How To Fuck Up Small Children

As my friends (and Augusten Burroughs) demonstrate, it can be much harder than you think to fuck up small children.

A small child's parents can get divorced when she's two, and refuse to be in the same room as each other for the next couple of decades of her life, and she can still be 25 and in a relationship with a good-hearted, secure-in-all-the-right-ways sort of guy for a solid 50 months and counting.

A small child can be raised in a culture with a violent opposition to education, with people who mock the smart kids and teachers who hate students who do well, and she can graduate from a top school and publish scientific papers in journals.

A small child can be born with doctors saying that if she survives at all she will unquestionably be severely mentally retarded, and she can still turn out on the smart side of the scale. You know. Passable and all.

HOWEVER

There is no question in my mind that AMC has truly fucked up these small children for life.