This is awful. I have a friend who was raised like this, she was expected to have her little sister & brother taken care of and dinner on the table by the time mom & dad came home while still in middle school- and not homeschool either. It's always sad when kid's development is hampered by taking on responsibilities far beyond what should be expected.

BTW, lil, I think you mean "intents and purposes", not "intensive"

my husband is one of six kids. His oldest sister caryn became the built in babysitter for all five of them, they even went on vacations for a week and left her and them on their own. She never had any time to herself, never got really recognized for her hard work, felt used and the first guy to come along and promise rescue got her hand in marriage and she has had to deal with alot of issues since than. She has NO KIDS because (in her words) "I had five children" My husband personally thinks of her as his mom, to quote him "If i fell down and got hurt i ran to her, if I got good grades I ran to her, If i got in trouble she disciplined me" and his real mother wonders why no one respected her.

wow caterpillargirl that sounds awful!

This reminds me of the Duggar family. I disagree with the whole 'built-in-babysitter' scenario. If you have the kids it is your job to raise them... period.
I completely understand having an older sibling watch a younger sibling every once in a while, BUT the older sibling should get paid for giving their free time up.

I spend five to six hours every day after school with my bipolar sister with no compensation. I'm simply expected to do it, and she's off meds right now. No one could ever be paid enough to deal with that every day.

i thought the mom was such a b!tch. in one scene she got home from work, one of the daughters was trying to put one of the kids to sleep, another kid was crying hyterically and the mom just put the kid in the same room where the daughter was trying to get the other kid to sleep and didn't even care. then she told jo that she was just giving up and that her daughters could just handle it.

This is just wrong. If two people decide to have a child, then it is THEIR responsibility to take care of the child, and no one else's. It's unfair to their older children to take on these roles of mother and father, and unfair to the younger ones as well to not have their real parents around. I believe that children should be allowed to be children, and by putting these girls in that position, they are missing out on their childhood.

This was a horrible episode. I bet those girls will move out as soon as humanly possible from that situation. They were totally being taken advantage of and it was clearly affecting their health and well-being.

A stay at home mother or even a stay at home couple couldn't take care of three toddlers and home-school or put themselves through college if their lives depended on it!! How can anyone expect a 14 and 17 year old to do it?!?!

I am one of those who was 'expected' to homeschool myself with a few workbooks. I was 13 and didn't do it. OF COURSE, I was 13 and didn't know any better. This whole story makes me so sad. I hope they realize they could have better education right now, and when they are on their own and able to make their own educational decisions I hope they do.

I feel so sorry for those kids. While I think it's totally reasonable to expect kids to help out around the house (I was always expected to help clean, and on occasion was asked to fix dinner), this goes above and beyond normal household chores. Kids are not meant to be constant babysitters for younger siblings, let alone take care of the entire house AND home-school themselves. They're being deprived of their childhood and the parents barely seem to notice...so sad.

the parents should be reported. how can teenagers homeschool THEMSELVES? that is sad and seems to me like it would be illegal or something.

I'm the oldest of 4 in my family, and I had always been the one saying that "having" my siblings was the cheapest birth control. I think it was a large part of why I never wanted to have children - I said that I've already raised a couple and didn't have any interested in raising any more.

I left at 18...promptly and started my own life. Went to college and I'm still learning how to put myself first, make friends, and did the teenage rebellion thing in my early 20s.

However - at 31 and 6 months pregnant, I'm in a great-long-lasting relationship with the partner of my dreams and looking forward to our little accident.

I don't remember feeling resentful about feeling like I had to constantly take care of my brother and sister. I just figured it was part of the job of being a family. I didn't watch this particular episode (I love Super Nanny!!), but if it's as bad as it seems...that's just sad.

I didn't see this episode but it soure sounds like neglect if not outright child abuse on parents' part. Both the older and younger kids are being mistreated.
I'm sure Supernanny turned it all around in the course of a week though, right?

The whole time I was pregnant everyone kept going on and on how lucky I was going to be having a built in babysitter with my son that's 9 years older than my baby. I have NO intentions of doing anything like that I think it's horrible!

This situation is extreme. I am 10 years older than my sister. I definitlely did my share of free babysitting (for her little friends, too) but I was never expected to fill a parenting role.
I don't think it is wrong to expect older kids to provide some help with their younger siblings--within reason.

Wow, this sounds horrible - I am shocked that this would even happen. I mean, having an older sibling watch their younger ones once in a while is one thing, but this is insane!

My mom has volunteered to watch my daughter while I go to work. At first I didn't want her to do because I felt she needed a life, but because we had no money for a babysitter I said ok. My mom loves to watch my daughter and even though I don't pay her I do tell her thanks buy her a coffee or make her dessert.

I saw this episode the first time it was on and it really made me sick the way the parents were taking advantage of the two older kids. They had absolutely no role in parenting the younger ones, and when it came down to them having to take back those roles, they had no idea what to do.

And children should NEVER homeschool themselves.

I also agree with kikidawn-the Duggar parents are too busy getting pregnant over and over again when they should be parenting their children. Seems as soon as the child isn't completely reliant on the mom it gets passed on to one of it's siblings. It's a huge burden for the older children, and I don't think it's fair at all.

I didn't see the episode, but it sounds like it was a terrible situation!

Can you just imagine if something really bad were to happen to the younger children while they were being watched by the older ones? Even grown adults can barely cope with emotions and guilt like that. The parents seem completely out of touch.

I didn't see the show, but from this article it sounds like the teens are parenting the siblings not babysitting. There is a big difference. I do agree with Lilsugar that children are the mom and dad's charge and anyone who lends a hand as a babysitter should be compensated some how. I think it's terrible that these 2 children and yes they are still children are homeschooling themselves (wonder what the school board will think of that when they find out because the definition of homeschooling is not that the child schools themself), and are pretty much raising their siblings. The parents are a sad example of parents unfortunately.

I saw the episode and I was appalled. There was definite neglect going and from how creepy the dad was ON camera I wouldn't be surprised if there was actual abuse. It made me sick. This was FAR beyond normal sibling babysitting.

when i think of older sibs babysitting i generally think of the teen doing homework while the younger child is in bed for the night and mom runs to the store. this situation sounds awful and i'm kind of surprised the teens are going along with it! isn't this the age of sneaking out to go to parties and see boyfriends?

lol about taking car of younger siblings being the most effective birth control!

I went to school with a girl who took care of her three half-siblings. Their mother had a mental sickness, so she could not always take care of them like she should have. But it was not the duty of my friend either!

In the end the situation got so horrible that my friend wasn't sure if she could start college after high school, because that requires moving to another city. it was true, those siblings needed her, but her role as primary care-taker should have been played by someone else.

My friend did move and is now studying. Children's dad took bigger role in taking care of them.

Makes me angry.. Argh.

My mom is one of 7 kids and grew up in a single parent household. Her mom worked multiple jobs to pay the bills so she was never home. My mom ended up taking care of the house and raising her brothers (some who were older than her) and she still went to public school.

As appalling as a lot of us find this, I think we need to realize that this is sometimes the only option for people. Although I think in this particular episode it was avoidable because the parents were just jerks

i agree with jessness, this is not a good example of how a family can work together. my oldest son who is 7 years older then my 3rd kid is an amazing help to me, he babysits when i have to run an errand and also helps with light cooking. i am really thankful to have his help and i also think it shows him just how hard having a child can be.

I was raised in a single parent home and had to shoulder some responsibility for my younger siblings. I think that as a family there is a certain amount of responsibility that bonds you to each other. Helping out and being a babysitter every now and then can be good. But I watched that episode of supernanny and those girls were not just picking up some slack to help out. They were actually running a house hold while their parents did nothing. That was incredibly selfish of the parents who had a choice when deciding how many children they wanted to have in the first place. I found it so strange that they would even feel OK airing their personal situation on television, but they seemed to have no shame. The whole thing made me wonder what exactly constitutes neglect and abandonment in the child welfare system. I think those people deserved much more than the reproach of a TV nanny. Someone should be doing something to rescue those girls.

I think a little bit of baby-sitting for younger siblings is okay. I baby-sat my brother when our parents had to go somewhere.
However, these two girls were completely taken advantage of. The parents did absolutely nothing around the house. I felt so sorry for the one girl who was so worn out and stressed that she passed out. Even then, the parents didn't seem to recognize that their actions were having a serious impact on their daughter's health. I really hope that things have actually improved for those girls. It was one of the sadder Supernanny episodes I've seen.

I think a little bit of baby-sitting for younger siblings is okay. I baby-sat my brother when our parents had to go somewhere.
However, these two girls were completely taken advantage of. The parents did absolutely nothing around the house. I felt so sorry for the one girl who was so worn out and stressed that she passed out. Even then, the parents didn't seem to recognize that their actions were having a serious impact on their daughter's health. I really hope that things have actually improved for those girls. It was one of the sadder Supernanny episodes I've seen.

That woman was horrible. I could just tell by looking at her face. And you knew Jo was leaving thinking "I hope these poor girls come out of this in one piece". The way the oldest daughter kept crying and losing it when Jo left. There is something terribly wrong going on in that house...and I hope those two girls go off to college and meet some new people and start their lives out right...if they're not total social derelicts by then.

i could not get over that show. my husband and i were horrified. we really felt the teenagers should be taken from the home. this is why i think homeschooling is not a great idea. it often gives selfish parents an excuse to enslave children and rob them of their freedoma nd opportunities. you could tell the father was VERY abusive and that the girls will end up with the first controlling guy that comes alone unfortunately.

this was an episode where i think Jo should have walked out and called CPS. THE END.

Children should not care for their siblings, not even babysit them. Children should have a childhood and freedom. This is typical for children of large families where the parents are too stupid to use birth control. The care of children should be delegated to adults. There is enough time to care for children. Children who care for other children resent it immensely. I know only children who are great parents because they were allowed a childhood whereas there are people from large family who make terrible parents because they are stuck at the infantile level.