Welcome To Plathville: The Strict Rules The Plath Kids Have To Follow
Welcome to Plathville is TLC's latest deep-dive into the lives of an unconventional family who exist outside the boundaries of normal society. The featured family, the Plaths, are from rural southern Georgia. They're 11 members strong but the second eldest kid, Hosanna, doesn't feature on the show because she lives in Ohio with her husband, as per People.
The other Plath kids are Ethan, 21; Micah, 18; Moriah, 17; Lydia, 15; Isaac, 13; Amber, 10; Cassia, 8; and Mercy, 6. Together, they make up one seriously busy household and it's there where much of the Welcome to Plathville action takes place. Add in Ethan's new wife, Olivia, to the mix — whose more modern viewpoints shakes the Christian fundamentalist family to its very core — and things are sure to get complicated. At their core, though, the Plath kids are obligated to live by some incredibly stringent rules.
The Plath kids enjoy an incredibly simple existence
Although it might be kind of impossible to imagine these days, the Plath kids are not allowed utilize any modern technology. A trailer for the show introduced their lifestyle, emphasizing how the kids grew up without television or social media. Micah, who's well suited to farm life, reasons that because he's grown up without a TV, he doesn't need one. Funnily enough, his younger brother Isaac, a self-confessed sports fan, doesn't know many of the biggest athletes, getting confused when a producer mentions the name "Tom Brady" to him. Weirdly, their aversion to TV doesn't stop the Plaths appearing on a television show. Likewise, the family has their own website, Facebook page, and a barely-used Instagram page in spite of foregoing social media.
The kids are, naturally, homeschooled — much like many others of their ilk since outside influences are strictly a no-go. Most egregiously, though, they're not allowed to have any sugar or fizzy drinks. Dad Barry doesn't explain why, but he does get a kick out of his kids being oblivious to one of the biggest brands in the world. "They know what a Coke is, but they don't know what a Coke is. Can you believe that? That is so off the wall," he quips. Poor Ethan can't even bring himself to eat ice cream as a grown man, and chastises Olivia for partaking in sugary treats.