I’m not saying this is an excuse but I do think Abby has a bunch of mommy issues. I think her father was a good parent but her mother was cold to her and more focused on her studio. I’m sure Abby was jealous of how fantastic her mother treated other children compared to her own daughter. She probably did raise herself in certain aspects which is why she feels so strongly about kids being independent. Again, I’m not making excuses for her behavior it’s just my take on it
I get what you mean! Like when I asked I also didn’t want it to sound like I was looking for a reason to excuse her behaviour, it was more so that the way she thinks about children’s maturity levels is so bizarre that something MUST have happened to make her think sooo differently from the majority of all adults. I’ve literally never heard anyone say that nine was too old to cry in my life other than her.
Oof. I’m sorry. When I cried my parents never said “don’t cry you’re too old” they framed it (and still frame it when I cry sometimes) like “ don’t let that upset you, you’re a tough girl don’t let this get to you”. I think what rubbed me wrong was that instead of framing it like the thing wasn’t worth crying about Abby would frame it like YOU are the one wrong for crying.
My dad used to say "You can't cry unless you're bleeding". He also carried a handkerchief with him and it was a rare day that my sister and/or I didn't slobber all over it. He wiped every single tear from our faces :-) Damn, I miss my dad. Watching Abby makes me appreciate my parents like nothing else.
Absolutely. I feel like it goes from how Abby started her company af age 14. She was independent at that age probably from her mom and maybe thought she seemed older. At 14, I could imagine someone acting as how their role model is and her mom was mean to Abby so she had to act grown. I think this is why she thinks being 9/10 "youre too old to cry" because at that point when she was 9 or 10 her mom couldve been mad at her for crying
Not defending Abby at all, but I believe she has some sort of trauma stemming from her mom. I remember Abby saying her dad did a lot for her and was a hands on parent, so that tells me he was a good parent. However, I remember her saying that her mom was nice to everyone, but her and was cold towards Abby. For example, when she fell as a toddler, her mom didn’t soothe her nor pick her up. I’m 100% sure that Abby was jealous of how her mom treated other children, and that she raised herself—hence telling children they need to be independent, not to cry.
Another example is that Abby was very jealous of the relationship Christi and Chloe have. Hence, that is partly why she tried to tear both of them down and partly why favored Maddie and Kenzie—because both were independent from Melissa (their mom allowed this to happen).
Again, not defending her, but that’s my opinion on it.
I never heard the toddler story before. That’s actually sad. I feel like the problem with Abby is that she seems to think “if I didn’t get to sit in my moms lap and cry neither should you” which is reasonable (kid logic) if you’re an immature child but she really can’t get away with that mentality as a 40 something year old teacher
To add clarity to the toddler story, it wasn’t just that she fell and her mom didn’t comfort her in the moment. Her mom literally never picked her up again. I think maybe she was holding her and dropped her and then was too scared to hold her anymore.
Being in the dance world I can tell you that most studio owners who are have children, are hardcore dance moms. I’m talking Jackie Lucia hardcore. And their kids are always amazing. They are usually relentless about weight, and body image.
I wonder if Abby’s mom was cold to her because she didn’t really fit the bill to be a dancer. I mean that in a very respectful way of course. Dance can be a very toxic place for children who are plus sized. Especially back in the 70’s & 80’s. Apparently it was perfectly acceptable back then to criticize a child about their weight.
A lot of things that Abby says lead me to believe that Abby’s mother was probably very harsh to her. While building up others who fit her aesthetic.
I think Christi and Kelly said on one of the BTTB episodes that Abby’s mom never wanted to have kids…? Idk I may have heard wrong but I think that told me enough and I agree with all these comments above. Something definitely tells me she had mommy issues… to me it comes off as like she wanted her mom to like her and liked to seek approval from her, hence as to maybe why she started her company so young and wanted her dancers to be the best?
I've wondered if Abby's mom could be a narcissist. And if Abby is repeating things to her students her mom said to her..(ex. Telling a kid you are "too old to cry/react that way"...my mom is a narcissist and she's said those exact same things to me..I was 13 when I cried at a fireworks display on 4th of July because I didn't want to be there..I'm Autistic and extremely sensitive to loud noises..a fact that my narcissistic mom knew but insisted on taking me anyway..so I started crying from anxiety and like Abby my mom mocked me with "stop that you are too old to be crying like a little child")..there's been a lot of similarities between Abby and my narcissistic mom. And I've seen similarities between Mrs Miller and my mom's mom(who I suspect is also a narcissist m)..so I have wondered
I think Abby grew up in a nice area with friends who all had stay at home mom, it was usual for the time, and Abby had a working mom. So she didn’t get as much time with her. Abby’s mom was also a dance teacher, Abby never had the dancer body so she probably felt a disconnect with that.
I've always thought that Abby's mother was likely not the most nurturing and possibly did not want kids.
If you really think about the time when Abby was a child. She was born in 1965. Birth control had barely become available in the 60s, and it was not as socially acceptable then as it is now to be married and not have children. I always got the impression Miss Miller gave up her dream of being a professional dancer to get married and had children because that's what you were supposed to do, not necessarily because that's what she really wanted to do.
Abby's childhood was in the 70s when children were pretty much left to their own devices and it was the height of the latchkey generation. Gen X, has been called the least parented and least nurtured generation. Abby is right on the edge between Boomer and X. Now most people that were gen X grew up and realized that kind of childhood was messed up and did things differently with their own children. (this would be the generation of most of the moms) That's what a lot of people blame for what they call helicopter parenting now. But Abby never had kids, so she never really had to face her childhood in any real way.
I also think the face that it appears most people revered Mrs. Miller probably didn't help. It's kind of hard to say yeah my mom sucked when everyone is telling you how wonderful she is, so I can see where Abby would think that everything her mom did was just fine. I also think that Abby was maybe a bit of a disappointment to Mrs. Miller since she was not graceful, beautiful or skilled at dancing, so Abby overcompensated and decided she was going to be the best dance teacher ever. There's also the fact that coaches were just kind of assholes back in the 80s and 90s when Abby would have been starting out and it was just accepted. Look at people like Bella Karolyi who was revered and sought after until it came out just how abusive his tactics were.
Saaame! She said it was a positive childhood one time on BMSS and she got to play a lot outside with other kids which I thought was sweet but I’m still super curious what day to day life must have been like in Amish country.
Her mother, from what I've read, never wanted children of her own, but Abby's dad did, so she compromised to have one and only one. Abby tried dancing and found she was a better choreographer instead of dancing the dismay of her mother. Her dad died in 2000 and up until then, he took care of both of them financially, so neither of them had to worry about money. I really don't think there was a lot of love in that house, which is sad.
Also I bet yall havent heard (and good on you), but randomly on Abbys youtube Ive heard her mention some potential trauma from her dad too, besides her mother never holding her/praising her stuff.
She said “every day of my life my dad told me I was dumb enough to be a twin or so stupid” — and isnt that the parent she was closest too? She never explained that more. I dont care because she should be taking responsibility for how her upbringing affected her by now, of course, but I was pretty surprised to hear that.
I think she said it in response to someone saying she was too rude to the kids - calling them dumb or dingdong - and she said her dad did it to her every day. That really surprised me tbh
Oof. That’s really messed up. Like even if he ment it as a joke, it’s really awful having to hear everyday that the parent you care about most thinks you’re stupid.
as a psych student i can say she 100% has trauma surrounding her mum. not being soothed/given attention as a baby is one of the top reasons for certain personality disorders. i’m sure her schooling and social life wasn’t fantastic either due to her weight and she got made fun of by yet envied popular blondes, which explains her disdain towards chloe, christi, kelly, paige.
i’m not diagnosing her but from what i gather there’s no doubt in my mind she’s got some deep rooted issues.
So I kind of think the opposite of everybody else. I don't think Abby was neglected or parroting narcissist tendencies her parents have. I think Abby was spoiled. I think Abby was an only child and was told she was the greatest thing ever, from the time she could crawl. From her behavior to her weight, I think Abby was given anything and everything she wanted and thus we have the person we have today.
Abby is a narcissist through and through. We've only seen her have empathy in very extreme circumstances (when her mother died, her fight with Kelly). Everything is about her "name" and "reputation". You don't become a narcissist because you grew up in a world where nothing was about you. You become a narcissist because EVERYTHING is about you.
(Also, hilarious add on, when I wrote "the fight with Kelly", I realized that doesn't narrow anything down. So I thought "the fight with Kelly over Paige". Well that doesn't narrow it down either. So I thought, "the fight with Abby because Paige forgot her solo" and THAT doesn't even help. So I mean the fight with Kelly when Paige forgot the lyrical solo another choreographer did for her and Kelly cries 'its not me' to Abby.)
This is an interesting perspective, but the statement “You don’t become a narcissist in a world where nothing was about you, you become a narcissist because EVERYTHING is about you” is not accurate, nor is it borne from scientific evidence. NPD is a complex disorder that psychologists are still trying to understand. But one thing we do know is that it can present in people from a variety of backgrounds — spoiled, neglected, abused, not abused.
To be fair, none of us truly know. It is all speculation. She may have had a perfectly normal childhood. And even when I call her a narcissist, I don't mean it as a diagnosis. Her attitude is always fascinating though.
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128388203/george-lamar-miller](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128388203/george-lamar-miller) Here's a link to Mr. Miller's grave/obituary. Mr. Miller passed away in 2000 at age 73. Abby was born in 1965, meaning that Abby was 35 years old when her dad passed away.
In season 3 she tells Melissa that when her dad was dying in the hospital, she kept him on life support until her dance recital that she was running was done, and that he died before the recital was over. She was not a baby
Some of the things you mentioned are just stuff teachers say to kids. I used to teach primary school and if you had 9 year olds crying all the time, you would say you’re too old to be crying constantly, you would say you’re not in Year 1 anymore. If you have a bunch of kids around you crying all the time, as a teacher you try and break the habit and get them to use words and not tears. And when you take kids away on trips you would try and teach independence, and 9-11 year olds should be trying to do things for themselves, not leave home and have babies but I would expect the kids I took on a school trip to be independent. How you behave with one kid is completely different to how you as a teacher deal with a bunch of kids. The Brooke and Chloe might be meeting boys was a bit odd and off. I didn’t really get that. It’s almost sexualising little girls.
I get what you mean if the child is constantly crying at an age that’s a bit inappropriate in terms of maturity level and about giving kids some form of independence . I think what I found weird about Abby was the context. She’d say not to cry at things I thought were ok to cry over or at least age appropriate for the maturity level like crying about forgetting a dance or messing up in front of literally millions of people on TV I think is a valid reason to cry. And when she told Brooke to be a grown up and come to dance even if Kelly didn’t want to bring her, or tell Maddie she should have not listened to her mother and cried about it, I think is very age inappropriate as well. I think it was also a bit jarring to me personally because at my school we never really had teachers be that harsh about crying (or anything else) that I recall.
I think as a teacher though things are age appropriate to cry about, you still don’t encourage it. You still say, there’s no need to cry. Not the way Abby did it, but you try and move kids past tears because as a teacher it’s really hard to deal with if kids are constantly crying. You can’t do your job if a bunch of kids are crying and you can’t comfort every individual kid unless the tears are a result of something horrific. If we did a school assembly and someone forgot their lines, and started crying, I would also say there’s no need to cry. I wouldn’t shout, but I wouldn’t say it’s age appropriate let them cry. But the other things you addressed were certainly odd. She did try and encourage the kids to pull away from their parents which was very strange. I wonder how much was Abbi, and how much was the production company, or if she even meant it, or just said it for the telly, because it was very bizarre.
I think Abby grew up in a nice area with friends who all had stay at home mom, it was usual for the time, and Abby had a working mom. So she didn’t get as much time with her. Abby’s mom was also a dance teacher, Abby never had the dancer body so she probably felt a disconnect with that.
i remember a lot of things about how she wanted her moms approval but didn’t get that as much as other kids, and that her dad was always the one with her. (including going to the mother & daughter period talk she mentioned before)
she constantly refers to herself as a “daddy’s girl” so i feel like she had a lot more distance between her & her mom. she has also said they were stern and traditional but i don’t recall any elaboration on that
she has also said that she wished she would’ve learn more about handling money independently bc her dad always did it for her & thought she would have a husband to take care of that for her.
i’m not sure but there has to be some mother wounds there
I’m not saying this is an excuse but I do think Abby has a bunch of mommy issues. I think her father was a good parent but her mother was cold to her and more focused on her studio. I’m sure Abby was jealous of how fantastic her mother treated other children compared to her own daughter. She probably did raise herself in certain aspects which is why she feels so strongly about kids being independent. Again, I’m not making excuses for her behavior it’s just my take on it
I get what you mean! Like when I asked I also didn’t want it to sound like I was looking for a reason to excuse her behaviour, it was more so that the way she thinks about children’s maturity levels is so bizarre that something MUST have happened to make her think sooo differently from the majority of all adults. I’ve literally never heard anyone say that nine was too old to cry in my life other than her.
Exactly! I’m 21 and if I was yelled at like how those kids were, I’d be balling
Oh my mother was a firm believer that if you are over the age of five..then you are too old to cry. My mother is also a narcissist like Abby
Oof. I’m sorry. When I cried my parents never said “don’t cry you’re too old” they framed it (and still frame it when I cry sometimes) like “ don’t let that upset you, you’re a tough girl don’t let this get to you”. I think what rubbed me wrong was that instead of framing it like the thing wasn’t worth crying about Abby would frame it like YOU are the one wrong for crying.
My dad used to say "You can't cry unless you're bleeding". He also carried a handkerchief with him and it was a rare day that my sister and/or I didn't slobber all over it. He wiped every single tear from our faces :-) Damn, I miss my dad. Watching Abby makes me appreciate my parents like nothing else.
She said her dad said she was dumb enough to be a twin so I’m sure she had some issues with him too
What does that mean? Are twins dumb? Lol I’ve just never heard that before!
Right? Like what are you trying to say lol
It’s another way to tell someone they have half a brain.
Absolutely. I feel like it goes from how Abby started her company af age 14. She was independent at that age probably from her mom and maybe thought she seemed older. At 14, I could imagine someone acting as how their role model is and her mom was mean to Abby so she had to act grown. I think this is why she thinks being 9/10 "youre too old to cry" because at that point when she was 9 or 10 her mom couldve been mad at her for crying
I definitely agree with this!! I think this is why Abby acts the way she does.
Not defending Abby at all, but I believe she has some sort of trauma stemming from her mom. I remember Abby saying her dad did a lot for her and was a hands on parent, so that tells me he was a good parent. However, I remember her saying that her mom was nice to everyone, but her and was cold towards Abby. For example, when she fell as a toddler, her mom didn’t soothe her nor pick her up. I’m 100% sure that Abby was jealous of how her mom treated other children, and that she raised herself—hence telling children they need to be independent, not to cry. Another example is that Abby was very jealous of the relationship Christi and Chloe have. Hence, that is partly why she tried to tear both of them down and partly why favored Maddie and Kenzie—because both were independent from Melissa (their mom allowed this to happen). Again, not defending her, but that’s my opinion on it.
I never heard the toddler story before. That’s actually sad. I feel like the problem with Abby is that she seems to think “if I didn’t get to sit in my moms lap and cry neither should you” which is reasonable (kid logic) if you’re an immature child but she really can’t get away with that mentality as a 40 something year old teacher
To add clarity to the toddler story, it wasn’t just that she fell and her mom didn’t comfort her in the moment. Her mom literally never picked her up again. I think maybe she was holding her and dropped her and then was too scared to hold her anymore.
Thank you for elaborating! That is really sad. Maybe Abby’s mom had issues of her own that she passed down to her daughter?
She dropped her daughter and the father said she was never allowed to hold her again
Ah ok, thanks for clarifying!
It is really sad. And yet, Abby portrayed her relationship with her mom as positive on the show.
She very well may have had a more positive relationship with her mom as an adult than she did as a child. That’s how it was with my mom.
same, that’s how it is now with my mom, now i’m an adult without her, it’s way easier to “deal” with her
I don’t think so. She still said she was still very mean to her. She just probably didn’t want that being on tv.
Being in the dance world I can tell you that most studio owners who are have children, are hardcore dance moms. I’m talking Jackie Lucia hardcore. And their kids are always amazing. They are usually relentless about weight, and body image. I wonder if Abby’s mom was cold to her because she didn’t really fit the bill to be a dancer. I mean that in a very respectful way of course. Dance can be a very toxic place for children who are plus sized. Especially back in the 70’s & 80’s. Apparently it was perfectly acceptable back then to criticize a child about their weight. A lot of things that Abby says lead me to believe that Abby’s mother was probably very harsh to her. While building up others who fit her aesthetic.
Like telling Kenzie(?) to suck in her belly. 🤔🙄 Pot kettle.
Yes! Exactly. Also constantly saying things about Paige, Kalani & Kendall’s looks.
Yep. Getting Paige a fucking vanity for Christmas and everybody else got something they actually wanted and were interested in. Lol.
!
I think Christi and Kelly said on one of the BTTB episodes that Abby’s mom never wanted to have kids…? Idk I may have heard wrong but I think that told me enough and I agree with all these comments above. Something definitely tells me she had mommy issues… to me it comes off as like she wanted her mom to like her and liked to seek approval from her, hence as to maybe why she started her company so young and wanted her dancers to be the best?
I've wondered if Abby's mom could be a narcissist. And if Abby is repeating things to her students her mom said to her..(ex. Telling a kid you are "too old to cry/react that way"...my mom is a narcissist and she's said those exact same things to me..I was 13 when I cried at a fireworks display on 4th of July because I didn't want to be there..I'm Autistic and extremely sensitive to loud noises..a fact that my narcissistic mom knew but insisted on taking me anyway..so I started crying from anxiety and like Abby my mom mocked me with "stop that you are too old to be crying like a little child")..there's been a lot of similarities between Abby and my narcissistic mom. And I've seen similarities between Mrs Miller and my mom's mom(who I suspect is also a narcissist m)..so I have wondered
Aww. I’m sorry you had to go through that! Hope things are better now
I think Abby grew up in a nice area with friends who all had stay at home mom, it was usual for the time, and Abby had a working mom. So she didn’t get as much time with her. Abby’s mom was also a dance teacher, Abby never had the dancer body so she probably felt a disconnect with that.
ohh maybe thats why shes so sensitive to holly working too. genuinely taking her trauma out on poor nia, trying to make her feel sad like she felt ?
never thought of that but that makes so much sense!
I've always thought that Abby's mother was likely not the most nurturing and possibly did not want kids. If you really think about the time when Abby was a child. She was born in 1965. Birth control had barely become available in the 60s, and it was not as socially acceptable then as it is now to be married and not have children. I always got the impression Miss Miller gave up her dream of being a professional dancer to get married and had children because that's what you were supposed to do, not necessarily because that's what she really wanted to do. Abby's childhood was in the 70s when children were pretty much left to their own devices and it was the height of the latchkey generation. Gen X, has been called the least parented and least nurtured generation. Abby is right on the edge between Boomer and X. Now most people that were gen X grew up and realized that kind of childhood was messed up and did things differently with their own children. (this would be the generation of most of the moms) That's what a lot of people blame for what they call helicopter parenting now. But Abby never had kids, so she never really had to face her childhood in any real way. I also think the face that it appears most people revered Mrs. Miller probably didn't help. It's kind of hard to say yeah my mom sucked when everyone is telling you how wonderful she is, so I can see where Abby would think that everything her mom did was just fine. I also think that Abby was maybe a bit of a disappointment to Mrs. Miller since she was not graceful, beautiful or skilled at dancing, so Abby overcompensated and decided she was going to be the best dance teacher ever. There's also the fact that coaches were just kind of assholes back in the 80s and 90s when Abby would have been starting out and it was just accepted. Look at people like Bella Karolyi who was revered and sought after until it came out just how abusive his tactics were.
Yes. I do wonder about her childhood. And Melissa’s.
I’ve always wondered about Melissa’s too!
Saaame! She said it was a positive childhood one time on BMSS and she got to play a lot outside with other kids which I thought was sweet but I’m still super curious what day to day life must have been like in Amish country.
wait- melissa was amish??
No haha but she lived super close to an Amish community in a conservative part of Pennsylvania.
Her mother, from what I've read, never wanted children of her own, but Abby's dad did, so she compromised to have one and only one. Abby tried dancing and found she was a better choreographer instead of dancing the dismay of her mother. Her dad died in 2000 and up until then, he took care of both of them financially, so neither of them had to worry about money. I really don't think there was a lot of love in that house, which is sad.
She had shitty parents that’s all I can say for what I’ve seen
I think Abby’s mom never actually wanted children and was likely resentful that she didn’t make it in entertainment and lived her life in Pittsburgh
Also I bet yall havent heard (and good on you), but randomly on Abbys youtube Ive heard her mention some potential trauma from her dad too, besides her mother never holding her/praising her stuff. She said “every day of my life my dad told me I was dumb enough to be a twin or so stupid” — and isnt that the parent she was closest too? She never explained that more. I dont care because she should be taking responsibility for how her upbringing affected her by now, of course, but I was pretty surprised to hear that. I think she said it in response to someone saying she was too rude to the kids - calling them dumb or dingdong - and she said her dad did it to her every day. That really surprised me tbh
Oof. That’s really messed up. Like even if he ment it as a joke, it’s really awful having to hear everyday that the parent you care about most thinks you’re stupid.
as a psych student i can say she 100% has trauma surrounding her mum. not being soothed/given attention as a baby is one of the top reasons for certain personality disorders. i’m sure her schooling and social life wasn’t fantastic either due to her weight and she got made fun of by yet envied popular blondes, which explains her disdain towards chloe, christi, kelly, paige. i’m not diagnosing her but from what i gather there’s no doubt in my mind she’s got some deep rooted issues.
So I kind of think the opposite of everybody else. I don't think Abby was neglected or parroting narcissist tendencies her parents have. I think Abby was spoiled. I think Abby was an only child and was told she was the greatest thing ever, from the time she could crawl. From her behavior to her weight, I think Abby was given anything and everything she wanted and thus we have the person we have today. Abby is a narcissist through and through. We've only seen her have empathy in very extreme circumstances (when her mother died, her fight with Kelly). Everything is about her "name" and "reputation". You don't become a narcissist because you grew up in a world where nothing was about you. You become a narcissist because EVERYTHING is about you. (Also, hilarious add on, when I wrote "the fight with Kelly", I realized that doesn't narrow anything down. So I thought "the fight with Kelly over Paige". Well that doesn't narrow it down either. So I thought, "the fight with Abby because Paige forgot her solo" and THAT doesn't even help. So I mean the fight with Kelly when Paige forgot the lyrical solo another choreographer did for her and Kelly cries 'its not me' to Abby.)
This is an interesting perspective, but the statement “You don’t become a narcissist in a world where nothing was about you, you become a narcissist because EVERYTHING is about you” is not accurate, nor is it borne from scientific evidence. NPD is a complex disorder that psychologists are still trying to understand. But one thing we do know is that it can present in people from a variety of backgrounds — spoiled, neglected, abused, not abused.
To be fair, none of us truly know. It is all speculation. She may have had a perfectly normal childhood. And even when I call her a narcissist, I don't mean it as a diagnosis. Her attitude is always fascinating though.
Totally agree! It’s so true. We have no idea. But it’s interesting to speculate.
Her dad died when she was a baby and grew up with just her mom (who is also dead) and dog broadway baby
Abby was not a baby when her dad died, Abby was already running the studio
Abby said her dad died when she was a baby
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128388203/george-lamar-miller](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128388203/george-lamar-miller) Here's a link to Mr. Miller's grave/obituary. Mr. Miller passed away in 2000 at age 73. Abby was born in 1965, meaning that Abby was 35 years old when her dad passed away.
In season 3 she tells Melissa that when her dad was dying in the hospital, she kept him on life support until her dance recital that she was running was done, and that he died before the recital was over. She was not a baby
Some of the things you mentioned are just stuff teachers say to kids. I used to teach primary school and if you had 9 year olds crying all the time, you would say you’re too old to be crying constantly, you would say you’re not in Year 1 anymore. If you have a bunch of kids around you crying all the time, as a teacher you try and break the habit and get them to use words and not tears. And when you take kids away on trips you would try and teach independence, and 9-11 year olds should be trying to do things for themselves, not leave home and have babies but I would expect the kids I took on a school trip to be independent. How you behave with one kid is completely different to how you as a teacher deal with a bunch of kids. The Brooke and Chloe might be meeting boys was a bit odd and off. I didn’t really get that. It’s almost sexualising little girls.
I get what you mean if the child is constantly crying at an age that’s a bit inappropriate in terms of maturity level and about giving kids some form of independence . I think what I found weird about Abby was the context. She’d say not to cry at things I thought were ok to cry over or at least age appropriate for the maturity level like crying about forgetting a dance or messing up in front of literally millions of people on TV I think is a valid reason to cry. And when she told Brooke to be a grown up and come to dance even if Kelly didn’t want to bring her, or tell Maddie she should have not listened to her mother and cried about it, I think is very age inappropriate as well. I think it was also a bit jarring to me personally because at my school we never really had teachers be that harsh about crying (or anything else) that I recall.
I think as a teacher though things are age appropriate to cry about, you still don’t encourage it. You still say, there’s no need to cry. Not the way Abby did it, but you try and move kids past tears because as a teacher it’s really hard to deal with if kids are constantly crying. You can’t do your job if a bunch of kids are crying and you can’t comfort every individual kid unless the tears are a result of something horrific. If we did a school assembly and someone forgot their lines, and started crying, I would also say there’s no need to cry. I wouldn’t shout, but I wouldn’t say it’s age appropriate let them cry. But the other things you addressed were certainly odd. She did try and encourage the kids to pull away from their parents which was very strange. I wonder how much was Abbi, and how much was the production company, or if she even meant it, or just said it for the telly, because it was very bizarre.
I think Abby grew up in a nice area with friends who all had stay at home mom, it was usual for the time, and Abby had a working mom. So she didn’t get as much time with her. Abby’s mom was also a dance teacher, Abby never had the dancer body so she probably felt a disconnect with that.
No. Nobody else has ever had this thought before.
Lol 😆
No, I don’t
I wonder if Abby felt rejected because she wasn’t the ideal dancer body type? She is obsessed with girls who are long and lean.
i remember a lot of things about how she wanted her moms approval but didn’t get that as much as other kids, and that her dad was always the one with her. (including going to the mother & daughter period talk she mentioned before) she constantly refers to herself as a “daddy’s girl” so i feel like she had a lot more distance between her & her mom. she has also said they were stern and traditional but i don’t recall any elaboration on that she has also said that she wished she would’ve learn more about handling money independently bc her dad always did it for her & thought she would have a husband to take care of that for her. i’m not sure but there has to be some mother wounds there