Where do the World's Strictest Parents live?

Society tells us to appreciate what we have and when we can't, it asks us to put ourselves in the shoes of other people and compare what we have with what they have. It asks us to take a step back and realize how our life and situation is not as tough or bad as that of other people. That's what the Australian show, World's Strictest Parents is all about. Spoiled kids are sent abroad to stay with parents who are very strict. They come back full of love and appreciation for their parents who they now see as the sweetest people to have as parents. Time for a short commercial break...

Have a Kit Kat!

Two girls in Afghanistan had their fingers cut off by the Taliban because they voted in national elections. Maybe that was a mild punishment for Taliban standards, but if it was their parents or family who executed the punishment, it wouldn't surprise me if in the depths of their souls these two girls will never feel their parents' parenting as a loving, sweet experience.

So if you are raised by a Taliban parent in Afghanistan or in the slums of Africa or India, where on Earth or Hell do your parents send you so that you will learn to appreciate their "parenting style" after you come back??

Pop idol has been showing in Afghanistan and may one day become popular there. Who wants to be a Millionaire without growing poppy seeds and selling heroin may become very popular too. It was supposedly a popular show in the slums of India, so why not in Afghanistan and other progressive places in the Middle East or North Korea?

I don't think I will need to convince many of you that the World's Strictest Parents show can not have the same success in the above mentioned countries if Taliban kids were sent in the West.

That thought is so reassuring it's almost true. But is it true?

There's something about the show that troubles me. It's the implied message that the World's Strictest Parents are always to be found somewhere abroad, somewhere outside Australia.

I think it would be more beneficial to Australia if the show sent the kids to live with some of the World's Strictest Parents that are to be found inside the country.

We have plenty of dysfunctional homes and families in Australia. Watching the show, we are happily and merrily distracted to forget about that.

Australians would not feel very good about themselves if the show had a domestic focus. I assume that's true for all audiences everywhere. Who would feel entertained if it wasn't some "strict" foreign parent living abroad making our children love us more at home?

It's always very convenient to be made-believe that the worst is somewhere out there to be found even if the source of all and any things wrong or worse can be found here at home too.

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