Frisk and I mostly got the "half-assed underparenting" sort of childhood. our household was unhappy and unpleasant but mostly it was because our RL parents went after each other; they were happy that their kids learned how to read when they were young because it meant that we'd occupy ourselves quietly and stay out of their way.
at least at this time, I don't remember getting many (if any) moments of obnoxious Homer-Simpson-style overparenting—no episodes of being hustled and prodded into some unwanted "fun" activity as an explicit demonstration of parental love. I can recall no scenes of forcible "quality time", no incidents where I felt like I was having my face rubbed in parental bonding.
that's not to say that I was spared such experiences! but they would come later in life, from workplaces and pushy managers and bosses who liked to pretend that they were some sort of kindly paterfamilias showering a big happy family with love and attention, complete with forced "bonding" and ostentatious shows of insincere affection: "we love our 'associates' so much! here's a $5 Starbucks gift card to prove it."
and of course it's never a good idea to tell the half-assed overparenter (whether it's a manager or an actual parent) that such gestures are unwanted and unpleasant; because then you're insulting their Good Intentions[tm] and deserve to get smacked down for it.
it may be a futile hope but I rather look forward to the day when American culture no longer uses the (abusive) nuclear family as its sole organizing concept, its only idea for how groups of people ought to get along. I'm not sure what it's going to take to effect such a change. perhaps we should go back in time and grease C. Octavius Caesar before he had a chance to appoint himself dad to all Rome.
~Chara of Pnictogen
(p.s. sorry, King Fluffybuns, the time for kings is over)
