Quote:
Originally Posted by Somni
there's probably some element of "hamming it up" for the camera, but at the same time, it was still kind of appalling seeing the boys' dad behaving that badly. Screaming, throwing milk on a woman for attempting to enforce her vegetarian rule, encouraging the boys to act out... wow. It was like watching a spoiled little kid throwing tantrums.
I didn't see any of that, but I did wonder from the beginning why a 6 year old would "hide" for being reprimanded, unless the adult was emotionally or physically abusive. It's not the hiding, but the hiding for so long that seemed really weird to me. When my parents would yell at us, we'd sometimes hide and pout (they'll be sorry when they can't find me, and think I ran away), but we never stayed hidden for very long (besides which our hiding spots weren't very well hidden - like our bedroom closet).
Then when I heard that the boy became physically ill on two seperate occasions when questioned about the lie (which I don't kow to be true) it just made me very uncomfortable. It's very traumatic for children to lie for an adult - or even to be a silent witness to an adult's lie. I remember as a kid, I was large for my age, so waitresses wouldn't believe I was under the age limit for the children's menu. My parents never fought it, but my brother was vey small for his age, and so when he outgrew the children's menu, my parents would tell the waitress he was younger than he was. I guess they figured it all balanced out, since they paid adult price for me when I was under the age limit. Still, it stressed both my brother and me out (I'd turn bright red, so it was kind of hard not to see that I was embarassed). I think my parents must have figured that out, because they didn't try it more than a couple times. I can't imagine being 6 and being expected to keep such a big secret/lie. Maybe it isn't abuse, but I think it comes pretty close. The parents are, at the very least (lets just say donkeys)for putting a 6 year old through that.