I never liked brussel sprouts. My family had brussel sprouts on a couple of ocassions, but they made me eat them. However I did love other veggies, even spinach. I buy that everytime I go shopping.

Also, did you notice how everyone was staring at them in that restaurant? They weren't talking all that loud.

Yes, people were staring at them over a big deal June made about Beaver eating Brussel Sprouts. i felt she was being too strict in that episode.

You know, i'm from that era and i remember it was very typical for parents to make their kids eat their vegetables even if it meant letting the kid sit alone at the table after aftereveryone left. I don't know where it came from but the idea of a vegetable power play was quite common. A scenario like the one on the show would have been very normal. Man, things have changed.:lol:

From what I've been told from a few sources, things have changed too much from being strict about kids eating their vegetables. These 'sources' are people who have had kids come stay with their own kids or those who do childcare, and they say that they serve vegetables to certain kids and they not only won't eat them, but sometimes their parents will admit they have never eaten them. They have been brought up eating cold cereal, doughnuts, and fast food "kid's meals," and nothing else.

Sure, June was overly strict about the Brussels sprouts in this ep, but it may be in her defense that she said "It's the same thing every time we have a green vegetable." It was 'time to make a stand,' as she thought. Actually, I remember reading a Barbara Billilngsley interview in which she said she hated June's actions in this ep. I don't have kids, and probably won't now, but I think the way to go about this is primarily to see that they're introduced to a wide variety of vegetables as early as they are able to eat them; then later let them have a reasonable number of choices. No one is going to like every food. But it's really deplorable that some parents just take the easy way and raise kids on surgary cereal and chicken strips and fries.

Yeah, I saw the episode recently too... Didn't care for it but I think maybe Beaver just assumed he didn't like it.

The fact this old woman tells the Cleavers that she wouldn't let her kids not eat what they want to eat.

But then again, what if they want to eat surgary stuff, that's not good old woman!! :lol:

Did Billingsley ever have children?

You know, i'm from that era and i remember it was very typical for parents to make their kids eat their vegetables even if it meant letting the kid sit alone at the table after aftereveryone left. I don't know where it came from but the idea of a vegetable power play was quite common. A scenario like the one on the show would have been very normal. Man, things have changed.:lol:

Yep! I grew up in a house like that. I can remember my brothers sitting alone in the kitchen staring at a clean plate except for cold vegetables. It was never a problem with me; I was more likely to be grossed out by meat.

The biggest issue I saw in this LITB episode is the fact that there was a scene and Beaver was humiliated in public. The parents should have let it slide in the restaurant and thought up something else for later. Punishments are bad enough, but they can be traumatic experiences when inforced in public.

I'm not surprised at June's reactions,

In those days, parents would often be strict about making kids eat what they didn't want. Perhaps June would have (and should have) had a different reaction if she had known Beaver got sick from them or had a bad reaction to them, such as an allergy. For instance, I can not eat green peas, even the smell of them makes me very ill. But as there was no evidence that Beaver had tried them in the past, perhaps that was way she was so insistent.

This is also the Martha Bronson side of her kicking in. (A woman that always got under my skin) I believe that Aunt Martha would do the same thing to Beaver and we learn early on that June's Aunt Martha was very involved in June's childhood. June attended an all-girls boarding school, so with that "tradition" embedded in her upbringing, I could see her making a federal case about Brussels Sprouts!

This is one of the few times where June shows backbone and for once, she doesn't go to Ward for advice on what to do or how to discipline Beaver. Maybe that is why in real life, Barbara was not happy about this episode. It is well documented that she mothered Jerry and Tony on the set as if they were her own children. She was very prime and proper, but was also very kind and loving according to many sources.

I actually like this episode!

Jack

Yecch! I don't like brussel sprouts either.

But I do like broccoli which is just as good for you or even better. Broccoli is nature's one a day vitamin. It has 20% more calcium volume per volume than milk and 16% more Vit C vol. per vol. than oranges. And it has strong cancer fighting properties too...so...pleeeez let me have broccoli instead.

At the end of this episode, when they are in the restaurant, at the table behind them - is that Miss Landers sitting there as a customer ?

I for one love Brussel Sprouts, but in this episode I feel June was over the top about it. I recall in an episode I think it was the "Beaver's Newspaper" where Larry was staying for dinner and June made a different vegetable for him because he didn't like Broccoli. Why couldn't she hold Larry to the same standards about being polite and eating anything he's served when visiting? She mentioned that rule to the boys everytime they were invited to a dinner at a friend's house! I was forced to eat liver and sat at the table for two whole hours before my dad whipped my hind end and sennt me to bed so I would never force a kid to eat what they didn't like, however I wouldn't become a short order cook either so I guess they would have to eat what was so served if I couldn't find a quick enough replacement or go hungry.

I have to admit I always thought this episode was one of the weaker ones of the whole series.

Brussels sprouts = puke:

Yeah, I saw the episode recently too... Didn't care for it but I think maybe Beaver just assumed he didn't like it.

The fact this old woman tells the Cleavers that she wouldn't let her kids not eat what they want to eat.

But then again, what if they want to eat surgary stuff, that's not good old woman!! :lol:

Did Billingsley ever have children?
Just like June, Ms. Billingsley has two sons - with her first husband Glenn Billingsley. Their names are Glenn Jr. and Drew.

I'm sure Ward and June's attitudes in this episode were at least partly shaped by the fact that they were old enough to have lived through the depression and WWII. They would have known what it's like to have a scarcity of food and would be quite adverse to seeing food going to waste. Especially for a reason as silly as a child refusing to eat it. I've witnessed this same attitude in my parents who also lived through those difficult times.

Back then we were told to eat everything on our plate and I still do. And if we were at someone else's house we ate what they served, no ifs ands or buts.

Yecch! I don't like brussel sprouts either.

But I do like broccoli which is just as good for you or even better. Broccoli is nature's one a day vitamin. It has 20% more calcium volume per volume than milk and 16% more Vit C vol. per vol. than oranges. And it has strong cancer fighting properties too...so...pleeeez let me have broccoli instead.

Hear! Hear!
I Love Me some broccoli. I was just like Beaver with my mother about eating certain vegetables. Some I don't like and won't eat (lima beans, butter beans, black eyed peas) and some I can't get enough of (string beans, broccoli, spinach, turnip greens, asparagus). Over time, I knew what I liked and didn't like. But Broccoli- If you won;t eat it, I will! :cool:

Back then we were told to eat everything on our plate and I still do. And if we were at someone else's house we ate what they served, no ifs ands or buts.

Well I use to hate spending the night at a friends house,because a lot of times what my friends mom made for supper I was not to crazy for.But I just sat and ate what ever they served and not be rude.
Well must times when I slept over a friends house my friends parents just order a couple pizza's-I was always relieved when that happen.

I just saw this epsiode for the first time a few days ago and LOVED it.. I really do not think it was over the top behavior for June because this 'battle of the wills' happened all the time when I was growing up -- it usually started small but built into something much bigger just like this episode....

I just saw this epsiode for the first time a few days ago and LOVED it.. I really do not think it was over the top behavior for June because this 'battle of the wills' happened all the time when I was growing up -- it usually started small but built into something much bigger just like this episode....
I just watched this episode on DVD yesterday. To me it seemed like a reversal of character for Ward and June. Usually it's Ward who wants to be strict with the boys and June asking him to ease off a little but in this episode it was June being strict and Ward trying to talk her into easing off!

I just watched this episode on DVD yesterday. To me it seemed like a reversal of character for Ward and June. Usually it's Ward who wants to be strict with the boys and June asking him to ease off a little but in this episode it was June being strict and Ward trying to talk her into easing off!

It's funny that Ward thinks June is overreacting over the Brussels sprouts, yet in another episode it's mentioned that Ward was upset at Beaver for not eating his egg plant.

As has been mentioned about Leave It To Beaver, some of the plots used in the shows in the series were based on actual events in the lives of the writers and other staff members. I think this is the case with the episode about brussel sprouts. When I was about ten years old or so, my mother inisisted on me eating some specific foods that I just didn't like. To this day, I think that was wrong and I still have no use for those particular foods (although a part of the feeling these many years later may go back to her insisting that I eat them). I think much of that is a misplaced attempt at control by a parent. So long as a child eats enough of the right foods, not liking a certain few should be no need for alarm or a cause to over-react. Only a few years later, my mother voiced concern that I always ordered hamburgers when eating out. Her sister reminded her that in doing so, I was getting meat. That seemed to silence her concerns in that department.