Korea Outraged Over Obsessive Mom And Her Depressed Children Shown On National TV

The latest episodes of My Golden Kids have driven Korean viewers into a frenzied outrage.

A Korean mom signed up her two children for a consultation on the popular TV program, My Golden Kids (also known as The Golden Kid), claiming that their incessant fighting is a problem—asking Dr. Oh Eun Young, who is a renowned specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, for parenting tips. According to the mom, her older son kept picking fights with her younger son, making both of them difficult to raise.

However, it became evident throughout the footage from the observation cameras that the children were not the problem: The mom was. In fact, the dad shared that the brothers don’t fight under his care.

The mom was spotted forcing her husband and children to “save,” sometimes pushing them to make choices that were not safe and/or not hygienic. For example, the children were not allowed to flush after each toilet use…

…forced to use a single bowl of water to wash their face, hands, and feet…

…and made to read in the pitch-black darkness with a single flashlight on.

In addition to being obsessively “frugal,” the mom also showed compulsive, violent, and negligent behavior toward her children.

After finding out that her younger son had bought a pencil with his pocket money, she became furious that he had “wasted” the money and proceeded to take away his pencil and his money.

The son ended up sobbing uncontrollably, which shattered the viewers’ hearts.

While visiting a board game cafe, the mom seemed to “favor” the younger son. Soon, the older son grew frustrated at the mom’s unfair antics and he ended up telling the mom to “go home.”

The mom then left the older son behind at the cafe as she drove off with the younger son. The older son had to hitch a ride with the production team to return home.

The older son later confessed in a one-on-one interview that he wished to be separated from his mom…

…making it clear that the cause of the brothers’ seemingly “difficult” behavior was more rooted in the lack of proper love, care, and parenting from the mom.

I want to use clean water… I told her that I wanted to take more showers but she said not to use too much water. She’s the king of the house. When I’m with her… I feel scared. I’m scared. And I miss dad. I think…

I think I would like to be separated. I want to live away from her… My wish is for her to not care about me. That’s the only way we’ll become a normal family.

— Older Son

Over the span of two weeks’ worth of episodes featuring the family, Dr. Oh became more and more stern in her reactions. Eventually, Dr. Oh refused to provide “solutions” for the mom but advised that she first work on herself before attempting to parent the children.

Adding that the children are at risk of severe depression, Dr. Oh pressured the mom to see past her obsessions and prioritize the well-being of her children.

[The children] are extremely disappointed and in the deepest despair…

…and they’re exhausted from being stressed out by someone who they are the closest to.

Based on what I’ve seen from the observation footage, your children are growing more and more depressed. I am truly concerned that they are at the risk of severe depression. They lack facial expressions and focus in their eyes. They don’t seem to find joy in anything. To me, they seem hopeless and sad.

The thing is, depression in younger children don’t show the same symptoms as depression in adults. Children with depression end up becoming hyperactive. They also struggle with regulating their feelings.

You need to look into the needs of your children. You need to look into their feelings. You also need to look into yourself. Open your eyes.

— Dr. Oh Eun Young

While the episodes came to somewhat of a positive ending, viewers did not hold back their reactions. Thousands of comments flooded the internet, demanding that the mom seek medical attention for her condition that is threatening to others, calling the situation “child abuse,” and feeling hopeless for the children.

“The mom’s facial expressions scare me so much.”
“Had this been in the US, the mom would’ve been jailed. There are multiple charges of child abuse possible here.”
“She’ll never change…”
“Toward the end, the mom realized how wrong she had been and she seemed to be working on understanding the children’s needs. The children were also seen smiling at the mom’s attempts. So… I think there might be hope? I’m rooting for this family.”
“But obsession and controlling behavior aren’t easy to fix… I feel terrible for the children and what they’ve put up with so far.”
“I live in the US and TBH… She would’ve had the CPS on her front door every single day.”

“How is this not child abuse? Poor babies…”
“I feel terrible for the kids.”
“THIS IS CHILD ABUSE. The children need to be separated from that mom. What are they even doing?! Poor kids…”
“The kids are right… Why is the mom so stubborn?”
“The faces that her children make… It’s breaking my heart.”