The World’s Strictest Parents

“The World’s Strictest Parents” is an ongoing reality programme on BBC. The show sends groups of unruly, self-centred and lazy teenagers abroad to home stays that are run by ultra-strict host families. The kids have to battle out their stay and ‘survive’ for a week. The hope is that the teens will turn into respectful, better and more civilized, human beings by the end of the week.

The rules? No swearing, smoking, shouting and no sex. Some of the less strict parents allow supervised surfing of the internet. One such teen, Ross Torry, was sent to live with a family in Alabama. “There was absolutely no privacy in the house. We couldn’t even watch TV without adult supervision”, he said.

The situation might seem tough, but the programme seems to be working “Since I’ve been home my family life has been much better. There’s a lot more talking going on. I help around the house a lot more than I used to and there are far less arguments”, Torry went on to say.

Being a strict parent

The show isn’t just tough on the kids. The host families have a hard time trying to deal with teens that are rebellious and unwilling to listen. One mum, Mandy De Zylva expressed her views on BBC’s blog. Mandy had Nicki Stygall and Jerri MacVeigh under her roof for the week. “We founded our beliefs grounded on the conviction that people should concentrate more on fulfilling their obligations and not on demanding for their rights. Nicki’s temper tantrums, for example, were quite shocking and, in my view, absolutely unacceptable by any sense of tolerance.” she said.

The show has proved to be a success, and has quite an audience. It now airs in Australia, Denmark and Germany as well.

The degree to which this transformation is genuine is debatable, but if you are bored and you are looking for easy viewing, do download The World’s Strictest Parents – and let yourself be pleasantly outraged.

Watch World’s Strictest Parents Singapore