Family Issues is a story made by I Love Jellybeans which is a parody of shows like Wife Swap, with things turned up to eleven and made even more chaotic than normal.
There are two families, and the mother of each family swaps places with each other for two weeks. Elizabeth and her husband James live in a very posh area, with their three children, Mary, John and Joe. Their family have a very strict routine, the house is perfect and the children are well behaved and have good grades.
Stacey and her lazy alcoholic boyfriend Tony live on a Council Estate in a very poor area. They have nine children-Tina, Lauren, Michael, Katie, Kirsty, Josh, Danny, Alex and Ellie, who are all badly behaved and do whatever they like.
Stacey is at first happy that Elizabeth's kids are so well behaved, but then she realizes that they are not happy and never get any time to be kids as they are too busy doing chores and school work and tries to give them more freedom. The house descends into chaos.
Elizabeth finds it hard to deal with so many children and the things that they do, and tries to give them rules. The children protest against the super strict rules, acting even worse and trying to get her out of the house. They eventually teach Elizabeth that there is more to being a child than what she lets her children do, and she begins to set more fair rules for the house, that the children follow and become better behaved, but still get the chance to be children and enjoy themselves.
Tropes used in this story
- Better with Non-Human Company: Michael is shy, and prefers to stay away from people. He is happier in the company of the pets.
- Book Dumb: Danny does not do very well in school, although he is better at other things.
- Child Prodigy: All of Elizabeth's children are very intelligent for their age.
- Collector of the Strange: Katie's room is filled with strange things she has bought.
- Disappeared Dad: The father of most of the other children, and Tina's dad are never shown.
- Happily Married: Elizabeth and James have been happily married for 15 years.
- Homeschooled Kids: Mary, John and Joe are all home-schooled, and fit the stereotype for home-schooled kids often shown on TV.
- KidAnova: Josh has had a few girlfriends, despite being only 11.
- Lazy Bum: Tony is lazy, and does not do anything-he doesn't work and leaves it to his girlfriend to look after the kids, and sits around all day watching TV.
- Little Professor Dialog: All of Elizabeth's children talk like this, due to the education they have received from their parents.
- Sibling Seniority Squabble: Michael is 15 minutes older that Katie, and proud of it.
- Teen Pregnancy: Stacey was only 15 when she had her oldest daughter, Tina.
- The Unintelligible: A lot of what Ellie says comes out unintelligibly, as she is a baby.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Kirsty, age 13, and her friends often act a lot older than they are, and talk about having sex and getting boyfriends. They also steal their dad's beer.
- Danny and Josh both use swear words they have picked up from their dad, talk about sex (although Danny is probably unsure of what it is), and Josh tried some of his dad's beer, but didn't like it.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Elizabeth and James look identical, considering they are husband and wife, and their children are small versions of their parents.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Michael and Katie are non-identical twins, one male, the other female
- Urban Legend Love Life: Tina is implied to have had done all sorts of things with her boyfriend, and attracts loads of men, although most of this is never seen.
- Virginity Makes You Stupid: Mary is a lot further behind others her age when it comes to relationships, and does not know about sex, as her parents have kept it all from her.
- Wild Teen Party: The older children have one of these while their parents are in the house. Tony does not seem to notice at first, then gets up, steals some of their alcohol and gets back to watching TV. Elizabeth, who is living in the house at the moment, does notice, and tries to stop it.
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Write Who You Know: The author admits that she based some of the characters on her own family-Alex is based on how her brother acted when he was four, Josh on her cousin, and Tony on her own dad.
