CountryStars.com: Refusing To Go On Welfare

[Claudia]

QUESTION OF THE DAY

WHAT COUNTRY SUPER STAR'S FAMILY REFUSED TO GO ON WELFARE?
According to Shania Twain, there were times when work in the reforestation business (her father's business in Timmins, Ontario, Canada) wasn't great, so bad there were a few times when the family went hungry. Even so, welfare turned out not to be an option. "My father refused to go on welfare," Shania recalls. "To me that's a true hero because it meant we didn't eat sometimes and maybe it was pride but there is nothing wrong with pride. I think that that can be a good thing to a degree. He taught us to stick it out and put your hand out to give instead of receiving…to make begging an absolute last resort, total last resort. It was the best lesson in life that I've ever learned from my parents. We got through it right? We survived it. Look where I am now. It worked. It's okay. It's okay to struggle. It's okay to look at others who have more, know that you have less and accept it. It's a good thing to accept that. Then if you want (something), it just means if you start off with less you and have to work that much harder to get it. That's all. There's nothing wrong with those lessons in life. Nothing at all."

[aFinn]

Hard lessons.

[chloe]

I don't agree with that decision by Shania's father, just like how he used a belt on them.

Pride does not equal not feeding your kids for a few days at a time. A good father swallows his pride and feeds his kids by any means, even if that means welfare.

If you want to play the pride card for yourself, that is fine. But when it involves children, that is taking it way too far.... I think what he did would be illegal nowadays and child welfare would step in. I sure know that I would report it.

Chloe

[SHANIANUTS!]

I wonder what her father's Indian culture and heritage has to say about such matters?

I agree with you Chloe, again in part, but I think you need more facts before you castigate her father and his actions.

[razorbac]

I know they strugled

[chloe]

Originally posted by SHANIANUTS!
I wonder what her father's Indian culture and heritage has to say about such matters?

I agree with you Chloe, again in part, but I think you need more facts before you castigate her father and his actions.


I have no idea what the Indian culture has to say about these type of matters. With the way our government has treated Native Americans, I am sure that they are very weary of handouts and the government in general.

I am basing it on the information that is presented to me. Straight from Shania's mouth, that is where the information is coming.

She said that he was too proud to go on welfare. I don't agree with that. Children come before pride and anything else.

She also said that he used a belt on them. That cannot be any clearer and I don't need any more information than that. I am so against physical violence on a child that hearing something like that sends chills down my body. I have worked with abused children and the parents might think that it was just a slap, just a hit, but the mental scars last a lifetime......

So at least on the belt issue, I don't need any more information to castigate him. He was wrong, any parent is wrong who uses a belt.

Chloe

[SHANIANUTS!]

Most kids raised in Shania's generation and my generation experienced the belt. I did - I did not suffer irreparable harm nor did any of my friends. It was just the way it was - right or wrong.

Of course there are degrees of applying the belt - my dad did not go overboard. I know some kids dads did and I agree that is not acceptable.

[chloe]

Originally posted by SHANIANUTS!
Most kids raised in Shania's generation and my generation experienced the belt. I did - I did not suffer irreparable harm nor did any of my friends. It was just the way it was - right or wrong.

Of course there are degrees of applying the belt - my dad did not go overboard. I know some kids dads did and I agree that is not acceptable.

I just come from the frame of mind that using the belt in any way, shape or form is wrong. When you discipline through violence, nothing positive can come from it. It seems like an easy solution in the short term, but the long term results are devastating.

Your right about her generation and generations before, in regards to the use of the belt or slapping in general. They did not realize how bad it is on a child's psyche to discipline that way.

I think that today's parents are too lenient on the other hand. We treat children like they are little gods.......catering to their every wish and demand. I don't believe in that either. Children need to learn right from wrong. Plus, a lot of kids have no respect for adults and other kids in general. Kids are way too rude and mean to other kids. Parents need to teach children not to bully because as we have all seen in the past decade, you can only push someone against the wall for just so long before they lash out like a rabid dog.....

So yes, it was the way that a lot of parents disciplined, but it was the wrong way.

Chloe

[canoilers]

Originally posted by chloe
[B]I have no idea what the Indian culture has to say about these type of matters. With the way our government has treated Native Americans, I am sure that they are very weary of handouts and the government in general. Up here some of them don't mind it at all. But once a person usaully goes on wel-fare usually stays on wel-fare.

[froush]

Here's a question that I have always wondered about.

Shania talks often about not having a lunch at school. In the United States, she and her siblings would have been eligible for the government's free lunch program.

Does Canada not have such a program??

Thanks

[Troll]

They may now, but back then they probably didn't.