“John Winchester leaves his children as bait for the shtriga and gets pissed at 9 year old Dean when Dean leaves and it attacks Sam. Huh maybe he didn’t know they would be in danger? Nope “they feed on the spiritus vitae, or life essence, of others - mainly from children.” Even if Dean hadn’t left Sam he left his children around a place that he knows a monster was out hunting children. That is the textbook definition of potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child - Season 1 Episode 18 - Something Wicked”
False. John Winchester never left his children as bait. First, why the heck to you assume that John Winchester knew what he was hunting? Sam & Dean barely know what they’re hunting until the last 15 minutes of the episode. Second, clearly, John had put them out of the way. They were in the motel for three nights, which is the maximum time we can allot to John being gone, but it could have only been the second night he was gone. If John had been working in that town, why would he not have come back at night? (Oh, yeah, they were being used “as bait for the striga.” Pfft.) No, the brothers weren’t in the same city as the striga. They probably weren’t close. Third, John was early getting back. He should have been back late Sunday. Whether or not it was Sunday or Saturday is unknown, but he was early. This means he either found and killed the monster sooner than he expected, what he was hunting wasn’t a striga, and it was just a coincidence they were both in the same town at the same time, or John Winchester went to get his kids the minute he found out what he was hunting. Fourth, John Winchester packed up and left the minute he knew his children were targets. If he was using them as bait, wouldn’t they be left for the striga to come back. Plus we know from Just My Imagination, Dean was already hunting at this point. John expected him to do a job, which he had done before and did reliably. He had been trained to do it, so there was very little suspected harm involved when John left. (Discrediting your whole “John blames Dean for the whole situation,” @littlehobbit13, because Dean was already able to protect Sam against pretty much anything.)
“Dean implies he was physically abused when John found out Sam ran away. That memory is one of same happiest and one of Dean’s worst. Even if you say the physical abuse is implied not explicit that look on Deans face is not something that comes from a good outcome of “when Dad got back” - Season 5 Episode 16 - Dark Side of the Moon results in harm.” and “ I defy you to watch this scene in “Dark Side of the Moon” and still try to defend that John Winchester isn’t guilty of emotionally (possibly even physically in this case?) abusing his son. That face? That is the face of a deep emotional scar. (A+ acting from Jensen.”
False. Maybe he got chewed out, maybe he didn’t. When I ran away, I got chewed out, and my sister who was watching me got chewed out, too. There were times when my mother scared the crap out of me, but it was never physcially or verbally abusive. You’re implying that Dean’s face when he remembers what happens was based on physical abuse, when it literally could have been a parent providing appropriate discipline for the child. Plus, as pointed out in JMI, Sam hadn’t run away when he was 9, meaning Dean would have been minimum 14, which is the current legal requirements for leaving a child home alone even today.
““ failure to provide needed, age-appropriate care” John Winchester left a 9 year Sam alone in motel room and then had him take a bus by himself to meet up with them across state lines - Season 11 Episode 8 - Just my imagination.”
Questionable. If we take this clear-cut, it looks like neglect. However, neglect meant different things in the 80s and 90s, so we can’t qualify it as straight-up neglect, because children in that era were frequently left alone in that era. We know that Sam & Dean had babysitters who were motel staff, which means that Sam could very well have had a babysitter later in the evening, as all of the shots were in the daylight. Since the episode focuses on Sully, who would only be around while a babysitter wasn’t, we don’t have that information. Your assumption that Sam crossed state lines is also false, considering that it just says “Milwaukee.” It never mentions where Sam’s motel room is; he could have easily be in Madison, or Sheboygan, or Fond du Lac.
“John leaves them with less food than they both need causing Dean to sacrifice his share - Season 1 Episode 18 - Something Wicked”
False. Again. There was only enough lucky charms for one more bowl. People run out of specific foods all the time. Sam wanted spaghetti-ohs when he Dean first made him dinner, implying that there was more than one choice of food. Also, Dean threw away the spaghetti-ohs. If he didn’t have enough food, he would have eaten them himself, not thrown them away. Also, if there wasn’t enough food, why would Dean have been playing for hours in an arcade - which cost money then - instead of spending that same money on food?
“Dean Winchester knew his father was possessed by demon when he praised him .”
False. In case you missed the context, Dean’s saying he’s scared that he kills so easily and John tells him “Don’t be scared, you killing him was right,” and praises him for using the only weapon they’ve got to killing the thing that killed their mom and has been after Sam. And, no, it’s not that that tips Dean off, it’s the fact that John discounts Sam’s failure at killing Azazel and states “It’s me; I won’t miss.” The fact that John would be pissed at Dean for using a bullet, when he could have easily resorted to salt, holy water, or an exorcism to free Sam, was just the final nail in the coffin.
“Just Dean is a testament to John’s mental abuse. John did not raise his sons. He left that job to Dean. Dean’s compulsive need to keep Sam around stems from from a lifetime of being assigned that very task: He wasn’t merely told to keep Sam safe, he was practically programmed to always, always, always put Sam first. Dean’s self-worth is so tied up in whether or not Sam has a pulse that over and over and over again he’s made terrible decisions with that singular goal in mind—and he’ll continue to make terrible decisions because he can’t help it.”
False. Dean’s compulsive need to keep Sam around stems from a lifetime of watching people he loves - especially Sam - run away from him, in case you missed that line in Dark Side of the Moon. I will say, you do have a point on the “raising his sons,” bit. By his own admission, he was a drill sergeant instead of a father. He wasn’t exactly raising his sons as much as training them. But, considering that Sam & Dean were being hunted by demons their whole life, and the only two people who made it to the end of that Special Child Throwdown was Sam and a soldier from Afghanistan, you can understand why he did it.
“Like please, John is an interesting character, I am sure he loved his sons and his final act was to sacrifice himself of them, but yes he was abusive. By YOUR own admission he was neglectful and neglect is child abuse.”
Like, please. Even if he was neglectful, you can’t hold him to that standard, because he’s not from this time period. He’s from the 80s and 90s, when latchkey kids were a thing, and neglect meant “the kid is starving because you don’t have enough food in the house.” Even into the late 2000s, a 10-year-old could babysit. (My own parents had by 11yo sister babysit all three of us youngers, I babysat neighbors when I was 12.) Remember, it wasn’t illegal to kill children under a year old in Rome - you cannot judge a different time period’s standards with your own. John was a loving and caring father who wasn’t legally abusive because the neglect you’re talking about a) was not considered neglect them and b) is even contested today as actual abuse.
Oh, and, in regards to “Well and when Dean is shoplifting groceries to feed Sam because they ran out of food? Dean goes to a boy’s home with bruises around his wrists where someone has grabbed him? The fear on his face when asked if his father had done it? Followed by him saying it was from a werewolf? Madison was the first werewolf he met, and Dean thought they were a myth or extinct creature by then. So, Dean shoplifts to keep Sam fed because there’s no food left, John is gone, and when he gets caught for it, John’s response is to let his son rot. When John came back for him– finally– Dean was DEVASTATED, but went back because Sam needed him.”
First, they ran out of food because Dean gambled away the money their father had left them for food. Second, those bruises are WoG confirmed as coming from a werewolf. No, Madison wasn’t the first werewolf they met. IDK where or how that rumor got started, but in season 2, Dean states they hadn’t seen a werewolf since they were kids, and in season 4, Sam writes an essay about hunting down a werewolf. Dean thought vampires were extinct/myths. Get your facts straight. Third, Dean probably fields accusations like that all the time. Hunting is rough business; he was probably worried that CPS would get called in for physical abuse and take Sammy from him, which shouldn’t have happened because it was a werewolf. Fourth, no, we don’t have John’s exact words. The deputy - who had been punched by Dean - was paraphrasing to Sonny. I, personally, think that Dean was left because he sucker-punched the cop, also what probably got him thrown in jail and not the stealing.
Y’all choose to see abuse, even when it twists canon beyond recognition, because you got it into your head that a life that wasn’t white-picked-fence was abusive. Stop living inside your pristine suburban box, because not everyone has a white, middle-class childhood.
