Welcome to Platteville Matriarch Kim Plath may be reinventing herself, but Kim’s previous parenting style continues to shape her children’s lives. Kim and her husband, Barry Plath, raised their nine children in a super-strict and religious household. They banned television, internet, and mainstream entertainment, leaving their children completely unprotected. The home-schooled Plath children had little contact with peers who did not share the family’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
Kim and Barry’s inflexible parenting style backfired when their children became adults. Their oldest son, Ethan Plath, became estranged from his parents after his wife, Olivia Plath, opposed their conservative views on marriage and family. Micah Plath and Moriah Plath also moved away from the family’s Georgia farm and Adopted a more liberal lifestyle. As Kim and Barry’s parenting tactics created a divide between them and their children, their own marriage fell apart. Now, Kim and Barry have relaxed their attitudes towards their children, but they can never fully correct their past mistakes.
The older Plath children were not well-educated
Their homeschool education is lacking
Kim’s children feel that they are left unprepared for the real world and cannot compete with their peers.
Kim’s homeschooling curriculum was deeply motivated by her religious agenda. She chose what to teach her children, Which allowed her to drop any facts she disagreed with. Kim’s children argue that this did not prepare them for the real world and could not compete with their peers.
In particular, Ethan was happy with the education he received. He claims that Kim did not push him to do his schoolwork, he let him focus only on what interested him. While Kim defends herself by claiming she wanted to encourage Ethan to follow his passions, She should not allow a child to dictate what he learns. Ethan felt disadvantaged by the education he received, and he believed it held him back in his adult life.
Kim failed to provide her children with the normal tools that would allow them to succeed. On top of a questionable educational agenda, her strict rules also leave them ignorant of pop culture. in Welcome to Platteville Season 6, years after she first broke away from her mother’s grip, Moria is still catching up. An aspiring singer herself, Moriah didn’t even know who Asher was. Moria’s friend notes that she constantly teaches Moria about mainstream culture.
Chastity culture has Kim’s children to rush into relationships
They feel pressured to settle down at a young age
A large part of Kim’s religious parents’ agenda was promoting purity. She taught her children that they should abstain from sex until marriage, and she did not give any sexual education. Coupled with the fact that they only socialized with like-minded families, the Plath children were left with very little understanding of human sexuality.
The guilt and shame surrounding sex pressured Kim’s children to rush their relationships. Ethan married Olivia when he was only 20, which is very young to make a lifelong commitment. Ethan never dated around to make sure Olivia was the right partner for him. Not surprisingly, his marriage suffered. If Ethan had been raised with a more open attitude towards relationships, he probably would have been spared the heartache of his divorce.
Kim and Barry’s attitude to dating puts pressure on their children to focus only on long-term commitment.
Like Ethan, Moriah and Micah also rushed into relationships. Began a serious relationship with Max Kalschmidt in Welcome to Platteville Season 2, while rebelling from her parents. unfortunately, Max cheated on Moriah and left her. Micah also quickly moved in with his girlfriend, Veronica Peters, settling down with her and giving up his modeling career. Kim and Barry’s attitude to dating puts pressure on their children to focus only on long-term commitment. This has robbed their children of the ability to explore for fun and to find what they really need in a partner.
Kim’s interference destroyed Ethan and Olivia’s marriage
She still did not acknowledge her role in their divorce
Ethan and Olivia faced many problems as a young couple, and Kim’s interference certainly did not help. Olivia grew up in a fundamentalist family similar to the Plaths. She disagreed with the way she was raised and sought to build a more progressive life with Ethan. Olivia introduced Ethan to many of the simple pleasures he was deprived of, like soda and alcohol. Olivia deconstructs her religious trauma by exploring the world and creating her own values.
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Olivia’s independence did not sit well with Kim. She accused Olivia of brainwashing Ethan and tried to push her views on her daughter-in-law. When she didn’t agree with the way Olivia and Ethan were living, Kim cut them off. She also did not allow Ethan to have a relationship with his younger siblings.
Kim’s interference puts Ethan and Olivia’s marriage in a vulnerable position. After years of fighting about boundaries, Ethan and Olivia made the decision to divorce. Even while living with heartbreak, Ethan was afraid to tell his younger siblings about his divorce. Kim’s unrealistic standards made Ethan feel like he disappointed those who looked up to him by giving up on his marriage. Despite Eton’s promotion of his mother, he could not shake off the traditional ideology that she instilled in him.
Kim shifts her priorities during her divorce
Her not-so-strict attitude isn’t fooling viewers
Kim and Barry announced the end of their marriage in 2022. As soon as she and Barry separated, Kim began to change. She moved out of the family home and devoted her time to dancing, leaving her daughter Lydia Plath responsible for homeschooling her younger siblings. Kim is suddenly transformed from a helicopter mother into an absentee father.
Now that she is single, Kim’s parenting style has completely changed. She is more relaxed with her younger children, having learned from the mistakes she made with her older children. however, Kim has yet to repair the damage she is responsible for. She may have developed, but she did not make amends for the mistakes she made. She did not need to isolate her children and deprive them of proper education. While Kim acts like simply changing her attitude absolves her of her mistakes, Welcome to Platteville Viewers remain unconvinced.