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Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) => Thayer Learning Center => Topic started by: Anonymous on January 27, 2006, 11:32:00 AM
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(http://http://www.tlcprogram.com/images/header.jpg)
http://www.tlcprogram.com/hotels (http://www.tlcprogram.com/hotels)
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Hi
i looked @ the marketing on it's website. The promotional video made it look horrible. i cant believe anyone would send their kid there based just on the video. If this is what they promote god only knowS what they hide from the families. The army guys openly admitted to using "exercise" as a punishment and occasionally taking a kid down to the ground. There was no emphasis on what any responsible adult does to calm an anrgry kid at all!!!
The female teacher said that when a kid wrote to the family with things they were too embarrased to tell her she would raise it with them. Why would she think she has more right to know than the actual mother? Why would a mother looking for help find this reassuring??? The other teacher who dealt with the families looked barely older than the kids and seemed to genuinely relish jailing & taunting them. What does this teach kids? That being a mature adult involves being a spiteful bully?? By the end of the video there were a few adults I had a vague urge to slap so I can only imagine the reaction it would provoke in a pissed off teenage boy.
The only positives for a kid the video seemed to promote was healthy food & budgeting skills. Even the class room teacher said it was more about discipline than academic achievement. The staff seemed to confuse the difference between a right and a privelige. A right is I dunno lets say- AN EDUCATION. Being able to communicate freely (it is after all an offence to read somebody elses mail) a privelige is something that anotehr does not have to give like say a car.
Have the parents that watched this video & send their kid there based on it not heard of grounding kids, or giving them a proverbial kick in the pants. What ever happened to old fashioned maternal guilt? or taking the car keys? Or talking things out??? How on earth can you promote "family values" if you cant privately be with or talk to your family? How does this ethos make any sense?? Wouldnt any parent fear that a kid who was merely bratty when they went in come out a bitter sociopath? The message to parents was not one of helping the kid get back on track but of "your child is an asshole so send him to us & we will bust his or her chops for a year & then give him back to you & they will be a perfect robot"
Why not consider a professional if your kid has an actual problem with learning or addiction? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE INSANE PEOPLE!!!!
& What the fuck is with the creepy red t shirts? Are they to identify kids that need to be indivudiually taunted & mocked by their sadistic teachers?
Well i think i have finished with this irrational rant! Byee :wave:
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It is amazing how the one woman in the video says, "It is not about force." How can she say that about a boot camp with a straight face. The kids were brought there by force and they were forced to follow the rules. The DI's even said so.
That says a lot about the hypocrisy of the place. If you are going to change kids by forcing them through boot camp and a behavior modification program, you should at least acknowledge the truth that you are using force.
Then they talk about kids complaining about the 'wheat' and one kid jokes about, "I love the wheat." All the other kids laugh knowingly. You would have to be a complete idiot to think the kids like this stuff. It must be disgusting, or they would not make such a big deal about it.
The kids mail is read, in and out. Not only does this teach a lack of trust to all involved and is disrespectful, it's illegal. This is so obviously an attempt at control and cover-up that only an idiot would not see it. The woman tries to minimize the damage by describing how useful it is to pry into the students lives, but doesn't get that she has no business going there in the first place.
And what about kids who don't believe in God. I wonder how they would deal with a proclaimed atheist in their seminar where kids are supposed to develop their own set of values and beliefs. I bet it would not be pretty (send them back to boot camp, I bet). I bet they would use force to force a kid to believe in their non-denominational God.
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i would hope to god (pardon the pun) that the token athiest would be smart enough to keep their mouth shut!
I also noted that none of the kids said what it was they were in for. The girl with short hair and glasses looked like she had absolutely no self confidence whatsoever & the African American lad looked as if his worse crime had been being a smart ass. Im sure they beat that right out of him. As to the tall thin boy, even as he was selling its virtues he was on the verge of tears. I dont know why this would be a selling point. What is it? Send us your son and he will go from being agressive to just depressed?
:rofl:
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The cheesy opening sequence with Mitch is also dangerous.
Mitch was acting like a normal teenager. That exact scenario has probably occured in the households of most teenagers a few times. It did in mine. I pulled a 'Mitch' more than once at that age. My parents were smart enough to let it go. They would let me stay in my room and calm down and only much later would there be a gentle knocking at my door and a gentle query concerning what had upset me and can we talk about it.
This sequence could easily cause a clueless parent to think that their kid is 'out of control' just because he throws a very typical young teen tantrum. They would misconstrue the episode as a lack of respect and off to the program goes Mitch.
In other words, this is marketing ploy depicting a normal outburst as being a big problem that only severe, crack the whip, discipline, TLC style, can fix.
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I had just assumed that "mitch" had done something vile in the first place like vandalising a bus or robbing a granny & was on his way home from an evening of delinquency and crime. Hence the dad sitting alone in the dark for dramatic effect.
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thanks for clearing that up for us, willa.
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Or, he could be angry because his girl just dumped him, or his friends ditched him and he's accidently broken curfew because when they ditched him, he had to walk home. At the moment he's angry and hurt and takes it out on his overly intrusive parents who would only say wonderfully unhelpful things like; "There, there." or "There are plenty of fish..."
Sometimes, you have be thick skinned to be a parent and understand that, "I hate you!" Means "I need you to give me space and then talk later when I calm down."
Teenagers speak a different language.
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or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them.
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On 2006-06-10 22:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"thanks for clearing that up for us, willa."
I was being Ironic!!!!
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Your mom was being ironic..
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"or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them."
I'm glad my characters don't post here anymore. Typing their replies would incinerate my soul.
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On 2006-06-11 18:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them."
Nor should they care. You cannot buy your child's love with bribes or leniency or privileges, nor can you convince your child you care with such tactics. You cannot expect a child to love you and be grateful because you gave them what you chose to give them.
Go ahead and call your child ungrateful. See how far that gets you. Watch what they do with this damaging information which basically says to them, "You are not worthy."
Your child comes into this world and owes you nothing. You owe the child the best parenting you can give.
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On 2006-06-11 18:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them."
Nor should they care. You cannot buy your child's love with bribes or leniency or privileges, nor can you convince your child you care with such tactics. You cannot expect a child to love you and be grateful because you gave them what you chose to give them.
Go ahead and call your child ungrateful. See how far that gets you. Watch what they do with this damaging information which basically says to them, "You are not worthy."
Your child comes into this world and owes you nothing. You owe the child the best parenting you can give.
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On 2006-06-11 18:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them."
Nor should they care. You cannot buy your child's love with bribes or leniency or privileges, nor can you convince your child you care with such tactics. You cannot expect a child to love you and be grateful because you gave them what you chose to give them.
Go ahead and call your child ungrateful. See how far that gets you. Watch what they do with this damaging information which basically says to them, "You are not worthy."
Your child comes into this world and owes you nothing. You owe the child the best parenting you can give.
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On 2006-06-12 17:32:00, AtomicAnt wrote:
"
On 2006-06-11 18:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"or....mitch could have bee out smoking pot (again), braking curfew (again), and he was using the family car. he misused the priveldges his parent gave him. i am not saying to immediately send a kid to a wilderness program or any program but a lot of kids these days just do not care for the priveldges that their parents so lovingly give them."
Nor should they care. You cannot buy your child's love with bribes or leniency or privileges, nor can you convince your child you care with such tactics. You cannot expect a child to love you and be grateful because you gave them what you chose to give them.
Go ahead and call your child ungrateful. See how far that gets you. Watch what they do with this damaging information which basically says to them, "You are not worthy."
Your child comes into this world and owes you nothing. You owe the child the best parenting you can give."
i'm just curious to what you would do then if your son was coming home late for curfew every night and smells like pot and he had your car. can you help me out here?
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I'd tell him to get a designated driver.
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nothing, don't do anything let him hit rock bottom let him be the one to get back up let him learn. and you refer to them as privileges but even if you didn't give it to them they would have broken them anyway.
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i'm just curious to what you would do then if your son was coming home late for curfew every night and smells like pot and he had your car. can you help me out here?
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i would a) be an authrity figure & take the damn keys it is my car afterall. If he wants to go some where i would then drive him. This lills 2 birds I know where he is & I can keep him safe.
b) confront him and ask about the pot during the day. Not when he has just come home from a big night out. if he denies it ask why he smells that way. i assume you know because you have been around it so are not just assuming it is pot.
Talk about the risks after having read about it earlier. If he fesses up try not to go nuts as this will mean it is the first and last time he confesses.
Talk to his firends families, who i have previously had over for a few drinks so we know each other already and see what their thoughts are.
I am assuming that if he has just come home smelling of pot a few times nobody would be hysterical to sent the kid away anywhere afterall no kid is a robot!
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On 2006-06-12 18:18:00, Anonymous wrote:
i'm just curious to what you would do then if your son was coming home late for curfew every night and smells like pot and he had your car. can you help me out here?
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You know, I thought back to my days in high school and it occurred to me that I did not have a curfew. I would borrow my Dad's car and come home at dawn. My parents never asked.
The pot thing is a bit tougher. The biggest danger with pot is the price you pay if you get caught by law enforcement. My intentions are to fill my son in on that bit of wisdom and hope he stays away from it. I did not smoke much pot as a teen because I was a distance runner and bicycler. I didn't want to impair my stamina.
I would certainly not send my son to a program for this. I don't see it as that big of a deal. I guess I never rebelled as a teen because my parents never gave me anything to rebel against. We had very few rules. As long as I got passing grades and did not get arrested, by parents were pretty cool.
Times change, though. When I was 16 some friends and I pulled an old car out of a field, fixed it up and shared it. We were standing around this bad ass machine when my friend's Dad tossed us a box of condoms and said, "Now that you have a back seat, you might need these."
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On 2006-06-14 04:01:00, Anonymous wrote:
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i'm just curious to what you would do then if your son was coming home late for curfew every night and smells like pot and he had your car. can you help me out here?
By the way. i am assuming you would not send a kid to boot cam just for the above scenario. i mean you dont know for sure the kid is even high. He just smells of the stuff. Even crims need to be proven guilty. Would you do that if you smelt beer on their breath? Also what time is the curfew? is it 9.30? if so what kid would not be a little late? If your post implies that you would immediately send them away for being late having perhaps smoked drugs 9you think) would it not occur to you say PARENT THE KID YOURSELF!
By taking the car keys and chatting about the legal and ethical dangers of driving under the influence of anything, you can keep the kid safe & you can give them the chance to earn back some trust.
What shits me to tears about the "programme" mentality is that as soon as a kid fucks up the loose their right to be a member of the family and get "banished" and told they do not deserve their parents love! "you dont get to communicate because you disrespected your mom"
Even with setting limits or penalising youthful indiscresions i would be heartbroken to think that my kid felt that my love was conditional. There is a HUGE difference between taking away priveliges that a kid may not have the maturity to have for a short period of time & explaining why "Eg I just dont feel that you are safe. Show me otherwise for a few weeks then we will talk" & sending your kid the message that they have fucked up so badly that they dont deserve your love & cant be a member of the family until they change everything about themselveds & become the kind of citizen you want them to be. Parental love in all these damn places (even the nice looking ones) is marketed as being so godamn conditional. What happened to the parrents door always being open!!!
Also