I hate the "Driver's Seat" episode where D.J. is "abused"

[counrfk]

I am a huge fan of this show, and usually its messages were spot on. However, this episode sent that message that ALL spanking was abusive and wrong. D.J. stole the family car, he wrecked it, he lied about it, and then he told his mother to shut up and leave him alone. Wow, if that didn't warrant a spanking I don't know what does!! All Roseanne did was spank him. 4 hand swats on the backside. She was apologizing as if she had bloodied him up and bruised him up and beaten him senseless. Heck, if this is all that her father Al did, then Al wasn't a child abuser either. They said that Al used a belt, but even a belt is not abuse if it's only a few swats on the backside.

Roseanne was sitting at the table acting like she was a horrible child abuser. All she did was spank her kid for egregious behavior! Dan was right. D.J. had it coming. Jackie's reaction was senseless too. Jackie was usually a defender of her father. In the old house episode where they are remembering about Al's belt on the wall, Jackie acts like it wasn't that big of a deal. She and Roseanne certainly weren't the only kids to get spanked with a belt. Making Al a child abuser later on was so wrong. A good episode about child abuse was the one about David's mother. She WAS a child abuser. Big difference there. Has Roseanne ever commented on that episode and what she was thinking?

[Bonniegirl]

Me too!! That sure wasn't one of the better eps!! And I'm with you on the series should have been over long before it was!! It ran WAY too long!!

[Corkys-Place]

I'm fairly confident by Season 6 the majority of the viewing audience wanted to strangle DJ. He was a little #$%^ in the end and deserved more than four slaps on the behind.

[JMidnight_99]

Originally Posted by Corkys-Place

I'm fairly confident by Season 6 the majority of the viewing audience wanted to strangle DJ. He was a little #$%^ in the end and deserved more than four slaps on the behind.

All the kids were, and sometimes their selfishness was hard to take.

Four whacks in the ass isn't abuse, especially considering what he did. Nothing wrong with a whack in the ass to reconnect a kids ears to his brain, despite what the whacko lefties say.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by counrfk

However, this episode sent that message that ALL spanking was abusive and wrong.

That's not what the message was. Roseanne was an abused kid growing up. She had always been scared she would end up like her father if she ever hit her kids. She did lose control during the spanking and was scared she was becoming like him. She was worried what her kids would think if they had been abused and if they would resent her like she did her father. That was the message she was sending to her audience.

Originally Posted by counrfk

All Roseanne did was spank him. 4 hand swats on the backside.

Watch the scene again. She also raised her right leg up and tried kicking him with her knee. Plus before that, she said to Dan he had his turn with punishing DJ. She was losing control of the spanking and that's the message she was sending to the audience. I think this was a brilliant episode because there's a lot of people who were abused growing up. Some have that mentality that they will end up like their parents and continue the cycle of abuse on their kids or spouses. I get that people who weren't abused as kids don't understand the trauma it leaves on people as they get older. For some though this episode hit home and could relate to what Roseanne was going through.