A society's fundamental element is the family. The first article's author, "the world closest to us," defines a family as a complex unit that can be compared to the raw material of a writer's lifetime. The relationships that make up the family unit, from the marriage pair to the extended family, are complicated, according to this piece. According to the report, marriage is the state or condition of a community made up of a master, mistress, and a total of two slaves. (Ambrose Bruis, the devils dictionary)
On the other hand, parenting is a whole other ballgame. The writer to the article “every day use” talks of a child hugging his mother and father in a midst to comfort them and encourage that they did a good job in raising them. In comparison with the first article “the world closes to us” in which children are slaves, children are a savior, a source of comfort that unites the family together. In a midst of disappointment the child in this case outdoes the disappointment to be a jewel to his parents and one the parents can look up to with satisfaction that they did a good job.
The third article, “is of a grateful child. One who things of his father and mother and how to bless them. It closely relates to the article of “everyday use” because in both the child grows to be a replica of the parents. In both the two articles the parents are depicted to have done a good job in raising their children and the children in return are giving back to their parents. Emphasis is being put on the fact that the parents are rather proud of what their children have become. This is a reflection of what is expected in a normal society in which children grow up not to neglect their parents but to support them in old age. A society in which parents look back with a smile and not with regrets at the years they spent in raising their children (Bott & Spillus, 342)
In these three articles, family is still the most important unit of a society. Great emphasis is put on parenting and raising children. Though its hard work at times heart breaking but parents should raise their children not with regrets in their heart but with compassion and love. Raising a child from birth to adulthood requires patience and tolerance. Relationships between families, is also important. Love is at the pillar of all family units.
Together with the above, the main goal of parenting is to teach kids self-discipline. This could punishing the child when they do wrong but doing so in love. Punishment could be a little spanking, correcting them when they err etc. A child can be likened to a tree that needs watering, needs weeding and needs pruning in order for it to grow. Weeding implies on removing the bad traits of character, while watering refers to what you teach the child because a well-watered tree grows healthily to produce good fruit but if you don’t take care of the tree when it’s still a shoot you cannot determine its growth and the kind of fruits it would produce. This applies to how children grow (Parke, Ross D. and Gary W. Ladd, 343).
Not all parenting have turn out to be a success story. Children at times turn out to be a disappointment. This cannot be blamed on bad parenting though most cases it is but also on the environment. The environment by which you raise your child is very important. If you raise your child in a ghetto environment surrounded by alcoholics, criminals, prostitutes and other bad company, the chances that they will turn out to be different from the rest is close to zero. The company that surrounds your child is very important as it has a direct influence and impact on your child’s character. Therefore parenting is rather a community job than a one man responsibility.
Last but not least love is very important. Unless there is love within the family, the unit as a whole cannot stand. Love is the pillar or rather the backbone of a family and without it the family unit is broken. The writers of the above articles attempts to give a love story at the background. In all the complexity of the family unit, it begins with two people who love each other, rather but a love story. The community level is a composition of many family units bound together by the cord of love, and it with this cord that one is assured of a great and satisfactory parenting ( Jackson &Cynorra, 250)
In conclusion, though parenting is hard work success is evident. At one point in life the child learns to appreciate the parent no matter what they have turned out to be. No parenting ends without an applause therefore the end justifies the means and a good child will always respect their parents no matter how bad they were.
Work cited
Bott Elizabeth, Elizabeth Bott Spillus, eds. Family and social network: roles, norms and external relationships in ordinary urban families. Routledge 2014.
Parke, Ross D. and Gary W. Ladd, eds. Family-peer relationship: modes of linkage. Routledge, 2016.
Jackson, Cynorra. “Givens” Parenting is easy: You’re probably just doing it wrong”(book review).” The Christian librarian 59.2(2016):49
