By Steve Rhodes
Er, not really.
I kinda love these folks – and I’m not really a rules and discipline kind of guy.
But let me back up.
I came across this episode on YouTube of a show called World’s Strictest Parents. This particular installment features a Chicago couple – though their block looks awfully suburban to me – from 2013. I was surprised by what I saw.
See, I was expecting parents whose strictness was beyond reason. That’s not them at all. I love you, DeWayne and Vanessa Davis!
While I wouldn’t necessarily have wanted to live in their house, I found them to be eminently fair in their parenting.
And the kids from England sent to live with them? Awful.
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Here’s the episode description:
Two rebellious British teenagers experience strict parenting on the other side of the world, as rule-breaker Alex Miles and selfish diva Dina Darweish get new parents in Chicago.
For a week they must live with the Davis family. Dad DeWayne is the pastor of a church in Chicago’s West Side, a predominantly African-American neighbourhood. As a man who experienced the trauma of the Chicago riots in the late ’60s, he has personal insight into how to resolve conflict.
Today, he believes that that the best way to get teenagers to toe the line is to build good relationships with them in a warm, loving family home. But despite their loving nature, the Davises don’t back down when it comes to setting firm boundaries.
Completely out of his parents’ control in the UK, Alex is set for a battle of wills with DeWayne over his lack of respect and dishonesty. Dina learns the value of having a father figure in her life and starts to question the way in which she has been treating her own mum.
I found DeWayne’s philosophy quite insightful. He called it Rules + Relationship. You need both, he said, because if you only have rules, kids will rebel; if you only have a relationship, kids will become spoiled; thus, you need both to have healthy parent-child dynamic.
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DeWayne grew up at 4818 West Superior in West Garfield Park.
The show doesn’t identify where the Davis’s live now.
DeWayne is a pastor at the New Morning Star M.B. Church on the West Side; here’s his bio.
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Finally, here’s the show:
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Comments welcome.
Posted on July 22, 2015