‘Roseanne’ moves from politics to parenting

On the second episode of the Roseanne reboot, they left the divisiveness of politics that plagued the first episode and instead focused on the difference in parenting styles between Roseanne’s generation and the young parents of today. It centered around Darlene’s daughter, Harris, being disrespectful and the way Darlene handled it. It became apparent pretty quickly that Rosie and Dan think today’s parents are too soft on their kids. “Instead of spanking them, you tell them to go over there and think about what they did wrong. You know what they’re thinking? ‘I can’t believe this loser isn’t spanking me.’,” Roseanne said. Dan jumped in with, “Let me tell you something. I wrote a poem for my dad and he hit me with a broom. And then he said, ‘This broom will do more for you than any poem.’” But Darlene had a pretty good reason why parents do things differently these days, saying, “Turns out, a lot of what you did did not work, and some of it was against the law.” Speaking of against the law, not all of Roseanne’s parenting advice is good advice. When Darlene asked Roseanne to cut Harris some slack, Roseanne responded, “Kids don’t need slack, they need boundaries. The happiest kids are raised in cages.”