In August 2022, TVN announced the return of “Strict Parents”, based on the foreign format “The World’s Strict Parents”. Broadcast in 2012-2014, the program attracted more than a million viewers to the screens, but as social awareness grew, it was criticized more and more often. The planned resumption of the station surprised the recipients of the station. However, it turns out that there will be no new season.
“This show was so hurtful”
Programs from over a decade ago showing controversial parenting methods are now under fire. Such was the fate of “Supernania” broadcast on TVN Style, about which the famous book by Anna Golus was written – “Supernanny vs three-year-old Antoś”, opposing the ideas of Dorota Zawadzka. Opponents of the introduction of restrictive rules not adapted to the individual needs of children also pointed to the harmfulness of “Strict parents”.
In the assumption, in each episode, two participants – teenagers causing behavioral problems were to live with new, theoretically more disciplined, guardians for a few days. In practice, strict families in most cases did not pay attention to the characters’ emotions and the source of their problems, and the remedy for “bad upbringing” was usually physical work, getting up in the morning and numerous bans, enforced with penalties.
This show was so hurtful. These parents are usually home-grown psychologists who believe that if you get a shovel, “you will not want these stupid things”.
– Facebook users comment on the post about the announced return.
The program was also criticized by psychologists
Shortly after the broadcast of the program in 2012, the journalist of “Tygodnik Powszechny”, Katarzyna Kubsiowska, wrote that “Strict Parents” is a ready “recipe for how not to raise children”. Psychological and psychiatric circles also intervened. Representatives of the Psychological Center “Po Zmiienie” in a petition addressed to the station demanded that the program be removed from the air and the Player streaming platform, recognizing that it “strikes the freedom of the individual” and “promotes the language of violence and aggressive behavior”.
Forcing people to pray, ridiculing, humiliating, cynicism, sexism, introducing them to social roles based on harmful stereotypes, isolation, refusing to eat or blackmail are promoting punishment. The program is broadcast in a country where educational methods are often based on violence, and in addition, television promotes symbolic, religious and psychological violence. This undermines the efforts of the scientific community and many Polish non-governmental organizations.
– Małgorzata Michel from the Institute of Pedagogy of the Jagiellonian University wrote in reference to the show in a letter to the Ombudsman for Children. Neither the National Broadcasting Council nor the psychologist Marta Żysko-Pałuba, who supervised the production, responded to the constructive criticism of psychologists, but only of journalists.
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Although last summer Earl Gray Film announced castings for the fourth edition of the program and informed about the progress of work on the new season, according to Witrualne Media, TVN Warner Bros. Group. Discovery has pulled out of the “Strict Parents” revival. The reasons for this sudden decision were not given or commented on.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
