I found the programme quite disturbing. Apparently, there are scores of these families up and down the country and they all compete with each other on internet forums.
One little girl was about five or six and had her nose pierced and died her hair purple. She didn't want to learn how to read and that was fine with her mum. Another child told her mum she wanted her hair cutting so her mum gave her some clippers and suggested she styled it how she wanted it. There was one family with a large number of kids from very young to a son of around 13. It was chaos and you could see the parents revelled in that chaos. At one point the dad said he should be getting to bed as he had work the next day but it was after midnight and there was no sign of the children wanting to go to bed yet
Interestingly, the older sons bedroom was very neat and orderly. When he was interviewed he said he liked order and he would like to go to school like other kids. His parents allowed it but his mum was crying and saying if he didn't like it, just say and he wouldn't have to go back.
One of the things that was noticeable was, these kids were not being taught any social skills. I found that troubling because Steve, even as a grown mature man, lacks social etiquette. I'm forever nudging him to say please and thank you when we are out. I remember when our children were quite young and we used to go round to his parents. If I reminded them to use their manners my mother-in-law would chip in with, "if they don't want to say thank you they don't have to"
