I think a lot of writers brought their own parental issues to their vision of John

Ohhh, no kidding. There's also the longstanding tendency to heroize one person by demonizing another. In order that Dean may be the Amazing Parental Brother of Saintly Martyrdom, John must needs be a complete loss as a parent. Emotional extremism of that sort just isn't likely to be good writing, aside from not making all that much sense in this instance. (Dude was four years old! He couldn't even read that we know of. Whatever care he did provide, he certainly wasn't the one reading the labels of the baby food jars.)

Sam's "Jack, Jim and Jose" crack in the pilot

The problem I always had with that joke, aside from not getting it the first five times I heard it (I seriously thought they were fictional people), is that all the serious drinkers I know are Jack, Jack and Jack drinkers, and do not brook a whole hell of a lot of variety.

Sam also says in Nightmare that they could have ended up like Max if there had been a little more tequila in John's life, which reads to me like John drank some, but kept it under control most of the time, kind of like Dean.

which reads to me like John drank some, but kept it under control most of the time, kind of like Dean

This. John was on the move for twenty-some years, being a single father, and in direct combat with some of the freakiest supernatural shit ever. On a personal vendetta to avenge his wife. Man's gonna hit the bottle every now and again. (Hell, I need a drink and it's only a Tuesday.)

Dude was four years old! He couldn't even read that we know of. Whatever care he did provide, he certainly wasn't the one reading the labels of the baby food jars.

Thank you. This is the reaction I have every time someone brings up the whole "and Dean changed his diapers!" trope. Okay, I'm not a parent, but I'm guessing most kids are out of diapers by the age of -- what, 3? So Dean would have been 7 or 8 by then. Do you really see John handing over diaper-changing duties to a 4, 5, or 6 year old?

Cereal post:

When was the first chapter of Red posted?

Plei, according to what I can see, the first chapter is dated 9/25/06.

Thank you. This is the reaction I have every time someone brings up the whole "and Dean changed his diapers!" trope. Okay, I'm not a parent, but I'm guessing most kids are out of diapers by the age of -- what, 3? So Dean would have been 7 or 8 by then. Do you really see John handing over diaper-changing duties to a 4, 5, or 6 year old?

3 or 4. Probably earlier in the early 80s when diapers were large, saggy things with nasty plastic tabs giving clearer wet/dirty signals to the kidlets. I just have the one toddler, and my brother's only two years younger than me, so I never changed his diapers, but I suspect most 5 or 6 year olds are perfectly capable of helping with diaper changes. I think my cousin's oldest did with both his siblings.

Dean's only a couple months shy of five when the fire happens, so diaper changing's totally within the realm of possibility for Sam's late infant and early toddler years.

By the time Sam's 4 or 5, I can easily see the majority of his daily care being met by his older sibling.

By the time Sam's 4 or 5, I can easily see the majority of his daily care being met by his older sibling.

I think it's canon now, (after appearing in roughly 3 million fanfic stories) that Dean, at least some of the time, was the primary caretaker for Sam. In "All Hell Breaks Loose" part 2 when Dean was talking to the Sam Who Had Fallen Into Pie, I think he was remembering when he was 9 and Dad used to go away on hunts for days at a time, leaving the boys alone. So I have absolutely no problem agreeing that Dean inherited (or had shoved upon him) excessive responsibilities. He's insanely protective and I love him for it. I just question the whole likelihood of changing diapers at the age of 5 issue. As for the age when Sam would no longer need diapers -- I have no idea. As I said, I'm not a parent, so I claim no expertise. From personal experience, I can say that I began kindergarten at the age of 4, so I know I was definitely trained by then. But it's not like I really remember.

I remember being out of diapers and running around in normal clothes at 2.

You have memories from back when you were 2? **blinks in awed and envious amazement**

Looks like besides trying to trademark "fanisode" FanLib is trying to get a patent for "METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING A COLLABORATIVE WORK OVER A DIGITAL NETWORK"

A system and method for having a plurality of participants author and submit segment candidates to create a collaborative work over a computer network. The plurality of participants receive segment instructions for authoring the segment candidates. The candidates are submitted to the system and at least a subset of the submitted segment candidates are distributed to a voting audience over the computer network. In response the system receives votes (124) for a favored segment candidate from the voting audience. Next, a winning segment candidate is selected from the submitted segment candidates for inclusion in the collaborative work based on the votes (126). This process is repeated by the system until the collaborative work is complete (132).

Also, in other fannish news a bunch of ljcomms and users are getting permentently deleted over their interests. There's some group called Warriors for Innocence that is targeting anything they think is child porn. Some RPG characters got deleted but also comms with incest and other stuff in the interests (Harry Potter stuff seems to be what's hit the hardest but also some anime).

It seems like some actual real incest and pedophile users and comms are getting deleted but a bunch of fannish stuff is getting hit as well. It looks like a lot of people are changing their interests and flocking their ljs.