He treated them like soldiers for years. That's abuse, and would cause mental health issues. It was also a pretty quick transition. Shouldn't the kids have instinctively acted like soldiers for a while, forgetting that they don't need to anymore?
shareIt wasn't abuse. He just treated them the way he was used to dealing with sailors under his command.
And they did snap right back into it when he returned. The time between Maria's return and when he married her was several months so we don't what happened between.
Just because you can do it to your soldiers, doesn't mean you can do it to your children. You can verbally abuse your soldiers, and force them to do numerous pushups every day, and force them to clean the toilets, doesn't mean it's OK to do it to your children.
shareDiscipline of the type depicted in the movie is not abuse. Neither is requiring children to exercise, or assigning them chores. There's nothing wrong with a kid doing some pushups or cleaning a toilet. Naturally, they'll resent it at the time, but when they've grown up they'll be grateful for the good parenting they received.
shareHe was strict. That doesn't mean he was abusive. There's no evidence that he was physically, verbally or emotionally abusive to his children, just that he had become fixated on discipline since his wife died. His children were clearly overjoyed to have their old dad back.
shareThe problem isn't that he was strict, treating your children like soldiers is emotionally abusive. In real life, even if the children were desperate to have their old dad back, they would not instantly be overjoyed when they got it, it would take a while for it to sink in. I know it's based on a true story, but that doesn't mean everything in real life happened exactly the way it did in the movie.
shareHe wasn’t abusing them, he was just really strict, there’s a difference. Also a parent can be a bad parent without being abusive.
shareHe treated them like soldiers for years. That's abuse, and would cause mental health issues. It was also a pretty quick transition. Shouldn't the kids have instinctively acted like soldiers for a while, forgetting that they don't need to anymore?