Was June Overprotective?

[howilu]

In several episodes, I feel that June is sometimes overprotective of Wally and Beaver. Cases in point:

The carnival episode when Wally and Beaver were cleaning cages and June disliked the idea.

A recent TV Land aired episode where Beaver kept a diary and Ward and June read it.

But the tip of the iceberg was the Brussels Sprouts episode where June forced Beaver to eat Brussels Sprouts and she punished him by making him stay home while the rest of the family went to the football game. I felt she was way overprotective over a minor issue like Brussels Sprouts.

[.:BF:.]

yeah, she was kind of overprotective.

[BrandonS]

Wow, you can say that again. A very sweet lady, but, geez, every time Wally took an interest in a girl, June would say, "Ward, I don't know if I like this. He's just a baby."

[Leigh Ann]

Yeah, I agree that June was overprotective. She was a great mother, but sometimes it got on my nerves with her overprotectiveness (like in the brussel sprouts episode).

[Mijada]

I thought she was too overprotective in the ep where Beaver befriended the garbagemans kids. She made a big deal when Ward let Beaver go over to their house and play with them and came back all dirty. He was just being a normal little boy for crying out loud!

[tdr]

"Overprotective" is true. But I would really characterize her mentality as a worrier. It seemed like the boys couldn't start a new project, make a new friend, or develop a new idea without her immediately starting to worry about something that might happen. But as fans of the show, it can be easy to overlook how often she was right in these things. The boys did get into trouble with that go-kart Ward built for them; they were taken advantage of when they had that job with the carnival; Beaver had his bicycle stolen when he started riding it to school; they did try Ward's barrel hoop trap, and caught Fred instead of Lumpy... She worried about all these things and she was right. And when she heard a kid "fell into a bowl of soup on a billboard," she even suppressed her own worry saying "It can't be-- he's over at Whitey's"; but she still was right.

She may have been overprotective, but it was not totally without reason.

[vze3t9q9]

Well did her boys grow up to be delinquents or druggies> No she instilled good values. I do wonder a little about Eddie's parents. There is one episode where Eddie appears a little
afraid. The episode where he was planning to stay at the cleavers and he has a fight ang goes homes to an empty house.
He seems nervous about staying home alone. Gosh how old was h is character 16-17 and he scared to stay home alone. I could see if he was 11-12 but by mid teens gosh.

[goldie]

I think June was overprotective and worrisome and that's one of the primary reasons she was (is) such a good role model tv mom.

There were times when she just didn't understand the boys (or Ward) from a gender standpoint, but she represented a nice image of a concerned and intuitive mother.

And for sure, Beaver gaver her plenty of reasons to worry! :lol:

[Kitt]

She was overprotective and like Tdr said, she was right a lot of the times. But being right or wrong that something bad might come of their experiences is not necessarily the point. That's how we all learn. As long as the lessons learned are relativley harmless, trying out new and spontaneous adventures is an important part of growing up.

Script wise her worrying provided debth and comedy to the episodes. The time when Beaver had to meet the kid in the 5th grade to fight with him for example. When June found out, she panicked. Ward was shaving, and in no big hurry to do anything to stop the fight. Wally just figured what had to be had to be. So then June wanted to go over and stop the fight herself, lol. When Wally and Ward told her that there was no way she could do that to the Beaver she said, "well then I'm calling the police" and she started to dial the phone! :lol:

[TheHappyBurgerMeister]

What I've noticed about June is that she can completely overreact about the slightest things. Like Wally going on a date when he's 15 and she says he's a "baby". Then when somebody makes a rude remark to her or it really IS a big deal she doesn't do anything! In almost the entire episode of "The Silent Treatment" Beaver is making rude comments towards her, or at least he deserves a nice slap for what he's saying, and the whole show June doesn't really do anything, except just complain about it to Ward! I think it's lke opposite the way she mothers compared to mothering today. Then again it's a fictional character and I'm not a mother.

[Heidi]

I don't think shes overprotective. I think shes protective. I think theres a difference. I do agree shes overprotective on the Garbageman's Kids episode. I think that is her worst episode. She is pretty much wrong about everything on it. I haven't seen the one with the brussels sprouts. I'd like to see it after reading this. On The Silent Treatment June is hurt. She wants to believe that Beaver will come around on his own not because she punished him. Remember at the end she pretty much tells him that she knew what was going on and he'd hurt her but she hoped he would change the way he is acting? She believes in Beaver and knows he will improve on his own. She doesn't want it to happen because she said or did something. She is just a Mom who is concerned about her kids and yeah shes usually right. Shes also not perfect which is good too.