Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20170410010002/@comment-28162607-20170414075218

Killian Jones wrote:

Aine1989 wrote: Damn, I used to think Henry had the worst chidlhood on this show but now Gideon takes that prize. And the BF takes over for Regina as "worst parent" although I'm not sure I'd call her a 'parent'. Why did you think of Regina as the worst parent? 1. She literally only adopted Henry because she wanted to be loved and to fill a hole in her life.

2. She brought Henry into a town where he would be the only one aging, therefore preventing him from ever making longlasting healthy friendships and making him entirely dependent on her.

3. She gaslighted him for 10 years and made him think he was mentally ill. She convinced him that everyone else in the town was aging even though he had no memory of that and knew something was wrong. I could go into way more detail but I won't. She cared more about her precious vengeance than her son's wellbeing.

4. She manipulated the sitaution in 1x02 so Henry heard Emma call him crazy to deliberately drive a wedge between them, not caring that Henry got hurt.

5. Left Henry, a mentally unstable 10 year old with a history of running away, on his own for hours at a time to rape someone (neglect).

6. In s1, she roughly manhandles him.

7. She killed Graham, someone he cared about, and planned to do the same to Emma. Again, not caring about Henry's feelings.

8. Forced Henry to live with her in s2 by torturing his grandfather in front of him.

9. Used magic to physically restrain Henry when he tried to leave.

10. Told him about her plan to murder his family then magically mind wiped him.

11. Locked Henry out of his own home when Robin Hood broke up with her (more neglect). Henry had to beg to be let back into his house and she only opened the door after he said he believed in her. You don't get to take a day off being a parent becase your feelings were hurt. She didn't even try to talk to him, she sent a message via raven!

12. Essentially told him he wasn't good enough to make her happy ("You, me, Robin and Roland. That feeling was the closest I've ever been to being happy.")

13. When Henry is with her, he only focusses on what she wants, her happy ending. He acts like a parent to her. He only ever does fun things with Emma or Killian (they take him out on sailing/canoeing trips and play video games with him). When he's with her he's thinking about getting her a happy ending, Operation Mongoose being a prime example.

14. We know from 6x08 that she "wouldn't tolerate his crying" (Henry was very small, likely 5 or 6, and was afraid of the dark and his own mother wouldn't tolerate that). We also know she "toughened him up" and he probably got told 'posture is self-respect' as a child.

15. Henry was afraid of her. He begged Emma not to take him home, said his life sucked, had a ready made escape ladder and wanted to have an armoury in case she tried to take him back.

16. She's incredibly possessive of him- "Get away from my son!" "Who's that girl talking to my son?" "As long as there are other people in our lives, you can never fully be mine."

So basically, Regina is a terrible, abusive parent. But the Black Fairy makes her look like Miss Honey. I don't even think abuse is an appropriate word for the BF because that doesn't even cover enslaving and torturing children for decades.