The Howard Family

The Howard family teaches us the meaning of standing up to the face of adversity. They are a loving and devoted family who sees others for who they are. This family loves to spend time in the spacious backyard of their home just outside of Chattanooga, Nashville. Their home is not large and with Grandma there it is a little cramped - *they moved Grandma in to the dining room and now eat dinner in the living room. To them though, it just means that they have more reason to be closer to one another. *With son Kyle age 7 and daughter Candy age 16 mom, Angela and dad Bob have their hands full, but luckily Grandma Carol (aka Sue) is there to give a helping hand whenever necessary (and according to Angela and Bob, even when it isn’t necessary).

Angela Howard is a strong woman full of southern hospitality. She learned of this strength when Candy’s eye was accidentally shot out when she was just five years old with a BB gun that her cousin found. Angela has watched Candy grow up to be a strong young woman who has spent the last several years speaking out to kids about how to overcome adversity. Candy tells kids that if she can overcome her disability, they can also overcome any challenges that may find them in life. In fact ask anyone who knows her and they will tell you Candy is the loudest and most confident person they know! **Angela also has 7 year old Kyle on her hands and he can be quite the little terror and has great difficulty sitting still – he loves life and wants to savor every bite it has to offer! Although Angela is the disciplinarian of the house, she also believes it is important to allow her children to make their own choices. She sets down few rules, and allows them to find their own path.

Bob Howard is a cable installer at his local cable company. This job keeps him working long hours, but it doesn’t keep him from spending time with his family (although, he does admit he wishes he had more time with them.). *Bob believes that the way to parent is to be very open and honest, to take each day as it comes and to “roll with the punches”. Kyle loves to play baseball, and (of *course) play video games. Bob met back in 1996 and it was love at first site. They both agree they have a great marriage, but they also agree Bob could be a little more romantic.

The Howard’s are full of love and full of opinions. They love to debate (Mom is against gun control where daughter Candy is for it) but respect each other’s opinions. They are excited to have a chance to be part of this show. They haven’t really traveled outside of the south and still have friends they knew in high school. They are ready to meet new people and have new experiences, but know that this will only help them appreciate each other even more!

I love the Howard family.

The only issue that I want to broach is their house....now, I'm not clean freak, but I do think that having dog feces on the floor is just disgusting. It's one thing to have clutter and its another to just be messy and lazy. Their house was disgusting and filthy. I hope they learn that they don't have to be a "museum" to be clean. Why do all these families on these reality shows have this extremist view points....either they are very strict, or too lenient. Filthy or literally spotless. We need to live our lives in the middle.

That being said, I do like the family dynamics of the Howards, they all love and care for each other, which is so very important in this world of dysfunctional families. Candy is a very healthy, resilient, and strong young woman who faced adversity from a young age and overcame it. Very proud of her, this is exactly the kind of "youth" we want to have as a nation. The little boy is cute, giving his mother his stuffed animal. Very sweet. I don't have a problem with a little boy who is "hyper" because thats how they are supposed to act....if he did nothing but sit, watch tv, eat, and be quiet as a mouse I would be worried. I also enjoy the mother-in-law/grandma.

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Originally Posted by AIWANNABE

The Howard family teaches us the meaning of standing up to the face of adversity. They are a loving and devoted family who sees others for who they are. This family loves to spend time in the spacious backyard of their home just outside of Chattanooga, Nashville.

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That should be Chattanooga, TN. It is about 2 hours from Nashville.

The only 2 issues I have with the Howards is they really do need to clean up the house a little bit better (coming from someone who isn't a clean freak) and they really should stop all that chain smoking in front of the kids. But overall the family seems to really care for one another and enjoy being a family.

Slobs

Overall they seem to be a nice caring and close-knot family....unfortunately the filthiness, in their house was disturbing and gross.....I was eating when they were showing the feces on the floor and the flies....and almost upchucked :barf

I said this in my recap, but I thought the bugs were over-exagerrated. The shot of the spider was clearly on aluminum siding, and the shot of the worm looked like it was on a porch. It didn't look like indoor flooring. They showed Mia looking in a bathroom cabinet under the sink and saying there were ants everywhere, but the shot they showed of ants was a mirror with a different color counter. The shot of the fly was clearly on a washer or dryer - appliances that are often in the garage.

I suspect that most of the bug shots were in the garage or just outside it. Since they used the garage to smoke, they keep it open, and flies, etc. are going to share the space.

Now the dog poop, of course that's disgusting. No one would just let it sit there - it wasn't like there were piles of old poop all over the place.

It doesn't matter to Mia, of course. I would wager that 99.9% of homes in America would not come up to her standards - heck, her own house doesn't come up to her standards five times a day or she wouldn't be cleaning the floor so often.

Yes, the dog poop was gross. but editing was very bad on this one.

If you were to watch the show over again, take careful note of how the same clip shots were used over and over again to reiterate Mia's "points". But a closer inspection will show that the Howards did not have a filthy house at all...it wasnt clean & tidy, but it wasnt filthy dungy.

About the dog poop. Perhaps you werent aware (and shame on the producers for not putting the information needed), but the dog was suffering from a debilitating condition that required surgery, but the Howards didn't have the money at the time, to give the Yorkie the treatment....a side effect of his condition is that he has involuntary control of his bowels, thus the feces on the floor. The editing made it seem like the family didnt care about the dog or the feces, when in fact the dog couldnt help himself and they did pick up the feces, it wasn't like they let it standing there all day.

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Originally Posted by Ownlyanangel20

Why do all these families on these reality shows have this extremist view points....either they are very strict, or too lenient. Filthy or literally spotless. We need to live our lives in the middle.

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I agree, I think living our lives in the middle is probably best..although I'd like to err on the cleaner side. :)

I think they pick families who are extremely different from each other so that they get a more entertaining show. More drama is likely to come when a wife/family is put in a home way out of their comfort zone.

I'm not ashamed to admit it, I love it when they start screaming and yelling how much they can't stand each other. That's what makes it so entertaining to watch..