Parenting Skills and Family Resilience: A Study on the Walls Family

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According to the Merriam Webster online Dictionary, the word “family” means a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head. The Walls family fit under that characteristic but they were far from the average family. The Walls children had to endure numerous hardships in life which later on enabled them to become successful and productive members of society. Although some people might argue that the Walls children would have been better off if they were removed from their home and placed under foster care, actually it was in the children’s best interest to grow up with their parents even if this meant having to overcome difficult times because of their parent’s lack of parenting skills.
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In his own very special way, Rex Walls loved his children because he taught them to be independent, and self sufficient. He taught them life lessons that he believed could come in handy in the future. At times it seemed he loved the numbness that alcohol provided him more than his kids. He was never a role model for his children; he had the worst habits and lifestyle any adult can have. On more than one occasion Rex Walls abused the love and trust Jeannette had for him. A good portrayal of this is when the check for lease on Rose Mary’s Texas land came in the mail and Rex tricked Jeannette in trusting him with the money and said “Let’s hide it together”. To Rex everything was a big adventure, he did not care that that money was to provide for his children; his only concern was getting money to spend on alcohol and winning money from games of billiards. Even with all of his undesirable traits, his children loved him and they looked up to him when they were little. On one occasion, he said to Jeannette, "But you always loved your old man, didn 't you?" "I did, Dad," I said. "And you always loved me". Jeannette and Rex Walls shared a very special father and daughter relationship. Out of all his kids Jeannette was always the one who trusted him and

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