When you love someone, you tend to do things that you never thought you would do. Yes, we all think about having kids with a dream girl or guy when we get older. Although, the problem is that some relationships don’t always last. This sometimes leads to kids not having both parents in their life. The statics shows that 15% of children in the world are now living in a single parent household. Single parenting can affect the way a child grows up. It can lead to sexual behaviors, drug and alcohol abuse and more.
For me, I’ve always had my mom and dad living in the same house as me, so I haven’t experienced anything of that. However, in “Peaches” by Jodi Lynn Anderson, three girls Leeda, Birdie, and Murphy have been through a lot For Birdie, she
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I believe that their parents are the ones to blame. Simply because they were not good at parenting. After Murphy got caught trespassing she was taken to go work on the Orchard for punishment. When being dropped off her mother states, “I might just never come to pick you up… I gonna run off to Mexico and drink margaritas everyday”(pg.40). What type of mother says something like that? This clearly shows that she doesn’t care much for her. Not only does Murphy’s mother act like that, but so does Birdie’s. Birdie’s mother, Cynthia, left her and her father on the Orchard. Whereas, Poopie, practically a maid, came to replace her. Cynthia always talks bad about the orchard. This hurts Birdie because she loves it so much and she can’t tell her mother how she really feels. So now, “conversations with her mom made her feel like that. Trapped”(pg.29). As a parent, your kids should be comfortable enough to talk about anything with you.
On the other hand, some believe that the parents did a pleasant job. Punishing your kids for poor behavior is an example of parenting. Birdie’s father grounded her for more than “three days”(pg.240) in her room. She was caught drinking and that what her punishment was. For Murphy’s behaviors on trespassing, “ she’ll be working long hours on the trees, that would be for the entire two weeks”(pg.18). They believed that staying there, at the Orchard, would change her
In the young life of Essie Mae, she had a rough childhood. She went through beatings from her cousin, George Lee, and was blamed for burning down her house. Finally Essie Mae got the nerve to stand up for herself and her baby sister, Adline as her parents were coming in from their work. Her dad put a stop to the mistreatment by having her and her sister watched by their Uncle Ed. One day while Essie Mae's parents were having an argument, she noticed that her mothers belly was getting bigger and bigger and her mom kept crying more and more. Then her mother had a baby, Junior, while the kids were out with their Uncle Ed. Her uncle took her to meet her other two uncles and she was stunned to learn that they were white. She was confused by this but when she asked her mom, Toosweet, about it her mom would not give her an answer one way or the other. Once her mom had the baby, her father started staying out late more often. Toosweet found out that her dad was seeing a woman named Florence. Not long after this, her mother was left to support her and her siblings when her father left. Her mother ended up having to move in with family until she could obtain a better paying job in the city. As her childhood went on she started school and was very good at her studies. When she was in the fourth grade, her mom started seeing a soldier named Raymond. Not too long after this, her mother got pregnant and had James. Her mother and Raymond had a rocky relationship. When James was born, Raymond's mother came and took the baby to raise because she said that raising four children was too much of a burden for a single parent to handle. Raymond went back to the service for a while but then when he came back he and Toosweet had another baby. Raymond's brothers helped him build a new house for them to live in and they brought James back to live with them. During this time Essie Mae was working for the Claiborne family and she was starting to see a different point of view on a lot of things in life. The Claiborne's treated her almost as an equal and encouraged her to better herself.
Some parents put their children up on a pedestal, and treat them as if they are the most prized creatures on the Earth. Parents think that they raise their children right, but Gottlieb makes a valid point when she states, “As a parent, I wanted to do things right. But what does ‘right’ mean?” I like how Gottlieb uses the story of the child tripping over a rock. When the kid falls, some parents would come to the rescue, and cuddle the child before they even start to cry. Even though they mean well, I feel like these parents are not even thinking of how a scenario as simple as this can affect their children later in life. This example reflects that even the overprotective and “good” parents end up having children that are lost and unhappy because they did not show any discipline and organization. Dan Kindlon, a children’s psychologist that Gottlieb mentioned, explained, “There’s a difference between being loved and being constantly monitored.” This made me think of a friend whom goes to West Georgia who I will call Ella. She grew up with the constant surveillance of her
The autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody is the story of her life as a poor black girl growing into adulthood. Moody chose to start at the beginning - when she was four-years-old, the child of poor sharecroppers working for a white farmer. She overcomes obstacles such as discrimination and hunger as she struggles to survive childhood in one of the most racially discriminated states in America. In telling the story of her life, Moody shows why the civil rights movement was such a necessity and the depth of the injustices it had to correct. Moody's autobiography depicts the battle all southern African Americans faced. She had a personal mission throughout the entire book.
Upon reading Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, in my honest opinion I thought the book would be boring, I am happy to say that I was wrong. This memoir about Anne’s life was really interesting and inspiring. Throughout Anne’s memoir I read about all the discrimination that went on in her life, the constant change that kept happening, with the death in the family her father leaving and marrying someone else and all the half siblings she had. Through all that Anne still wanted to make a difference despite the odds and all the negativity and lack of support from her family. This memoir shows a lot of racism, discrimination, judgement based on race, color, level of education, and wealth. Living through
Hope Edelman, an author and newspaper writer, formulates in “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.”, that when it comes to marriage it is not perfect, unlike the way that she had imagined. At the beginning of her essay, Edelman implicitly mentions her frustrations with the amount of time her husband was working, however, later on she explicitly becomes upset about her husband always working. Edelman mentions throughout her essay that before marriage, she believed co-parenting was an attainable goal. She talks about how she feels like her husband keeps working more and she has to pick up the slack at home. This imbalance causes Edelman to become angry and frustrated with her husband, she feels the no matter how hard they try, the 50/50 split does not happen. Throughout the article, Edelman
My mother was always stuck watching and taking care of her younger siblings. Sometimes she would get in trouble for not making sure they stayed out of trouble. Not having her own privacy was common for her, since they lived in a...
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by my father. I witnessed firsthand th...
The United States of America, the land of the free. Mostly free if the skin tone matches with the approval of society. The never ending war on racism, equality, and segregation is a huge part of American culture. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement equality was laughed at. People of color were highly discriminated and hated for existing. During the years nineteen fifty to nineteen seventy, racism began to extinguish its mighty flames. Through the lives of numerous people equality would soon be a reality. Through the Autobiography “Coming of Age in Mississippi” by Anne Moody first person accounts of all the racism, social prejudice and violence shows how different America used to be. The autobiography holds nothing back, allowing the author to give insight on all the appalling events and tragedies. The Re-telling of actual events through Anne Moody’s eyes, reveal a connection to how wrong segregation was. The “Coming of Age in Mississippi” is an accurate representation of life in the south before and during the Civil Rights Movement.
It is a rare occurrence indeed to stumble upon a nonfiction article as raw and true as “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.” by Hope Edelman. The author of three nonfiction books, who has had her work published in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Seventeen magazine, writes about her expectations regarding an egalitarian marriage with equal parenting responsibilities, and compares them to the reality that comes from living in a household where both parents work full-time and cannot drop all of their responsibilities to care for a toddler. Edelman’s narrative is a flippant view on modern views of feminist relationships, from both the side of the feminist and the side of a woman whose marriage did not reflect those ideals. While she argues everyday gender roles, she may reach a deeper topic than just the sexes assigned roles of being either a nurturer or a provider, but never both. She mentions late in the article that the two
Single parent homes are becoming more common as time goes on. With this growing number, the traditional nuclear family seems to be less relevant. Welna reports that “[t]he portion of children living with a single parent has jumped over a generation from 1 out of 20 to about 1 out of 5 children” (1999, p. xii). Within a few decades, single parenting became very common among the modern society. This is a large shift and changes civilization. However, this difference it isn’t expressed very much. Television doesn’t show a lot of representation for
Single Parent Struggle For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father.
What is a single parent? Is it one who destroys their child’s life? Is it one who ultimately cannot raise a minor on their own? Or is it one who dedicates their lives to the well being of their kid? Imagine a parent, and for whatever reason they were left alone to raise a child. That parent you imagined has to work long hours just to put a meal on the table. That parent has to play the role of the mother and father. That parent has no financial support. Unfortunately, in our society, this image of a single parent is looked down upon. There are people that don’t realize how much a single parent goes through to give their child a better life.
And in return, he did those things again and again and again. Like the parents in this chapter, they probably thought if you take away something that your child really wanted, they would behave. I know that was my thought. I can see where giving positive affirmation is a lot better than responding to the negative. Just think about it, as an adult, you will respond a lot better to someone who is nice to you, who is speaking to you in a positive manner versus someone who is being mean to you and who is speaking to you in a negative manner. I believe if a lot more parents would take this approach, more children would be better behaved. I also believe with this approach parents would interact more with their children. The parents would enjoy the children more because the home would be more peaceful. I’m sure that kids will not act perfect all the time and on
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
It has been said, children from two-parent families are better off. The setting is also a factor to take into consideration. The increase in single- parent homes has had an extensive and negative effect on children’s development. 50% of marriages end in divorce. We have young people with young minds having children, they can hardly take care of themselves at the age of 21, yet they have decided to bring four children into this world to be raised by one parent. In some communities, majority of the children are being raised by a single parent. Statistics have shown that children raised in a healthy single parent home have more problems emotionally, psychologically, in school, and with the law than those raised in healthy two-parent homes. No matter how good a single parent is, that a single parent can NEVER do for the child how two present, committed, parent partners share and work together; communicate together and solve problems together as equals.