thesnadger:

Okay, strap in folks because I have so many complicated feelings about the kids where Stanchez is concerned. So complicated I’m actually going to break this answer into TWO posts. In the second post I’ll actually answer your question, but first I’m gonna talk about some thoughts I have on Rick, Stan and the kids in general.

The thing is I think Stan would be really not okay with the way Rick treats Morty in canon. I mean Stan can be an irresponsible guardian, absolutely. He lets the twins run around unsupervised in all sorts of dangerous situations and uses them for free labor. He can even be a real jerk to them sometimes. (He stole Dipper’s plate of spaghetti and blamed it on Soos! Who does that!!?) 

BUT, as we’ve seen, not only does he love the twins deeply, he’ll do anything to protect them and make sure they’re okay. He really is trying his best to take care of them, to bond with them and give them a fun vacation. He cares deeply about how they see him and he acts like it. Even when he’s being a jerk, it’s more a matter of not realizing the negative impact his actions have on the kids (for example: teasing Dipper about his hobbies to make Mabel laugh, which he later apologizes for) than trying to hurt them.

Rick, by contrast, is abusive to Morty in canon. I’m not even talking about all the danger with the aliens and crazy stuff Morty gets dragged into. I’m talking about the constant mean spirited insults and the tearing down of Morty’s self esteem. I’m talking about putting him in serious physical danger when Morty’s pretty much begging him not to. I think Rick genuinely loves Morty, but genuine love and abusive behavior are not mutually exclusive, and love does not ever excuse abuse.

Having grown up in an abusive family himself, I think there’d be real trouble if Stan saw the way Rick treats Morty. I think that there are some things that Stan sees as normal and acceptable because of his upbringing that really aren’t (part of why he can be irresponsible with the twins) but he would still see the absolutely nasty and cruel way that Rick tears down Morty as Not Okay. He’d probably be reminded of his own father and get angry at Rick, really genuinely frighteningly angry.

Now, there’s two ways this sort of thinking could go. It could mean that the way Rick treats Morty becomes a source of serious tension in their relationship, likely leading to them breaking up. But since I really like them as a couple I prefer to take it in the other direction: Being with Stan chills Rick out a little bit. 

Stan is actually a positive, moderating influence on Rick’s behavior with Morty–when Rick says something mean-spirited Stan’s like “hey, leave the kid alone, he’s trying” and Rick actually stops because Stan’s opinion of him means more to him than he’d ever, ever admit. Rick stops being so cruel to Morty and starts treating him better, at least coming down more to Stan’s level of semi-responsible guardianship.

So yeah, strange as it sounds, there is a situation in which Stan is actually a really good role model for someone. Without ever realizing it, he ends up being a good parenting role model for Rick.

Next post I’ll actually answer your question and talk about the twins and Morty, hahaha.

thesnadger:

Stanchez Headcanon #9302: I’ve mentioned before how Rick’s treatment of Morty bothers me and how I think Stan would be a positive influence in teaching him to treat his grandson decently.

I think

in particular

Stan steps in whenever Rick undermines Summer or Morty’s self-worth, or insults Morty’s intelligence. His typical reaction is to just smack Rick on the head with a newspaper or whatever other object he has handy. 

The first couple of times this happened Rick was surprised and pissed off, asking Stan indignantly what that was for, and Stan replied “gee, I dunno Rick. I mean, who knows why dumb people like me do anything, am I right?” with a little wink at Morty. 

Rick got the message, since it wasn’t exactly subtle. But it still took a lot of newspaper-based operant conditioning to break him of the habit.