Thanks for posting the color meta link, 'suela. I had skimmed it, intending to go back, but it slipped my (tinylittle)mind, so thanks. Should Ailleann post a link to the awesome Impala meta from S1 & S2? I would, but I don't have it handy.

Juliebird, have you read Gimme Shelter? It's the one I pull out as ammo in the "John should have left the kids with somebody who could give them a normal life," and "the road/the hunt is no place to raise kids" argument.

Oh, Gimme Shelter is awesome. As is the sequel, which is, in some ways, even more heartbreaking.

I second the sharing of teh schmoop.

Reading Gimme Shelter now!

Gimme Shelter is so awesome that I'm so frustrated by Nilchance's failure to write any more that I really really want to take it on myself. Which I never do, it's not like I don't have my own writing. But there's so much possibility there...

I was just looking for more! That was harsh, and good.

And now I'm seeing Dean and Sam arguing over this hypothetical kid of Dean's, Sam bitching that the road and the hunt is no place to raise a kid, and Dean countering that it worked out just fine for him and Sam, and then Sam looking pointedly at his brother, and Dean being all, "What?"

There's a sequel to Gimme Shelter?

Gimme Shelter hurt a little too much for me. Today at least.

But I agree with Bev. The way the boys were raised wasn't ideal, and it could have gone off the rails a thousand different ways, but John gave them love, family, strength, and as much emotional support as he could. Lots and LOTS of kids have worse, right in the suburbs with an SUV in the driveway and a PlayStation under the Christmas tree.

I think part of it, though, part of the thing that makes the show work so well, is that Dean and Sam had *each other*. An only child in that situation might not have made it through.

askye: Paint it Black, here: [link]

I want to point out that I wasn't judging how John raised the boys one way or the other, just pointing out that it could possibly be a topic of angst and soul-searching for Dean if he ever had a kid while still hunting. An "I'll never raise my kids on the road cuz that's how I was raised" as it compares to a well-adjusted and healed adult declaring "I'll never beat my kids because I was raised by my father's belt"-- that person turned out okay, but wouldn't wish it on their own kids (and then the kids turn out to be soft little pansies--IJS). I could see that kind of thinking then turning down the path of "If I don't wabt to raise my kid that way, does that make my dad a bad parent for having raised me that way?" With an eventual reconciliation of the two concepts.

I see Dean wishing to take on all the burdens upon himself. I can't see him laying that on anyone else, let alone his own child. Knowing the weariness that comes with it, the loneliness. And I don't blame John, reeling from the death of his wife, trying to keep what was left of his family still together while trying to get revenge/justice on what killed her. And I'm sure having his kids still with him kept him from going completely around the bend (wow, kinda like he's portrayed in Gimme Shelter).

it could have gone off the rails a thousand different ways

It could have, and it didn't, and John was lucky. I think it was just as much the Nature of the boys turning out okay as it was John providing the right kind of Nurture. And I agree, Amy, that it was also due in part to the fact that Dean and Sam had each other, and who they were as individuals.

I'm against kids in canon.

That's what we have fic for. TV never does manage kids right. Of course, most the time, neither does fic. But hey! There's more of that, and I can hit the back button.