The Pike Parents

[macca]

These two have borne the brunt of much snarking recently, for good reason. Sexaholics (come on, pregnant within a few months of having triplets when you've also got a one yr old daughter?!) who are happy to push their parental responsibilities on their eleven yr old daughter and are seemingly incapable of taking a family vacation without hiring two thirteen yr olds to keep the kids permanently out of their hair.

In this day and age, they'd have been foolish to allow Mary Anne and Stacey to go off with strange boys - knowing modern 13 yr old girls, one would've come home pregnant - plus, they had no objection to their eleven yr old dating a fifteen yr old, even though they get their panties in a twist over sparkle sweatshirts.

Their approach to parenting was also ridiculously strange. They were "liberal" believing in no discipline, bedtimes etc, but are incredibly conservative when it comes to clothing they deem appropriate.

[jen]

It does seem really strange about the clothing thing... They'll let their kids eat whatever they want, but not wear a bit of glitter? You'd think that the food thing would be more of a health concern. Also, re: Mallory's hair. She always complains that it's bushy and wild, and it seems that she had to do some convincing to let her parents get it cut... Did she *never* have her hair cut before that day? Why could they just cut it shorter than they normally do, or give her a normal hairstyle?

The Pikes *seem* like good parents... In Claudia and the Mystery at the Museum, Mary Anne comments that you can always learn some way of dealing with kids by watching Mr and Mrs Pike deal with theirs, since they've seen every trick in the book.

[macca]

jenlovesmorelli said:

Also, re: Mallory's hair. She always complains that it's bushy and wild, and it seems that she had to do some convincing to let her parents get it cut... Did she *never* have her hair cut before that day? Why could they just cut it shorter than they normally do, or give her a normal hairstyle?

That seemed weird to me as well. Mallory sulked this entire book about wanting to have her hair cut (amongst other things) and had to devise a "clever" strategy in order to obtain permission. Huh? It wasn't like she was asking to dye her hair or anything (which would be a little extreme for an eleven yr old, particularly back in the late 80s)

Would Mallory's parents really have said "no Mallory, we feel you're too young for a haircut"

If Mallory's hair was thick, red and curly and it had never been cut before then, it must've looked absolutely atrocious. Poor Mallory.

Also, those Pike parents must've had some serious cash. Mallory needed braces and glasses, neither of which are cheap and both of which tend to run in families. Braces for eight kids... ugh!

[ktag]

Maybe they did the home haircut thing to save money. Except Mrs. Pike was so distracted by the triplets that Mallory's hair usually ended up looking chopped off. ;D

[jen]

Haha, maybe! And maybe Trouble with Twins is the first time that Mallory's ever had a proper haircut... No wonder she complained.

[Amalia]

What really struck me is that they would actually pay Mal to babysit her siblings? Who does that? And was she supposed to have had her braces during her run in the BSC series? If so, I don't remember any cover pics where she had them on. Although, I could have just not been paying much attention.

[macca]

^They always made a point of saying Mallory wore the "clear kind" that don't show up too much.

All the BSC were paid to babysit their siblings. And their parents used to officially call and book the jobs during meetings. Weird.

[Amalia]

Oh, right huh. Oops.
If I asked to be paid for babysitting my siblings I would be given the spiel about how I already am with being fed, having clothes, shelter, etc. I only had 2 younger sibs and didn't entertain them all day, but still.

[hitzpink]

I hated Mr. and Mrs. Pike in Mallory On Strike. Totally ridiculous that they would expect Mal to help out that much. I also really did not like the fact that they had SO many kids but seemed unable to cope without Mal having loads of extra responsibilites, or taking two 13 year old mother's helpers with them everytime they went on vacation. Use a condom and stop popping out the babies, plz. And didn't Stacey and Mary Anne get like two nights off a week when they were in Sea City? So, what, the sitters get two nights off while the parents get five?

[jen]

I think that was the point of them hiring mother's helpers... So they could have more alone time and try to pop out more kids.

[aln1982]

I try not to think too much about these breeders since it makes me frustrated and I read these books to relax. But... I get so annoyed any time they complain about money, especially in the one where Mr. Pike lost his job and in Mallory and the Dream Horse. All I want to say is "why did you have 8 kids?"

[macca]

Those two are insane. They remind me of the quote I read on the Misanthropic b*tch website the rhythm method has nothing to do with the music one listens to while getting it on

Who the hell gets pregnant within weeks of having triplets, especially when they already have a one yr old daughter who would also still wear nappies and need lots of attending to? And it wasn't like that stopped them either. Vanessa had barely emerged from the womb when Mr Pike had his leg over yet again and Nicky came into existence. Then, within weeks of his birth, Mrs Pike was knocked up AGAIN!

Those two had problems. It always seemed strange that the kids stopped abruptly after Claire. Maybe Mr Pike had the snip.

[hitzpink]

aln1982 said:

I try not to think too much about these breeders since it makes me frustrated and I read these books to relax.

Oh yeah, I definitely can't think about Mr. and Mrs. Pike too much, or I will go insane!

But.... seriously, how in the world could they have afforded all of those babies? Not to mention the toll it must have taken on Mrs. Pike's body and insanity popping them out one after the other like that!

I have never understood why Ann M. Martin didn't space those crazy Pike kids out a little more. Maybe make the triplets 9, Vanessa 7, Nicky 5, Margo 4, and Claire 2. But honestly, 11, 10 (times 3!), 9, 8, 7, and 5 would NEVER happen!

[ktag]

I wonder what they did for babysitters for the 10 years before the club started. It can't have been easy getting two sitters willing to put up with them, especially when they were younger. 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, newborn. Eek. You'd probably spend the entire time changing and feeding them.

[macca]

hitzpink said:

aln1982 said:

I have never understood why Ann M. Martin didn't space those crazy Pike kids out a little more.

I agree. Wouldn't it make more sense? And then we could have Mallory bragging about her knowledge of kids of all ages, including babies and toddlers.