Testament" to come on (which I ended up not watching because it was so poorly put together... and I needed to get to bed) and I came upon the show Wife Swap. Normally I wouldn't watch a show called "Wife Swap", but one of the families on this episode quickly gained my respect;
Grimes Family
Californians Lori Grimes (46) and her husband, Doug (47), are intent on training their teenage children, Miles and Ragan, to be impeccable family members and corporate citizens. Lori's "first time obedience rule" allows no flexibility when she gives direction. Describing herself as strict but loving, this school and church play choreographer and stay-at-home mom orchestrates her clan with an iron fist. Husband Doug, a former military man, also expects the utmost precision and conservative moral values - so much so that daughter Ragan (13) studies traditional Irish dancing because the family believes it is the least "suggestive" style. Her brother, Miles (16), has no time to spare, what with practicing piano and banjo, studying, doing chores and joining in the family sing-alongs.
This family swapped wives with a (go figure) relaxed-on-rules family... and had some difficulty accepting the foul language and no-rules policy the new wife brought with her. I couldn't help smiling (and I felt like cheering) when 16 year-old Miles came on the camera after an argument with his new "mom" to say that though he was trained well by his parents, his beliefs are his own... he went on to say that we might think he was a little crazy for that, "but that's okay"!
The family, though obviously strengthened through their Christian, conservative rules and teaching, learned to lighten up a bit by the time mom got home... but nevertheless, judging from the kids reaction to a little too much freedom, they are wisely set in the instruction of their parents...
I was impressed that ABC even aired this show. Go Grimes family!
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5 comments:
My family has watched Wife Swap a couple of times. We don't watch TV much, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that show. Its really interesting when they have such drastically different families on there, especially when one of the families is Christian.
I saw some of that show last night too. Though I didn't see the whole thing my thoughts were pretty much the same as yours. I see where the parent of the other family could have been a LITTLE bit right though too. The Grimes family was pretty strict about the kids never having time to do bad things but that also meant that they didn't have time to just have fun.
Great. You just left me hanging...
What happened?
Wow - didn't Spunky have the chance to be on that show?
Palm boy;
Left you hanging? The relaxed family learned to integrate rules into their home, and the conservative family learned to lighten up a bit... even though I thought the parents had a great hold on things, and the family still had fun even with rules!
Spunky on wife swap? Really? That would have been cool... :) but probably a week of torture for her family!
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