Welcome to Plathville Matriarch Kim Plath may have reinvented herself, but Kim’s past parenting style continues to shape her children’s lives. Kim and her husband Barry Plath raised their nine children in a very strict and religious household. They banned television, the Internet, and mainstream entertainment, leaving their children extremely sheltered. 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 as their children grew up. Their eldest 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 way of life. As Kim and Barry’s parenting tactics drove a wedge between them and their children, their own marriage fell apart. Now Kim and Barry have softened their attitudes towards their children, but they can never fully make up for their past mistakes.
The older Plath children are not well educated
Their homeschooling was lacking
Kim’s children feel that they were not prepared for the real world and cannot compete with their peers.
Kim’s homeschooling curriculum was deeply motivated by her religious program. He chose what to teach his children, which allowed him to ignore any facts he disagreed with. Kim’s children claim this left them unprepared for the real world and unable to compete with their peers.
In particular, Ethan disputed the training he received. She claimed that Kim did not force her to do her schoolwork, but only allowed her to focus on what interested her. While Kim defended herself by claiming that she wanted to encourage Ethan to follow his passion, she shouldn’t have let the child dictate what she studies.Ethan felt disadvantaged by the education he received and believed it held him back in his adult life.
Kim was unable to provide her children with the usual tools to help them succeed. In addition to a questionable educational program, his strict rules left them ignorant of pop culture. in Welcome to Plathville season 6, years after she first broke free from her mother’s grip, Moriah was still attached. Moriah, an aspiring singer herself, didn’t even know who Usher was. Moriah’s friend pointed out that he is constantly teaching Moriah about mainstream culture.
The purity culture made Kim’s children rush into relationships
They feel pressured to settle down at a young age
A big part of Kim’s religious parenting was the promotion of purity. He taught his children that they had to abstain from sex until marriage, and he did not provide sex education. Coupled with the fact that they only socialized with like-minded families, Plath’s children had no understanding of human sexuality.
This sex-related guilt and shame pressured Kim’s children to rush their relationships. Ethan married Olivia when she was only 20, a very young lifelong commitment. Ethan never dated to make sure Olivia was the right partner for him. Not surprisingly, his marriage suffered. If Ethan had been raised to be more open about relationships, he probably would have been spared the heartache of divorce.
Kim and Barry’s attitude towards dating pushed their children to focus only on long-term commitment.
Like Ethan, Moriah and Micah also rushed into relationships. began a serious relationship with Max Kallschmidt in Welcome to Plathville season 2 while rebelling against his parents. Unfortunately, Max betrayed Moriah and left her devastated. Micah also quickly moved in with his girlfriend Veronica Peters, moved in with her, and gave up her modeling career. Kim and Barry’s attitude towards dating pushed their children to focus only on long-term commitment. This robbed their children of the ability to date for fun and find out what they really needed in a partner.
Kim’s intervention destroyed Ethan and Olivia’s marriage
He still hasn’t acknowledged his role in their divorce
Ethan and Olivia faced many problems as a young couple, and Kim’s interference certainly didn’t help. Olivia grew up in a fundamentalist family similar to the Plaths. She didn’t accept the way she was raised and tried to build a more progressive life with Ethan. Olivia introduced Ethan to many of the simple pleasures he had missed, like soda and alcohol. Olivia unraveled her religious trauma by exploring the world and creating her own values.
Olivia’s independence didn’t 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 Olivia and Ethan’s lifestyle, Kim interrupted them. He also did not allow Ethan to have a relationship with his younger siblings.
Kim’s meddling put Ethan and Olivia’s marriage in a vulnerable position. After years of fighting over boundaries, Ethan and Olivia decided to separate. Even with heartache, Ethan was afraid to tell his younger siblings about his divorce. Kim’s unrealistic standards made Ethan feel like a disappointment to those who watched him give up on his marriage. Despite Ethan’s estrangement from his mother, he could not shake the traditional ideology she instilled in him.
Kim changed her priorities during her divorce
His not-so-tight attitude doesn’t fool viewers
Kim and Barry announced the end of their marriage in 2022. As soon as she and Barry broke up, Kim began to change. She moved out of the family home and devoted her time to dancing, leaving her daughter Lydia Plath in charge of homeschooling her younger siblings. Kim suddenly went from helicopter mom to absentee parent.
Now that Kim is single, her parenting style has completely changed. She is more relaxed with her younger children because she has learned from the mistakes she made with her older children. However, Kim has yet to repair the damage he caused. He may have improved, but he hasn’t made up for the mistakes he made. He should not have isolated his children and deprived them of a proper education. Although Kim acts as if a simple change of attitude will absolve him of his mistakes, Welcome to Plathville viewers are not convinced.
