It bothers me a bit that as a parent Splinter is aware that three of his sons have constantly verbally abused the fourth, are now doing it in his presence even, and he is making no move to stop it. Not even to tell them that their behavior is unacceptable. He just takes it as a fact of life. "Michelangelo has endured your taunts before without a second thought, why is this time so different?" is a direct quote. He is more concerned as to why this time is different than why they are doing this and that it needs to stop. Never once did he say that they had to stop.
I think its because usually the taunting is a two way street between the brothers. Mikey is very capable of taunting his brothers as mercilessly as they usually taunt him, it is just this time they've hit a lot harder.
I also based my Splinter on the 2k3 series where he was mutated from simply a pet rat, his parenting experience is limited. As such because Mikey has endured it all before Splinter has never seen it as much of an issue. He's reasoning that he knows siblings fight and tease each other but that doesnt mean they don't care for each other. It is a learning curve for them all and there is a lesson in it for all of them too I think.
I also based my Splinter on the 2k3 series where he was mutated from simply a pet rat, his parenting experience is limited. As such because Mikey has endured it all before Splinter has never seen it as much of an issue. He's reasoning that he knows siblings fight and tease each other but that doesnt mean they don't care for each other. It is a learning curve for them all and there is a lesson in it for all of them too I think.
Plus Mikey is just a sweetheart :3