The problem with The Parent Trap

So as I was waiting, as I always do, for people to get their acts together to get ready to go to church, I was watching the remake of The Parent Trap on TV. It's a cute story. I'm sure you know it, either through the Hayley Mills 60s-era movie or through the Lindsay Lohan 90s-era remake.

There's just one problem. I don't like the choices the parents make.

Am I the only person who finds it deeply troubling that two people marry in haste, produce twins, and then decide, rather than putting the needs of their children first, to then separate their identical twins, move them to separate continents, and then never disclose to their children that they have a sibling (much less an identical twin)? That they never discuss their other parent with their child? I find this idea incredibly cruel. Why can't they pull it together for their infants? Why can't they be patient and try to weather the inevitable adjustments that all new spouses and new parents go through? And yet the parents aren't portayed as immature, selfish jerks. They're portrayed as wonderful parents.

Except for that whole denying-your-child-her-family part.

So, if we suspend our disdain over that one tiny problem, it's a cute little story. But people who would really do this are hardly parents-of-the-year. Just like the mother and father in Mary Poppins who farm their kids out to a succession of nannies while pursuing their own interests. But that's a post for another day.