The detachment between mother and daughter in “I Stand Here Ironing” is understandable. The mother struggles daily with the decisions she made while her oldest child Emily was a young baby and toddler. Obstacles in Emily’s life have made it hard for her mother to forget these decisions, and life with Emily only reinforces these decisions. Emily’s mother struggles when asked to help an outsider understand who Emily is. Her thoughts are perplexing; she tries constantly to accept the relationship between herself and Emily, the distance between them emotionally.
In my teenage years, most of my time was spent in school, and after I left there I would come home to a strung out mother that would be ranting and raving about dishes that needed to be done and telling me about how I was her biggest mistake, and that I was nothing but a lazy, hopeless loser, which I knew wasn’t true, but when you are a child the thoughts just run through your head over and over like a bad dream that you cannot wake up from. During that time, I had to find a way to break out. She would never let me leave the house unless it was to go to school, so I would leave at seven every morning and not return until midnight or later because I couldn’t face the beatings anymore. I began to heavily use drugs and try to escape to a place without pain and fear. Unfortunately, I knew that when I did come home, that I was really in for it.
Parents often make mistakes, when raising their children, that can do more harm than good in the long run. The first mistake parents often make is not being there enough for their children. For example, my Tia who is a correctional officer, worked a lot of overtime and was not home a lot when her four children were growing up. My Tia was a single mother raising four children, so she needed all the hours she could get. When her family would say, “Caro, why do you work so much, your kids need you at home more.” She would reply, “I need to put food on the table and clothes on their
The short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is an example of a mother daughter struggle. From what I took from the story, the young mom herself had an extremely rough life. She had her daughter Emily at a young age and it did not end up picture perfect like she might have thought it would. Her mother had to work to support them, so she always sent Emily off to be cared by others. Sometimes she was sent far away and for a long period of time.
My friend Sarah although not as close, we were in class together and I would say morning to her everyday. She was having family issues that were outside and the parents were fighting over the fact of them leaving to help the grandparents and did not have the money too. Being an only child like me she thought that everything was about her and what she said was the way things went. When I tried to say morning to her she was quiet to herself and if had the chance avoided everyone. One day she blew up, blaming her parents about how everything was falling.
She told me about the things that cause continuity in her situation, things like her husband dying, small social security support, and expensive taxes leaving her unable to afford the payments and upkeep for the home they lived in. With no family and no other options, she literally had to go back to work and continues to hold a position despite her age and deteriorating body she has to work her life away to keep affording basic survival needs. Yet, Ferri-Reed mentions that each generation stresses over different things and with the older generations not so much on finances (22), but one thing that every generation stresses over is the
She wanted to see the world veiled by her mother’s restrictions, and even face danger she was always kept way from. As a result, she suffered the consequences of seeing everyth... ... middle of paper ... ...n't eat any of the ice cream he brings home every Friday evening.” (162) This shows that even as an adult, Lena still needs guidance as to where to go with her life. Without her mother’s visit, she may have never thought about how unfair their system of spending was. It also shows how they have miscommunications between them. Harold does not bring up Lena not eating any of the ice cream because Lena had never shared her story as child to him.
There is a misperception that single parent households are not as effective as two parent homes. Growing up with only my mother I learned that that is not the case. I have learned many lessons growing up with just my mom. It took hard work and determination for her to make a life for us on a limited income. My mother has built a solid foundation for me and my two younger brothers.
Growing up, all kids have periods of time where they are struggling and do not feel comfortable going to their parents, so fortunately I had my aunt for a shoulder to lean on and a hug to make me feel okay again. Kim’s strength,
I feel like my mom was in the hard situation because she is a woman raising a young son all by her self-trying to teach me how to be a man. But also at times it was hard for because I would do little things such as get in fights in school or would do something so crazy. So I know for her as women she couldn’t really understand what I was doing. I feel like she played such a good mother and father that I will pick up some of here parenting styles.Growing up I was raised in a single parenting household with just me and my mom in the house. Being raised in a single parent house there are some pros and cons that come from being raised this way.