Was There Any Discipline in the Walton Home?

[flossieskid]

I was watching a rerun of the Supernanny, where an English Nanny helps parents learn to correct the behavior of their children - from toddlers to teenagers. Then, I happened to see an episode of the Waltons and I couldn’t remember if John or Olivia ever had to place any kid in a time out or revoke their “privilege of going down to Ike’s for some penny candy.”

I assumed the children learned their manners and respect towards others from the input of very involved parents and grandparents. Yet I thought it odd that I never saw the children misbehave once. I guess it could happen! But, anyone who has been a parent knows there are no perfect children or perfect parents.

I can only imagine that a family with 7 kids had some poor behavior exhibited at some point. But, it seems that just the thought of disappointing their parents or grandparents, the Walton children would know what they did wrong and figure out the correct path to redemption. Perhaps the writers wanted to present a pristine view of life on Walton’s Mountain.

Perhaps my memory is faulty and I just need some reminders from the great minds of the Forum participants.

[cinlou]

Ben got caught smoking and grandpa made him smoke once. Apparently it made him sick so he stopped smoking.

[Brenda]

Ben got in trouble several times. He took John Boy’s car out in the middle of the night without permission and drove a girl to Charlottesville to see her mother. When John found out, he grabbed him, pushed him toward the door, and looked like he was about to hit him until Grandpa stepped in and stopped him. 

Another time, Ben and a group of boys broke into a house while the owners were away.  Strangely, Olivia was more upset with John Boy for publishing the story in his newspaper than she was with Ben. 

Mary Ellen was quite sassy as a young teenager. She was very disrespectful to her parents and grandma several times, though she always ended up apologizing.  I don’t think my parents would have been quite as understanding as John and Olivia were if I had ever spoken to them the way Mary Ellen did.  

Mary Ellen was caught smoking in the shed with her visiting cousin.  Olivia found them and made her learn 10 Bible verses for punishment. 

Jim Bob got in trouble once for trying to trick Ike by shoplifting, then putting the object back.  I think it was an onion. Ike caught him and made him go home and confess to his father.  

Jim Bob and Jodie Foster were arrested once, but I can’t remember what they did.  I’ll have to look it up.  

Elizabeth and JimBob took a calf that John had sold to a neighbor, then they ran off and tried to hide it in a cave.  They were upset that the neighbor was planning to raise it for beef, and they wanted to save its life.  John explained to them that what they did was wrong, and next time they had a problem, to come to him.  

I think the Walton children were mostly normal children with typical behavior. They got in trouble sometimes,  but they had the benefit of loving and understanding parents who corrected them by telling them what they had done wrong and what they should have done instead. 

[Easton]

Except for the ubiquitous bible verses, there were more 'life lessons' (such as Ben's smoking with Grandpa mentioned above), everybody in the family (adults included) were disciplined in one way or another (for their own good, of course) whilst learning a life lesson of some sort.

I think the closest the show came to actual punishment was Ben being yanked around and tossed onto the sofa by his father after it was revealed that Ben had 'borrowed' John-Boy's car to drive his girlfriend to Charlottesville to meet her estranged mother. The car was involved in an accident when two joy riders took it for a spin and smashed in a front fender.

There were various groundings, of course, and both Ben and Jim-Bob had to buy and replace a pane of glass when they broke a neighbour's window with a slingshot. Erin, who had been ill but played on it for quite some time to get out of chores and to have everyone waiting on her hand and foot, had to turn down a date for some social event with her young admirer.

So, the main form of discipline was learning life's hard lessons, usually the hard way. Still, they were lessons not easily forgot.

[Sussie of Teckelhut Acres]

I think of the punishments Oliva gave to the kids and all I can think of is "GEES. I would rather take a swat on the butt over having to spend the rest of the day memorizing bible verses". I think Olivia knew this was a harder punishment which is why she went that route.

[nedandres]

Perhaps. But I think Bible memory as a punishment is counterproductive and can give children a negative view of the Bible and Christianity in general. As a family we memorize verses together as a positive activity because we believe it is God’s Word.

[Sussie of Teckelhut Acres]

If the child was made to do that without a reason why, then I could see a negative feeling. However Mary Ellen, who is the one that gets the punishment the most, knows very well what will happen if she does something bad. If she choses to flirt with that she has no one to blame but herself. As for the younger two. Elizabeth and Jim-Bob usually either just got sent to their rooms or, if it was really bad, sent to their rooms without supper. They were never asked to memorize and I would gather its because Olivia knew they were too young to do so. But an empty stomach sent a good message. And for as well as the family ate, missing one meal would not hurt them.

[Brenda]

Writers often choose a prominent characteristic in a person and embellish it, and in my opinion, that’s what Earl Hamner did with Olivia’s character. From the very beginning, it was stressed that Olivia was a Baptist. It started in The Homecoming when Olivia told the children the story about the elopement. She said her family were “big Baptists” who didn’t approve of their daddy because he wasn’t a churchgoer. It was Olivia who first welcomed Rev. Fordwick to the community. She never missed an opportunity to remind John that he needed to get baptized. I think Earl Hamner added the “learning Bible verses” punishment to Olivia’s character as sort of a joke. Something like “My mama was such a good Baptist that she even used the Bible to punish her children.”

I doubt that Earl’s mother punished her children by making them learn Bible verses.  She may have used the Bible to counsel them when they did something wrong or were in some kind of trouble. Maybe she found a passage in the Bible to teach them why it was wrong. Maybe she had them pray and ask for forgiveness.  But I doubt any good Christian mother would angrily order her child to memorize random verses from the Bible.  Just my opinion.  

[tommyc]

I don't remember what episode it was in, but I always laugh at the scene when Olivia gets very angry at the Baldwin sisters and excuses herself from the living room and grabs the bible and goes into the kitchen to read it.  

I'm assuming she's looking for a passage that will help her calm down and control her temper.  After reading a passage, she goes back into the living room and pleasantly invites the sisters over for dinner.

Well written, well directed, and well acted. 

[tommyc]

There was the one episode where Jim Bob was very mean and disrepectful toward Corabeth.  I don't remember the exact discipline but John was very mad at Jim Bob for the way he treated Corabeth, and at the very least, he made Jim Bob go and apologize.

I think that is the episode where Jim Bob and Corabeth have the beautiful tire-changing scene.  One of my favorite scenes in the entire series.

[goodnight]

Sept 28, 2023 6:53:05 GMT -5 cinlou said:

Ben got caught smoking and grandpa made him smoke once. Apparently it made him sick so he stopped smoking.

Didn't Jason say that Grandpa had done that to him as well? I don't think Grandpa looked like he felt too good either after a smoke.

[goodnight]

Sept 28, 2023 21:16:41 GMT -5 tommyc said:

I don't remember what episode it was in, but I always laugh at the scene when Olivia gets very angry at the Baldwin sisters and excuses herself from the living room and grabs the bible and goes into the kitchen to read it.  

I'm assuming she's looking for a passage that will help her calm down and control her temper.  After reading a passage, she goes back into the living room and pleasantly invites the sisters over for dinner.

Well written, well directed, and well acted. 

Wasn't that the one where they wanted to adopt Jason?

[flossieskid]

Thank you to all those who responded to my questions. Obviously, I must have missed the episodes referred to by the knowledgeable Forum members. I guess every show I saw, the Walton kids seemed to be perfect examples of well behaved children.

Although, I too, question how writing Bible verses could be viewed as a positive way for children to have a good relationship with God. But, there was no T.V., computer screen time or cell phone hours to revoke. I get it - whatever works!

[tommyc]

Sept 28, 2023 21:43:53 GMT -5 goodnight said:

Sept 28, 2023 21:16:41 GMT -5 tommyc said:

I don't remember what episode it was in, but I always laugh at the scene when Olivia gets very angry at the Baldwin sisters and excuses herself from the living room and grabs the bible and goes into the kitchen to read it.  

I'm assuming she's looking for a passage that will help her calm down and control her temper.  After reading a passage, she goes back into the living room and pleasantly invites the sisters over for dinner.

Well written, well directed, and well acted. 

Wasn't that the one where they wanted to adopt Jason?

Yes, that's what I was thinking the episode was, but I wasn't certain.

[carol]

Sept 28, 2023 21:52:44 GMT -5 flossieskid said:

Thank you to all those who responded to my questions. Obviously, I must have missed the episodes referred to by the knowledgeable Forum members. I guess every show I saw, the Walton kids seemed to be perfect examples of well behaved children.

Although, I too, question how writing Bible verses could be viewed as a positive way for children to have a good relationship with God. But, there was no T.V., computer screen time or cell phone hours to revoke. I get it - whatever works!

John or Olivia could have revoked radio privileges. They could have said to the offender that you can't listen to the radio with the family tonight.