What this post will explore is the impact of England’s
parenting style on Canada. There is no good and bad here. All I aim to do is
give reason and meaning to the problematic behaviour and relationships that are
depicted in the series. The characterization is done for a specific purpose. What
I seek to do is bring several parallels to light to prove this.

 Horney’s Theory of
Parenting and Its Relation to Hetalia: 

One of psychologist Karen Horney’s theories explored how
problematic parent-child relationships often result in the child developing
neuroses (mental health complications), such as anxiety or depression.

However, rather than assert all the blame on the parent, she
went on to explain how parents who have been reared in an environment void of
love, care, and affection are incapable of raising their kids in any other
manner.

Put another way, parents pass on their neuroses to their
children. You can’t expect someone to provide the care, warmth, and love that
they’ve never experienced and learned themselves. On the other end of the
spectrum, these problematic parent-child-relationships and parenting techniques
are learned and repeated through generation-to-generation. It’s a cyclical process,
that, unless consciously recognized, results in all sorts of emotional trauma.

What Horney believed to be the Basic Evil of these problematic parenting styles is Parental Indifference, which can also
include a hostile or rejecting attitude of the parents toward the child. This
parental indifference can cause the child to develop feelings of Basic Anxiety or Basic Hostility – both of which, if not attended to, can lead to
mental health issues.

For the purposes of this post, I only need to focus on Basic
Anxiety. Basic Anxiety occurs when the child develops feelings of loneliness
and helplessness in a world that they perceive to be hostile and dangerous.

That said, what I’ll now analyze is how England’s own
upbringing and resulting mental health issues were passed down to
Canada.

Let’s tie this back to the strips.

Exclusion + Black Sheep Syndrome: Parental Indifference 

England’s isolated upbringing as the Black Sheep of Europe
leads him to unconsciously replicate this isolation in how he raises Canada.
Since he grew up alone, he doesn’t see a problem in leaving Canada for long
periods of time.

He even admits to America that this is what he had to go
through as a child. 

Thing is, while this is normal for England, it’s obviously
an abnormal parenting practice. The point to stress here is that England is
repeating the problematic parenting styles of his older brothers, who played no
part in raising him. They would send him hexes or drive him away with
arrows if he got too close for their liking [x].

The parallels of loneliness and helplessness are quite
clear.

Ex: England feels
isolated in Europe, often a result of his hostile attitude toward other
nations.

Ex: He feels
helpless when he realizes that everyone has turned against him during the
American Revolution [x].

What hurts Canada is that when England does visit, most of
his attention is devoted to America.

In another post [x], I’ve explored how Kumajiro acts as a mouthpiece
for Canada; he voices the feelings that Canada doesn’t dare to say out loud.

Ex: Kumajiro
tells Canada to stand up for himself. At the time, he wanted to ask England to
have lunch with him.

Ex: Kumajiro uses
stuffed animals to draw an analogy concerning how excluded Canada feels.
England neglects Canada in favor of America. Nonetheless, England still cares about Canada [x].

Canada experiences his exclusion in that he’s not memorable
to other nations and is often forgotten and rendered invisible.

Ex: The remaining
G8 members don’t recall him during a meeting [x].

Ex: He’s often
mistaken as America, especially by Cuba.

Self-Deprecation and Poor Self-Esteem: Basic Anxiety

Constantly being ostracized and insulted by other nations
has had a devastating impact on how England views himself. Those who are hurt, hurt others [x] [x].

Canada too suffers from self-esteem issues.

Ex: He doesn’t believe that he’s handsome [x].

Ex: He believes that America is disinterested in him [x].

This escalates in Canada being too shy to speak to America
directly. He uses England as a mouthpiece instead. All of this is reflective of
his low sense of self-worth [x].

Sensitivity: Basic Anxiety

While this side of England isn’t revealed often, he’s an
incredibly sensitive person.

Ex: Visiting America – a child that loved him
unconditionally – helped England cope with his anxiety over being excluded from
European circles.

Ex: He tears up when Canada comes to his aid during the
American Revolution [x].

Ex: He drunkenly sobs in front of America, revealing how he
wishes that their relationship had turned out better [x].

Ex: He tears up after watching a fantasy movie, lamenting
over how harsh reality is in comparison [x].

Canada’s sensitivity relates more to his fragile sense of
self and identity.

Ex: He cries when Seychelles remembers that he’s part of the
G8 [x].

Ex: He cries when England falls ill after the American
Revolution and worries about whether he’ll be able to successfully nurse the
latter back to health [x].

Bonus: Hot tempers

We all know how hot-headed and temperamental England
can be. There is no question about that. It’s what he’s most known for [unfortunately].

On the other hand, what most don’t recognize about Canada is
that he also has quite the temper.

The only difference is that Canada has much more patience
than England. It takes a lot to make him angry. Regardless, Canada will still
stand up for himself if his buttons are pushed too far.

Ex: Canada once spent three hours pointing out America’s
faults, causing the latter to cry [x].

Throughout his and America’s independence arcs, Canada on
several occasions calls out America for his self-righteousness and hypocrisy [x] [x]

In sum, I highly recommend looking into the similarities
between England and Canada’s sense of self. While their personalities may be
different, they uncannily suffer from the same mental health issues.