MovieChat Forums > Thirteen (2003) Discussion > No ma'am. Absolutely not.

No ma'am. Absolutely not.


If my daughter talked to me the way Tracy talked to Mel, that little b*tch would be on her hands and knees looking for her teeth.

Noooooo ma'am. Not in this house.

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That is called abuse. Even though if your kid talked to you that way, they would be abusing you too. You have the knowledge to know what is right and wrong and they don't. By 13, most kids don't have a fully developed moral inventory. So you just admitted that you would abuse your daughter. Please dont have kids.

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I'm an intelligent person who knew from a very young age kids weren't for me, so I don't ever plan on having any. Got my bases covered, thanks.

And it is absolutely not abuse if the kid steps way out of line one too may times just like the way Evan's character did in this movie. No wonder she didn't respect her pushover, "victim" of a mother. Why would she? She knows she can get away with anything. You have to show your kids that respect is a must, not an option, and if they step out line one too many times like Tracy did, you put them in their place. You call it abuse. I call it discipline.

And if your kid doesn't have the "knowledge to know" the difference between right and wrong by age 13, there is something detrimentally wrong with your parenting. You might want to reconsider having children if you don't have them already, because by the sounds of it you would let them get away with just about anything and then wonder why the end up on the 6 o'clock news because they were too spoiled and entitled their whole lives to "know any better."

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"And it is absolutely not abuse if the kid steps way out of line one too may times just like the way Evan's character did in this movie. No wonder she didn't respect her pushover, "victim" of a mother. Why would she? She knows she can get away with anything. You have to show your kids that respect is a must, not an option, and if they step out line one too many times like Tracy did, you put them in their place. You call it abuse. I call it discipline"

You don't have to resort to violence to make your children respect you. My mother never laid a finger on me or my brother, but we would NEVER step out of line with her. She was an extremely strong character. It was in the tone of her voice, her facial expressions, she made sure we KNEW where the line was. If we crossed it she'd make us feel incredibly guilty and sorry, but with words. Just as effective.

Then when we were teenagers we knew if we treated her with respect, she'd treat us with respect. I don't think you can grow up respecting a parent who beat you. You'd fear them, probably, but fear and respect are not the same thing.

If you can't control your children without physically hurting them you're not a good parent, you're just a bully.

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I respect my dad a helluva lot more than my mom, and he never once laid a hand on me. My mom hit me several times when I was younger before she decided she didn't like it...but it was her hitting me that made me lose all respect for her. Mom's hitting, screaming, and tantrums just convinced me she was a hysterical bully. Dad had his way of being firm, and yes, there are times where he was wrong about me and what to do with me, but his treating me with respect is what made me respect him too.
I eventually had to push my mother away because accepting her violent behavior made it harder to see the red flags in abusive relationships. Your definition of discipline will either cause your children to go into violent abusive relationships, or become violent abusers themselves.

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What if she told you to stop? Then what would you do?

Happy girls are the prettiest - Audrey Hepburn
So that's why only ugly girls treat me badly

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I would help you hold your daughter down while you knocked her teeth out.

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wtf is wrong with you

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So you support ahole kids? Funny how you would probably change your mind if a kid was being angry and violent toward you.

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Read my thread called "Tracy's mom was clueless". Beating her wasn't going to make the situation better. There were valid reasons why Tracy was acting out...

1. The mom needed to not let her rehab friend mooch off of them, as well as other people, especially when she didn't have a decent job, and was cutting hair for a living. Tracy was clearly angry about this, and told her mother so.

2. Tracy's dad clearly didn't care, and didn't even want to spend time with her. This clearly upset her, and she told her mother so.

3. Moms boyfriend was a recovering addict, and the last time the mom was with him, she went off the wagon, and it scared Tracy that she would do it again, so she hated the boyfriend, and wanted him OUT, and tried telling her mother so, repeatedly.


Beating would have made things worse, not better, and that's how you get CPS called on you. Children are human beings, and should be treated like human beings.

I can only assume you and the other poster were kidding, if you weren't, I worry about any children you produce.

Good day.






AVADA KEDAVRA!!!

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Idk, you seem like a person people should be worried about too.

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If my daughter talked to me the way Tracy talked to Mel, that little b*tch would be on her hands and knees looking for her teeth.

Noooooo ma'am. Not in this house.


Thirteen is a great film, but watching it always makes me want to buy a box of condoms – because the thought of having a child like that would be hell on earth.

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Do oral or anal instead. NO RUBBERS!

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Thank God you have decided to abstain from parenthood, because knocking your child's teeth out is abuse.

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I can't imagine referring to my daughter as "that little b!+ch!" Damn sure won't be knocking any teeth out! Without considering the obvious abuse aspect, those suckers cost too much money to purposely knock out!

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You can't beat a 13 year old girl into behaving, especially when just a couple of months ago she was a completely different person. Tracy was a sweet normal girl that turned into a nightmare of a teenage girl almost overnight. Even if Tracy didn't make the transformation beating a kid isn't the answer. This is your child we are talking about here, not a dog that misbehaved. It isn't even ok to beat an animal to get results. Don't get me wrong, Tracy had a slap or two in the face coming for quite a few things she said to her mother, but that is a far cry from knocking teeth out and whatever other ideas you thought would be effective techniques. I don't understand people that say that their parents used to beat them with things like extension chords and they respected them more because of it. I was raised with the fist/belt and I didn't respect them more because of it. I feared them because of it and still ended up doing things that would result in that kind of punishment. I wouldn't talk like Tracy did to Mel, but it definitely made me a better liar. Would you teach your kids to solve problems/anger with violence? So what do you think you are teaching them when you raise them with violence?



A lot of people say Mel was too easy on her and that she was a bad parent. I don't think that Mel was a bad mom, she just didn't know what to do once Tracy went wild. A lot of parents would be blindsided by their child changing that fast. One thing I can say about Mel was that she was wrong to keep bringing Brady into the house like that especially when she could see how his presence in the house was taking a toll on her daughter.

Brady didn't seem like a bad guy, but based on flashbacks his drug use was frightening and angering to Tracy. Mel didn't even discuss it with her kids when he came back, she just let him back in which was wrong on her part. Your kids come before your social life, no matter how lonely you are and no matter how much you want him there. No excuses in a situation like that, your kids come first and not to get preachy, but when you have kids you make sacrifices like your romantic/sexual needs always take a back seat when you are a single parent. Period.






I really like your car Mrs. Larusso!

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You sound like trailer park white trash.

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I have never saw the film, but heard about it. I agree with you.

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