Aged 12, and looking after the family...?

Question

I am just watching a programme on channel 4 (uk) about a 12 year old and a 9 yr old having to look after their 4 younger brothers as both of their parents are blind, i am totally disgusted at what i am seeing as these 2 girls do pratically everything, the house is filthy and the children are also filthy as if they dont get bathed the youngest is about 10 months old maybe younger, their food is take aways as the parents cannot cook, these poor girls also have to juggle an education, but what i dont understand is why on earth have the social workers not got involved, normally i would want so much for children to be with their parents but in this case they are not being well cared for, what makes things worse is the mother is again pregnant and the reason the parents want a large family is so that they have got more people to help when they are older. I think that they are very very selfish and that something needs to be done so that these children can have a life.

they are crawling under bins and eating things out of bins, they dont use plates as this saves washing up, it is making me sick more and more i watch i so hope that they can get help and stay at home if they cant then these children need a safe and friendly enviorment home.
Is anyone else watching this if so what are you thinking of it?
I have 2 children myself and i wouldnt put my children in this situation no matter what, i love them so much that i would make sure they were always happy.

Answer 1

well, my situation is not THAT bad. but at 12 I was waching my younger 2 siblings. cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and doing all the chores. mostly because my parents were workoholics and were never home, or if they were they were alseep. my older brother did not do any thing ether. he just sat on his butt all day. our house was always durty, and we had to get along with what little we had. now I am 17, my parents are still useless, but my younger brother is now old enough to help. now he does dishes and laundry while I do every thing else. on top of this I am trying to do college in 11th grade.
I know (to some extent) what these kids are going through. don't be to quick to judge them or their parents.

Answer 2

Yes I saw this programme and I cannot say I enjoyed it. The two older girls of the blind couple have done a fantastic job looking after their younger siblings - considering that they are still young. Okay they may not be perfect but its hard to look after a large family.

I was concerned when the 2nd youngest of the older two tried to commit suicide before by suffocating in a black bag.

It was sad and I personally think the parents are being selfish by making more babies which just puts more pressure on the older children.

I don't know but it seems to me that the blind parents were always sitting down, drinking and smoking... not doing much. Maybe it was just the way the programme was edited?

Some big families seem to cope in their own ways... we can't really judge them can we? I don't have any idea what it is like to be in a large family because I have always been the only child.

Some people who come from large familys tend to have large families themselves - but not always.

I think that the family should ask for help - someone who will come in daily to help the older girls with chores also maybe have a meals on wheels delivery.

There are some places that do that for elder people... someone in a van comes round to bring meals to them (not take aways).

If I could, I'd volunteer to help the family out with changing the babies, feeding, cleaning etc. Its not easy I know. Life is never easy.

Answer 3

i am so glad someone else had mentioned this as i was so disgusted watching this and i can,t believe nothing is being done about the family,i don,t mean to sound wrong but i think they should,nt be allowed to have any more kids as i think they only do it as the 2 older children do all the caring and not the parents,i felt like crying when i saw how filthy the house and the children were and the mum did,nt seem bothered,not even by the fact the daughter tried killing hersrelf.all the parents seemed to spent their money on fags,booze and takeaway and the bit at the end was rubbish,so what if they don,t smoke indoors,thats only a tiny part of the problem,i hope last nights programme opened someones eyes and they finally stop to help as it breaks my heart knowing those poor kids are living like that as there is no need as i saw another programmne before about a blind couple with children and the house and children werre clean and well looked after
mum of 4

Answer 4

I was equally disgusted by the programme, yet again social services are no where in sight and won't be until something terrible occurs. The poor children - how on earth must that 9 year old be feeling to even contemplate taking her own life.
The parents are nothing more than abusers, talk about being blind and unable to look after themselves or their children, he still managed to "see" to pour a can of beer and light a cigarette!!!
God help those poor kids they don't stand a chance

Answer 5

That sticks!!! Those parents are out of order. My mum is blind and she was a excellant mother. Just because they are blind doesn't get them out of caring for their children, cooking and cleaning the house. My mum always did these things and hardly ever asked my brother and i to do anything. I hope the child support workers get involved and give those children a better home. This is the 21st century not the old ages! My thoughts are with those poor little children

Answer 6

I never got to watch this programme but wanted to by what your saying this is no way for two children to be bringing up their younger brothers , the parents need help so as you say where are the social services , No child should be left to live life like this is in this age, The parents are handicapped and should have carers and maybe the mother need to be sterilised or be put on the pill for the older kids sake ,how do the parents know that when the kids are grown up that they will look after them maybe they will just leave as they've had enough.

Answer 7

I posted a question about this too because I was wondering if maybe i was the only one feeling this way, evidently not. The thing that got me, out of many things I might add, was how they left those babies in shi**y nappies all day waiting for the older 2 to get home from school to change them, Im sorry but even a token effort at changing their bums would have been better than that. I can see and so can my husband and even I know I wouldnt be able to cope with that many kids, it was an out rage and I hope someone has intervened, I dont want the kids removed because they would all get split up but they need help and lots of it.

Answer 8

the shows producers could do something about it.stop filming them, call in a team of experts to get this family back on track.sadly this is not an isolated case. children all over the country live like this every day. social services must have been informed by now and those children will be getting help.blind people are more than capable of being good parents.. these two obviously arent but maybe this is their chance to sort themselves out.i havent watched it but it seems they are very lazy selfish people who need to wake up to their way of life and change it before its too late. the children shouldnt be split up but they do need to be able to have their childhood restored.

Answer 9

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I'm not saying they shouldn't have had any kids but to have 7 and then expect your 12 and 9 year old to look after them is just unbelievable. Those little girls are amazing but they should be able to be just regular kids. The parents should at least accept more help, its ok saying they are too proud like thats something admirable when in fact they are just making their young girls lives so difficult. The house is disgusting the kids seem to just eat constant junk food out of paper rather than off plates and the babies are just sleeping randomly on the floor which would be dangerous in a normal family but with 6 young kids running around and two partially sighted parents thats a disaster waiting to happen. Something should be done, its no life for any of them. I'm sure they love their kids very much but its time they showed it and swallowed their pride and asked for more support. It definatley brings home to me how easy my day at work was!

Answer 10

Well lets hope you dont ever lose your eyesight or end up in a wheelchair after a car crash, have a little understanding, this family needs help not critical comments.
Yes obviously the children are not in a satisfactory situation but who has suddenly given you a god given right to insist they be taken away from their parents, they need someone to come in and help them to manage, someone kind, caring and understanding that knows a family should stay together not get punished for have a disability.
I would not have more children in their predicament but these things happen, I am sure if someone stepped in and gave them the help they deserve things would improve.
Don't you think if you gave an hour of your time a week towards helping someone less fortunate than you rather than putting them down that would be a much better use of your time.

Answer 11

I agree that the parents should not have had so many children but they obviosly love their children and it showed alot as we all saw,but i dont think any of you can critiscise as you are not in their situation and you do not know them.
They are not hurting anyone and if anything they are loving parents,supportiveand come on ppl the programme is not going to show the children at there cleanest now are they -its a t.v programme and they were children under what 3 lol.
So i think you should leave them alone unless you are in a similar situation (which i guess most of you are not) -i say each to there own (they have a carer now so thats good) ;0 xx