In the Amish world, children are brought up following all Amish family traditions and church traditions. At age 16, Amish teenagers do away with these traditions for several months to several years and go out into the “English”, modern world to experience what life is like outside of the Amish community in a tradition called Rumspringa. The hopes of Rumspringa are that Amish teenagers will see the evil in the modern world and turn back to the Amish church and community and will choose to be baptized into the faith. At this time, the parents of these Amish teenagers choose to overlook the new habits and actions of their children. The Amish parents want the best for their children and feel as though allowing them to party and live wild for a time away from them is the best way to teach their children. The parents have the approach to be hands off and ignore the behavior during Rumspringa. This is not an effective manner of parenting for these teenagers at such an influential time in their lives.
During Rumspringa, many teenagers continue to live with their parents in the Amish community, but take up new habits like smoking, drinking, and driving a car. Some teenagers do choose to move out to get the “full experience”. At this time, Amish teenagers completely throw themselves into the modern world. Many get into using and selling hard drugs and other negative habits. For most of the Amish teenagers during Rumspringa, they “get wasted, get a hangover, and then go back” according to Gerald from the documentary Devil’s Playground: Amish Teenagers in the Modern World.
Several questions I was left with after watching Devil’s Playground: Amish Teenagers in the Modern World, was that of wondering who was paying for these teenagers cars a...
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...ave fun and experience the world, but they also want to please their parents. Many come back and join the church just to make their parents happy. This could be due to the fact that adolescents may think that their neglectful and uninvolved parents consider other areas of their lives to be more important, and as a way of trying to get attention they act out in harmful ways and then eventually just do whatever they think will make their parents happy.
The neglectful parenting style displayed by parents of teenagers during Rumspringa may seem to be the best approach to those parents, but it is not. It leaves many teens in life-long trouble. The Amish parents do not act as managers of their family but simply hope for the best. In the end, many teens engage in health-compromising behaviors, become addicted to hard drugs, and engage in many other risk-taking behaviors.
The family provides a dense web of social support from cradle to grave. […] Family members help each other during an emergency, a fire or flood, and, of course, at a death”. The Amish community would not have withstood the drastically shifting eras had it not been for their foundation built on solid family and community relationships. Within Amish homes, bonds between siblings, parents and their children, as well as potentially extended families ties including aging grandparents or other relatives, are of utmost importance. Importantly, these interrelationships are not left within the household as the Amish community holds an interconnectedness inclusive to the community that creates an additional support network. This patchwork community of benevolence is not a gift, but a reward. There are expectations and consequences, as the BBC reports “[…] Members are expected to believe the same things and follow the same code of behaviour (called the Ordnung). The purpose of the ordnung is to help the community lead a godly life. […] If a person breaks the rules they may be 'shunned', which means that no-one (including their family) will eat with them or talk to them”. Expectations must be met for an Amish individual to earn and maintain their spot within the community. Despite guidelines wavering depending on each community and their location, the Amish are expected to follow God and seek salvation in a preset and dictated manner. Punishments for breaking the ordnung are strictly enforced and the insubordinate individual is completely excommunicated as a result of their disobedience. Since family connectedness is universally valued amongst Amish communities, if an individual is shunned, they will lose not only their community status but communications will be severed between immediate family members. When applied to education, if prohibited by that particular Ordnung, pursing a higher
...an see, there are many reasons why children and teenagers may misbehave. They could be tired, hungry, sick or just scared of the position they're in. There could be problems at home with family, fighting, and competition, and attention seeking within society. Children are easier to understand to why they misbehave but when it comes to teenagers it’s a little ridiculous. They will make lousy decisions that can cause a rough road ahead of them all because they want to be noticed. It’s unpleasant to see what this society has come too.
On March 23, 1998, I carried out an interview and field observation to confirm a previous hypothesis on Amish social change and survival. I hypothesized, based on library research and personal experience, that Amish society was not static but dynamic and affected by many factors such as economics and cultural survival. In order to check the validity of my hypothesis I arranged to spend a full Sunday (March 23, 1998), with an Amish family. I attended church services at the Westhaven Amish-Mennonite Church in New Holland, Pennsylvania, and afterward spent the day observing and interviewing with an Amish dairy farmer named Aaron and his wife Anna. They have six children and live on a dairy farm in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, which is a large farming community. I met Aaron and his family roughly four years ago while in Lancaster County with my family and since then our families have remained in close contact. Thus, to do an ethnography on the Amish, my primary informant was Aaron, someone I was already comfortable speaking with.
Translated literally, rumspringa means “running around”. Amish children turn sixteen and are automatically granted freedom. This time is meant for teens to experience life outside of the Amish culture before they decide to join the Amish church and be baptized. But, this time can be extremely dangerous for them. Before rumspringa, these Amish teens have never been exposed to the activities and materials of the modern world. Gerald Vutzy, a seventeen year old Amish boy shown in the documentary, states that when kids turn sixteen they go crazy because it is all coming to them at once. If experiencing everything for the first time at once can be overwhelming and harmful to the teens. Another young Amish teen shown in the documentary is Faron Voder. Faron is the perfect example of teens taking the wrong turn and getting into dangerous activities during rumspringa. Faron is shown partying on multiple occasions, and it is also shown that he became involved with crystal meth and other illegal drugs. This not only harmed his health, but his life was also threatened.
When an adolescent in the Amish culture turns sixteen, they are encouraged to pursue “Rumspringa”- a period of time to go experience the English world, free from traditional Amish restrictions. The intention of this exposure is to give teenagers the experience of life outside the restrictive Amish community and truly decide if they want to join the Amish church and its traditions or live in the English world. During this period, parents and elders of the Amish church allow children to be their own authority. They do not question the actions taken, regardless of the dangers or consequences of those decisions. The Amish community believes this is the best method for the adolescents to decide their fate freely. I however, disagree with this hands’ off, ignore-the behavior approach Amish parents and leaders take with their children. I believe the approach of introducing inexperienced youths to uninhibited freedom, without warning or guidance, increases risk-taking behaviors and provides the adolescents with a skewed view of what the “outside world” has to offer. Yes, the majority of the Amish children return to the community after Rumspringa, but did they really get an accurate picture of what a balanced English life could be?
Watching the Amish riding their horse drawn carriages through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, you catch a glimpse of how life would have been 150 years ago. The Amish, without their electricity, cars, and television appear to be a static culture, never changing. This, however, is just an illusion. In fact, the Amish are a dynamic culture which is, through market forces and other means, continually interacting with the enormously tempting culture of America. So, one might be led to wonder how a culture like the Amish, one that seems so anachronistic, has not only survived but has grown and flourished while surrounded by a culture that would seem to be so detrimental to its basic ideals. The Amish, through biological reproduction, resistance to outside culture, compromise, and a strong ethnic symbolism have managed to stave off a culture that waits to engulf them. Why study the Amish? One answer would be, of course, to learn about their seemingly pure cooperative society and value system (called Ordung). From this, one may hope to learn how to better America's problem of individualism and lack of moral or ethical beliefs. However, there is another reason to study the Amish. Because the Amish have remained such a large and distinct culture from our own, they provide an opportunity to study the effects of cultural transmission, resistance, and change, as well as the results of strong symbolism in maintaining ethnic and cultural isolation.
Jean Louise “Scout” and Jem Finch experienced life in the 1930’s living in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Their childhood was a nonstop adventure that brought jocund days and testing trials that teenager’s today experience even with the world around us changing every day. The moral upbringings, educational importance, and the crime rate of small towns all contributed to the childhood memories that were built every day in Maycomb County. These attributes to childhood experiences have changed a lot over the vast time period between the 1930’s and 2000’s. The moral upbringings are different in the way that children living now are experiencing a different surrounding in their everyday life and have lost morals that were taught in the 1930’s. Education is more important now than in the 1930’s because of the many laws that have been established to keep children well educated to help them succeed. Living in a small town had many advantages like the low crime rate; crime rate has risen and caused an effect on small town life. There are many similarities as well as differences between the childhood in the 1930’s and the 2000’s. The changes that have occurred affect my life as a young Alabamian every day in many ways.
In most American families parents are overjoyed as a result of the happiness and success of their teenage children. Across America teenager are enjoying their “rite of passage”, such as friends, after school activities, sports, vacations with their families and their first car. At the same time, little is known of the extreme poverty and despondency existing within the reservations of the Native American communities. Many Native American families are still struggling with the pain and anguish their ancestors suffered during the ethnic cleansing and forced relocation of the 1800’s such as the Trail of Tears.
Thea effect of going through Rumspringa is different for every teen, but it does impact the community as a whole. For Doris, Rumspringa impacted her as an adolescent in the following: making a decision to leave home and her family, experiencing a new household, making responsibilities, and come across an abusive relationship without knowing what may happen, due to the fact that she had been sheltered. Doris had shared how an adolescents decision can impact a community. When an adolescent chooses to be a member of the church the leaders of the church and the child's parent are grateful, “The community is grateful that the adolescent has come back because the adolescent has turned away from all their mistakes that have been taken place.” Unlike
All students should take notice and interest in cultural diversity. There are numerous different cultures in America. One in particular is the Amish culture, which I would like to familiarize you with.
In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much can be learned from considering each member (Macleod p. 162). The Brothers attend high school on a regular basis and none of them participate in high-risk behaviors, such as smoke, drink, or do drugs.
The Amish faith is very different from other religions and isn’t seen too often in the modern world. They cut off the outside world to that they can achieve their ultimate goal and going to heaven. Amish folk may seem strange to us but in their eyes, we’re the strange ones.
This book gives a detail and indepth look of how your teenagers will progress through the early years youth to becoming full grown adults. There are many points that Mr. Tripp focuses on, but you are quick to understand that Tripp wants you to know that the failure of your child is due to the fallen state they were born in. He makes this pondering statement that is a nightmare of all parents. “It is in these years that parents struggle with embarrassement at being related to the teen who was once, as a child, a great source of pride and joy.” This is the fear that Mr. Tripp in this book evaulates and also gives a Biblical understanding to what you will face with your growing
Why do teenagers rebel against their parents? Teenagers rebel against their parents because they lack their parents’ love and they start to build up resentment. (Bucknell) As they are growing up, they are developing their minds and trying to adapt to their surroundings. Despite some negative thoughts about teens, many create their sense of rebellion due to the lack of ideal parents. They begin to think for themselves and go down the wrong path without the right guidance. For instance, without the right guidance the teenager feels that they are the adults in every situation and they know what is right and what is wrong. They begin to develop habits that will later lead to unsuccessful situations. During teenage years, many are going through
After interviewing my teenage cousin whom has been in several altercations at home and school, enlightened me on the ways that teenagers in her age group gets involved in drug use. Kids start as young as ten years of age using, selling, and experimenting with drugs. My teenage cousin was expelled from public schools when she started experimenting with drugs. She was surrounded by many challenges when she enrolled in the alternative behavioral school. Many students, whom attend the alternative behavioral school use drugs, sell drugs, are on probation, have been arrested, engage in sexual activity and drink alcohol. Being surrounded by several of these activities that take place in the school, she has been approached by many, and has taken an interest in engaging in these bad activities. She lies to her parents about where she is going and where she has been. She has sold her electronics for drugs and alcohol, snuck out of her house to party with friends, and have runaway to stay with her friend to take part in sexual intercourse. Peer influences, as we have seen, a...