Bewitched : Tabitha's Isolation

One of the things that's always troubled me about BW, especially as an
adult, is how much time Tabitha spent ALONE. While I think Sam
and Darrin were good parents (Tabitha was so UNSPOILED), they kept her
isolated from other children until she was SEVEN (she's invited to
her friend "Janice's" birthday party in "Samantha's on Thin Ice"). While
I get that Sam and Darrin were afraid of Tabitha's using her powers in
front of others, it was very unhealthy for her to be so utterly friendless.
How many episodes are there where Sam says, "Tabitha's out back playing",
or "Tabitha's up in her room playing." How RIGHT ON is Phyllis in
"Playmates" when she all but accuses Sam of deliberately not "exposing
Tabitha to other children?" No WONDER Tabitha was zapping up picture
book characters - Esmeralda was her only playmate before she went to
school.

Thoughts?

While I agree with you they really had no other choice. If the world found out they were witches then that would tear their world apart. Samantha would frequently take her to the park and zoo where there were lots of kids her age. As long as Sam was there she was ok with that.

The easiest thing i have ever had to do was give my heart.

But she could have had other witches as friends....

I just assumed she was playing with Richie Petrie since there would be stretches of time you wouldn't see either one.

uh-huh.

She probably couldn't play with other kid witches/warlocks since Darrin would probably have a coniption fit. Her only consistent playmate was Adam.

I think of Little Ricky...he was always sent to his room to play....

GB this is something I always thought of myself. I think towards the end of the show, she was mentioned as having friends ("she was teasing her little friend Dinah"). I can understand why Sam and Darren would be afraid to let her around other kids, but at the same time, it wasn't fair to her. Possible solution--let her play with other kids, and if she did a "no-no" .... erase the incident from everyone's minds, LOL.

There's a bit of inconsistency with the deal about keeping Tabitha isolated from "mortal" kids, though: what about when she's in school, and out with her classmates on the playground? Or even just being in the classroom at all? Wouldn't there always be the danger that Tabitha would forget herself and blow her cover, at any given moment, with a sudden and rash burst of her magic?

There is very LITTLE "inconsistency" here. Up until age 7 (with the exception of
her birthday party with Uncle Arthur, and before that, ONE day of nursery
school), Tabitha was NOT surrounded by other children until she entered the second
grade.

Tabitha was isolated and "up in her room" a lot. One thing I did notice since I just started watching season three is how much they used Tabitha in that season.

The season opener was her "well baby" check up. The next few episodes dealt with her developing her "wishcraft" powers. And she was often seen in the living room instead of always conveniently taking a nap like Little Ricky. Some of those TV kids were the most well rested children in history. LOL

The only thing I found odd was how she always in that playpen! Of course it must've been easier than having a toddler wander around the room. In the season opener Darrin says that she's one year old and a lot of babies are in playpens at that age. But the Murphy twins were clearly older than that! They were already two.

Tabitha got to socialize with the adults, at least. But then she was so isolated. I do think Samantha should have tried to find some witch playmates for her. She must have known SOME other witches who were mothers! I used to wonder if Sam could have used some type of spell to "bind" Tabitha's powers like the grandmother did on Charmed with the three sisters.

Samantha's powers were obviously more developed and stronger than her daughter's. Just like when mortal parents say "NO!" and then enforce it, I think that witch parents would have found some way to deal with their youngsters' powers. How can you give a kid a curfew when they can just pop out of their room? Hey, maybe that's what Tabitha was doing!


Can you imagine being a kid with all that power AND not having the maturity to use it properly? I'm thinking of little Anthony in the Twilight Zone episode, It's A Good Life. Yipes!!!