Is this really “normal” parenting?

[Anonymous]

I’m referring to the Britney Spears videos. I hope this doesn’t get deleted or reposted to entertainment because my issue really isn’t with her per se but the many people coming out of the woodwork to say that they see nothing wrong with her parenting in these videos

In the videos you see her yelling at her 11 and 12 year olds over extremely minor issues (not wearing shoes in a store in one, not putting lotion on their faces in another), cursing them out, telling them to “get the f&ck out of here” and using f&ck every other word, waking them up in the middle of the night to berate them and commanding them to respect her. It’s very authoritarian - you will do as I say because I am in charge.

Look, I’m not saying she should lose custody over this (I think instead she could have benefitted from taking some parenting classes) but do people really see this as normal? Is this how people are commonly treating their kids these days?

It’s weird to me because every other irl and online parenting group I’ve ever been involved with (including to some extent DCUM) is all about child centric parenting and gentle parenting. To the extent that yelling at your kids is seen as truly abusive, never mind spanking or hitting.

Ftr, I like Britney and understand the desire to defend her against the many people who have taken advantage of her. I think her ex’s decision to post the videos was an absolutely appalling violation of her privacy and harmful to their sons. But, that aside, the parenting in the videos is just not good and it surprises me that people have been defending the actual content of the videos.

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

No, of course it isn’t “normal”.

[Anonymous]

My kids are still young so I’d be interested in what parents of pre teens think.

FWIW I don’t use the f word around my kids nor did my parents.

Also these boys were (presumably?) filming her to make her look as bad as possible. That’s why they are cool and calm… I wonder if they did this at their father’s request? Just something to keep in mind.

[Anonymous]

Link?

[Anonymous]

Ok I just had to check out these videos. She uses the term “Alaska weather” to describe the temperature in an ice cream shop?! She’s so country, I love it.

[Anonymous]

As a mom of teens, I say not normal. I’ve never cursed at my kids or yelled at them like that. I try hard not to use curse words in front of them (I’ve stopped at f bomb or two over the years in the car if I’ve been egregiously cut off or something and they think this is hilarious).

I definitely don’t think this is normal parenting. She needs Dr. Becky.

[Anonymous]

I think the majority of DCUM parents will not find this normal. I think an equal amount of other parents - younger, less educated, etc - will find this normal.

[Anonymous]

I think the point is that, no her behavior wasn’t great, but she’s also dealing with teenage boys who can be very difficult and all parents have bad moments. And if these are one of her worst moments, they aren’t what would qualify for being so bad that KF should have posted them. I expected her screaming and throwing shit - and her dropping the F bomb bc her kids misbehaved wasn’t that horrible in light of what KF did.

[Anonymous]

Look, she had her first baby when she was 24 yrs old - cognitively her brain was JUUUUUST finishing developing. She'd spent the last 10 years of her life being inside the entertainment machine - do you think she really had any time to figure out who she was as a person on her own before giving birth? Do you think she's ever read a parenting or child psychology book? She only graduated from high school via distance learning, where she had to do the bare minimum. This is not a well-educated woman.

So is this normal for someone who grew up in a poor southern area surrounded by minimally educated people? Yes, I think so.

[Anonymous]

She had her first baby at 24 and never went to high school or college. For the uneducated it is.

I can’t even say it’s a ‘lower’ class thing because Britney is richer than 99% of Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that, no her behavior wasn’t great, but she’s also dealing with teenage boys who can be very difficult and all parents have bad moments. And if these are one of her worst moments, they aren’t what would qualify for being so bad that KF should have posted them. I expected her screaming and throwing shit - and her dropping the F bomb bc her kids misbehaved wasn’t that horrible in light of what KF did.

People keep defending this by saying they’re teens. They are teens NOW. These videos were recorded back when they were 11 and 12. Children.

And - I don’t know how many of you caught this, she occasionally refers to the monitor. She lost custody in 2007 because she was neglecting them. Forgetting to feed them, talk to them, and clean up after her many dogs.

So this is how she treats her kids in the presence of a court appointed monitor.

[Anonymous]

She doesn't have custody of her children and they are teenagers now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She had her first baby at 24 and never went to high school or college. For the uneducated it is.

I can’t even say it’s a ‘lower’ class thing because Britney is richer than 99% of Americans.

Britney is low class, no matter how much money she's worth. I think she'd probably even be ok with calling herself that if you phrased it as "country."

[Anonymous]

It's also not normal to record it and post it online for everyone to see.

[Anonymous]

This is Brit Brit we're talking about. She's mentally unstable There's nothing "normal" about her and especially parenting.

But you knew that already Op.