He’s not a bad spud Wayward city lad Scott gets dose of country life
The Nixon family and Scott I went in for one day and that was it. I was so tired.”
Leah is in for a rude awakening when she arrives in the close-knit community of Kildorrery in Co Cork for a stay with strict mother-of-two Jennifer Hurley.
She warns: “We run a tight ship here. The kids get up early in the morning to do their chores… I’m not a fan of phones and the internet, I don’t allow it.
“Go out and learn how to enjoy our nature instead of being addicted to those things.”
The pair lock horns when Jennifer Scott helped tackle rubbish confiscates Leah’s phone and the rebellious teen accuses her of “slave labour” when she asks her to sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
And when she tells Jennifer she’ll “hire a maid” when she grows up to do chores, her hostess tells her she’s “living in cloud cuckoo land girlie”.
Leah then bursts into tears and declares: “She can’t stop me from having me mobile phone. I’m going to have an anxiety attack. Where is she living, under a rock?”
Things are no better for Crumlin lad Scott, who lives on a diet of Coco Pops, chicken nuggets and chips, when he moves in with the Nixons in Carrigallen, Co Leitrim. His mother Wendy says she’s worried her son – a maths prodigy who won a scholarship to a top Dublin school – “is going down the wrong path” and in danger of dropping out. On his first morning he sleeps in leaving the cows hungry and when served a traditional dinner he tells his hosts, “I can’t eat that. I don’t eat fruit or veg.”
Psychotherapist Stella, who charts their progress, said: “I’m not saying city parenting is any worse than country parenting or anything like that.
“I am saying that sometimes when you go to the right village and the right community they look out for kids and it can certainly be of huge benefit for children.”
Raised By The Village is on RTE One tomorrow at 6.30pm.
We run a tight ship here, the kids get up early to do their chores JENNIFER HURLEY ON RAISED BY THE VILLAGE
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