Category: Parenting

The biological parents of a child ought to engage themselves in the parenting role right from the day the mother conceives. However, that opinion remains a myth in most families. In reality, the mother does both the prenatal care and postnatal care role in most cases. Culture, social reproduction, emotions, and the media are progressively affecting the motherhood and parenting role. From the cultural view of things, the mother ought to take the parenting role, especially at the toddlers stage¹. However, social constructions and social forces from the media take an important position in influencing the parenting role in the current world. The above-mentioned thoughts bring many controversies to peoples minds. This research will seek solutions to various unanswered questions in peoples minds. Therefore, a stringent approach is necessary for the research to be successful.

The general approach to the research topic

Literature review

Parenting has different styles depending on the social classes. Elite people perceive children as a symbol that increases happiness within the family, whereas, suffering families view children as additional mouths to feed. In ancient times, women were homemakers, and they would take care of children as men went out to work. In the modern world, the economy is very tight, such that both parents have to work to make ends meet. The culture of motherhood and parenting is slowly taking a different route as the traditional cultures are becoming extinct². Contemporary society is reshaping everything related to parenthood. The media, for example, plays a great role in advising women on when they should become mothers. The media will publicize the links between parenthood, gender identity, social reproduction, and parenting in the modern era. The exposures have affected the way people think about motherhood and parenthood. Nowadays, mothers are advised to seek equality in every aspect of life, where, such kinds of advice affect their emotions, which in turn affect the motherhood and parenthood role.

Justification of the research problem

As evident from previous researches, the parenting role burdens the mothers more than the fathers. The reason why most fathers have abandoned the parenting role still brings in controversies. Although some couples share the parenting role equally, the mothers often do the emotional role in upbringing the child³. It is not very clear who is to blame; however, culture, social reproduction, emotions, and the media could be great influencers on the motherhood and parenting role. Therefore, this research will play a critical role in bringing a clear understanding of the topic of discussion that has brought controversies for a long time.

Research questions

This research paper will seek to answer three main questions as listed below:

1. What does culture have to do with motherhood and parenting?
2. How does social reproduction influence motherhood and parenting?
3. What is the relationship between emotions and the media on one side, and motherhood and parenting on the other side?

Research objectives

The specific objectives of the research areas listed below:

1. To examine the relationship between culture, motherhood, and parenting;
2. To give a stringent analysis of social reproduction and how it affects the motherhood and parenting role;
3. To access emotions and the media and how they influence the motherhood and parenting role.

Research methodology

The whole research is comprehensive and it will require a detailed design of obtaining the relevant data. Saunders guidelines will be employed to attain the set objectives of the study. The objectivist research will employ a positivistic approach to study human behavior while undertaking the parenting role. The dependent variable is the motherhood and parenting role, whereas, culture, social reproduction, emotions, and the media will form the independent variables.

• Research design: The proposed study design is quantitative because numerical and statistical analyses are necessary for analyzing the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Moreover, quantitative research will help in obtaining first-hand information about the research questions and objectives. The respondents in the study will comprise parents selected randomly from the study region.
• Data collection methods: This research will need both primary and secondary data. Interrogative interviews with the selected respondents and duly filled questionnaires by the respondents will provide primary data. Peer-reviewed journals and published books on the topic will provide the necessary secondary data.
• Research procedure: The researcher will retrieve information about the motivating factor or the factors that influence the respondents behavior in their parenting role. While there could be many other factors, the research will strictly retrieve information regarding the culture, social reproduction, emotions, and the media as they influence the motherhood and parenting role.
• Data analysis: The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) will be used in the data analysis exercise. Correlation analysis and regression models will determine if the independent variables do affect the motherhood and parenting role.

Expected result outcomes

There is a very high possibility of obtaining a very strong relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Probably, culture, social reproduction, emotions, and the media affect motherhood and parenting in one way or another.

Bibliography

Hollway, W, Mothering and Ambivalence, London, Routledge, 2000.

Howe, T, Marriages and Families in the 21^st Century, Maiden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Snitow, A, Feminism and Motherhood: An American Reading, Feminist Review. vol. 5, no. 40, 2001, pp. 32-51.

Footnotes

1. A Snitow, Feminism and Motherhood: An American Reading, Feminist Review. vol. 5, no. 40, 2001, pp. 32.
2. W Hollway, Mothering and Ambivalence, London: Routledge, 2000, p. 48.
3. T Howe, Marriages and Families in the 21^st Century, Maiden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, p. 77.

Introduction

Quantitative studies often allow for a deeper understanding of phenomena (Campbell & Stanley, 1963), and a multiple regression is a method which permits for estimating whether there is a relationship between a number of predictor variables and an outcome variable (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2015). It can also be used to assess whether a variable mediates or moderates the relationship between a predictor variable and an outcome variable (Field, 2013). In this paper, an analysis of data provided in the file Child Aggression.sav, which accompanies the textbook by Field (2013) and can be found on Datasets (n.d.), is provided. More specifically, it is investigated whether the aggressiveness of siblings of a child is a moderator or a mediator of the relationship between the parenting style of a childs parents and the aggression level of that child.

Prior to carrying out the analysis, the assumptions for a linear multiple regression are articulated and tested for the given data; no changes or transformations are applied to the data. A number of linear multiple regressions are then employed to analyze the data. The SPSS syntax files contents and the SPSS outputs are supplied in the appendices of the paper.

Underlying Assumptions for a Linear Multiple Regression

These assumptions may be formulated as follows (Field, 2013; Warner, 2013):

1. The dependent variable needs to be quantitative and approximately normally distributed;
2. The independent variables also should be quantitative and roughly normally distributed; however, they can be dichotomous or dummy;
3. The observations should be independent of one another;
4. There should be a linear correlation between every predictor and the outcome;
5. Homoscedasticity of the outcome across the levels of every predictor should hold;
6. There should be no multicollinearity between the independent variables.

Testing the Assumptions and Addressing their Violations

Assumption 1. The dependent variable (Aggression) is quantitative. Its distribution is as follows:

The kurtosis of the distribution is obviously positive; it is equal to 1.645 (see Appendix 1), which is an acceptable value (George & Mallery, 2016). Skewness is -.022, which is very close to normal. There are some outliers, but they do not appear to be extreme. So, the distribution can be judged close enough to normal.

If the assumption of normality was violated, it would have been possible to use data transformations (e.g., power or logarithmic transformations) to address the violations. Extreme and important outliers could have been removed from the data.

Assumption 2. Both independent variables (Sibling_Aggression and Parenting_Style) are quantitative. Their distributions are as follows:

Apparently, both variables are distributed closely to normal. There are one or two outliers for Sibling_Aggression, and one or two outliers for Parenting_Style, but the histograms appear to be skewed in the direction opposite to where the outliers are located, so they may even balance the overall distribution slightly. In addition, the sample size is large (N=666), so these outliers should not pose a considerable threat. Therefore, no data transformations will be applied.

Violations of the Assumption 2 can be addressed in the same way as the violations of the Assumption 1 (data transformations or the removal of outliers).

Assumption 3. The observations are independent of each other; each observation represents a different child with the values of the variables independent of those of the rest of the children.

Violation of this assumption could be addressed by removing dependent observations from the sample.

Assumption 4. Linear correlation can be assessed by using the scatter plots:

Therefore, there are slight linear correlations between Aggression and Sibling_Aggression, r=.13, and between Aggression and Parenting_Style, r=.21. The correlations are not strong, but, importantly, the scatter plots show that there are no apparent non-linear relationships, so the assumption is met.

The violation of this assumption can be addressed by data transformations (power, logarithmic, or other transformations). In certain cases, it is better to use types of analysis other than the linear multiple regression (Warner, 2013).

Assumption 5. Homogeneity of variances (homoscedasticity) across the levels of independent variables can be assessed by examining the scatter plot of standardized residuals vs. standardized predicted values (zresid vs. zpred) (Field, 2013).

The zresid vs. zpred scatter plot shows that there is no violation of homoscedasticity assumption in the data. Additionally, it shows no violation of the assumption of linearity (Field, 2013).

Violations of homoscedasticity can be handled by using square root or logarithmic transformations of the data.

Assumption 6. Multicollinearity can be checked by obtaining variance inflation factor (VIF) (Field, 2013). As can be seen from Appendix 2, VIF=1.031, so the assumption of non-multicollinearity is not violated (Field, 2013).

The violation of non-multicollinearity can be addressed, for instance, by centering the data (deducting the mean score).

Null and Research Hypotheses for the Test

• H₀₁: siblings aggression is not a moderator of the relationship between the parenting style of a childs parents and that childs aggression level.
• H_A1: siblings aggression is a moderator of the relationship between the parenting style of a childs parents and that childs aggression level.
• H₀₂: siblings aggression is not a mediator of the relationship between the parenting style of a childs parents and that childs aggression level.
• H_A2: siblings aggression is a mediator of the relationship between the parenting style of a childs parents and that childs aggression level.

Syntax for Moderation

SPSS syntax for Moderation can be found in Appendix 3.

SPSS Output for Moderation

SPSS output for Moderation can be found in Appendix 4.

Results Tables for Moderation

The relevant output table for moderation analysis can be found in Appendix 5.

Syntax for Mediation

The contents of the Syntax files for Mediation analysis can be found in Appendix 6.

SPSS Output for Mediation

SPSS output for Mediation can be found in Appendix 7.

Results Tables for Mediation

The relevant output tables for moderation analysis can be found in Appendix 8.

Results

1. The linear multiple regression using the forced entry method was conducted to check whether the aggression of childrens siblings was a moderator of the relationship between the level of aggression of children and the parenting style of their parents. No changes were applied to the data. The influence of the interaction of centered variables of sibling aggression and parenting style was not found statistically significant: ²=-.039, t(662)=-1.012, p=.312, R=.234, R²=.055, R²_adjusted=.050. Effect size as measured by the Cohens f²=.058 (small). Therefore, the null hypothesis H₀₁ that the siblings aggression is not a moderator of the relationship between the aggression of children and the parenting style of their parents was not rejected.
2. In addition, a number of linear multiple regressions using the forced entry method were conducted to check whether the aggression of childrens siblings is a mediator of the relationship between the level of aggression of children and the parenting style of their parents. No changes were applied to the data. The results of the statistical tests allowing for checking the conditions of mediation as described by Field (2013) were obtained:

   1. The predictor (Parenting Style) significantly predicts the outcome (Aggression) in the first model; ²=.211, t(664)=5.554, p<.001;
   2. The predictor (Parenting Style) significantly predicts the mediator (Sibling Aggression) in the second model; ²=.174, t(664)=4.552, p<.001;
   3. The mediator (Sibling Aggression) significantly predicts the outcome (Aggression) in the third model; ²=.096, t(663)=2.491, p=.013;
   4. The predictor (Parenting Style) less strongly predicts the outcome (Aggression) in the third model than in the first model; ²=.194, t(663)=5.057, p<.001.

Thus, it can be concluded that the sibling aggression is a mediator in the relationship between the parenting style of parents (predictor) and the level of aggression of a child (the outcome). Therefore, the null hypothesis H₀₂ that the sibling aggression is not a mediator of the relationship between the parenting style and a childs level of aggression has been rejected, and evidence has been found to support the alternative hypothesis H_A2.

Adjusting the Sample Size

To obtain the results of a linear multiple regression with 80% power at ±=.05, and the appropriate effect size (e.g., Cohens f²=.33  a medium effect (consequently, with R=.498)) for two independent variables, it is required to utilize the sample of N=32, according to the data found in Sample Size for Multiple Regression Table (n.d.).

References

Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Datasets. (n.d.). Web.

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics: And sex and drugs and rocknroll (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (2015). Research methods in the social sciences (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.

George, D., & Mallery, P. (2016). IBM SPSS Statistics 23 step by step: A simple guide and reference (14th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Sample size for multiple regression table. (n.d.). Web.

Warner, R. M. (2013). Applied statistics: From bivariate through multivariate techniques (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Background

Teenagers spend a lot of time staring at devices, which might conflict with getting proper exercise, finishing homework, and spending time with friends. Teens are more self-sufficient, but parents must still monitor how their children use technology (Ashton and Beattie). Teens may need to devote more time to completing schoolwork, but they could also spend a significant amount of time on social media, enjoying games, or consuming TV and videos. Screen time should not be used to substitute time spent sleeping, eating, exercising, learning, and connecting with relatives and friends. Parents should maintain control of their childrens screen time and monitor what they do online.

Screen Time

Young individuals are usually exposed to large quantities of screen material. Even though it has been demonstrated that modest amounts of high-quality entertainment media have a favorable effect on development, the latest findings advocate restricting childrens usage of mobile gadgets (Schoeppe et al.). Because mobile devices are portable, they may be utilized in any location, such as while waiting for meetings or in line at the supermarket. As a result, screen time may interfere with responsive relationships with parents or the practice of self-soothing activities that promote optimum development.

Social Life

Today, children are closely connected to the technological world, but there are reasons for limiting the constant presence of children on the Internet. Children learn best when they connect with people rather than devices (Straker et al.). Children can only know the delicate principles of social interaction through real-life discussion. Making eye contact, utilizing and recognizing humor, proposing a new subject, and understanding how to maintain a conversation partners concentration are all things that may help your childs communication skills improve.

Real-Life Skills

Regardless of the Internet, the development of a child is also an essential part of education. A child can position himself as a professional in online games, but in order to receive the benefits of life, he needs to develop in real life. Youngsters, like parents, have a limited number of hours in the day. Reducing screen time to allow a youngster to acquire abilities in other domains is a no-brainer (HorowitzKraus and Hutton). People who restrict their childrens screen time give them the opportunity to try new activities and crafts that they would not have tested otherwise.

Sleep Time

Unfortunately, at the moment, most children are under constant stress due to the fact that they do not have enough time for sleep. Most often, this is due to the fact that the child studies a lot, attends additional classes, and also tries to live socially both in life and on the Internet (DominguesMontanari). Poor sleep patterns can have an impact on a childs attitude, behavior, and attention (Pérez-Farinós et al.). Youngsters who have trouble falling asleep will definitely struggle to listen and learn throughout the day.

Conclusion

To summarize, screen time should never be used to replace time spent sleeping, eating, working, studying, or interacting with family and friends. Parents should keep a close eye on their childrens screen media and what they do digitally. Children are now inextricably linked to the electronic world, yet there are grounds to limit their persistent presence on the Internet. Making eye contact, using and appreciating humor, suggesting a new topic, and learning how to keep a discussion partners attention are all things that may assist the childs communication skills to grow. People who limit their childrens screen time allow them to attempt new hobbies and handicrafts that they would not have tried otherwise.

Works Cited

Ashton, James J., and R. Mark Beattie. Screen time in children and adolescents: is there evidence to guide parents and policy?. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 3.5 (2019): 292-294.

DominguesMontanari, Sophie. Clinical and psychological effects of excessive screen time on children. Journal of pediatrics and child health 53.4 (2017): 333-338.

HorowitzKraus, Tzipi, and John S. Hutton. Brain connectivity in children is increased by the time they spend reading books and decrease by the length of exposure to screenbased media. Acta pediatrics 107.4 (2018): 685-693.

Pérez-Farinós, N., Villar-Villalba, C., Sobaler, A. M. L., Saavedra, M. Á. D. R., Aparicio, A., Sanz, S. S., Anta, R. M. O. The relationship between hours of sleep, screen time and frequency of food and drink consumption in Spain in the 2011 and 2013 ALADINO: a cross-sectional study. BMC public health 17.1 (2017): 1-12.

Schoeppe, S., Vandelanotte, C., Bere, E., Lien, N., Verloigne, M., Kovacs, E., Van Lippevelde, W. The influence of parental modeling on childrens physical activity and screen time: does it differ by gender?. The European Journal of Public Health 27.1 (2017): 152-157.

Straker, L., Zabatiero, J., Danby, S., Thorpe, K., Edwards, S. Conflicting guidelines on young childrens screen time and use of digital technology create policy and practice dilemmas. The Journal of pediatrics 202 (2018): 300-303.

Introduction

The study of video games has become a popular pastime for many people. Many parents also play video games and enjoy them. However, some parents do not allow their children to play video games because they believe playing them can cause the child to be lazy or have no interest in doing any work. There has been an increase in the number of people who play video games regularly. This has led to many parents becoming concerned about their childs interest in playing video games and how this could affect them later in life. Therefore, parents need to understand what video games entail and how they can help their children develop cognitive skills that will benefit them throughout life. This paper will discuss how gaming affects children and how it can benefit them in specific ways, such as improving their hand-eye coordination skills or giving them an outlet for their emotions.

Gaming and Its Childs Development Features

Gaming is an activity that most people enjoy doing because it allows one to forget about ones problems and focus on something else. Gaming helps one develop ones attention span by concentrating on something other than reality (Dale et al., 2020). Video games also help people with disabilities improve their motor skills by using controllers such as a joystick or mouse. Some studies show that playing video games increases hand-eye coordination skills (Dale et al., 2020). Playing violent video games may cause aggression, but research shows that it does not lead to violence. According to Dale et al., playing violent video games doesnt make players more likely to commit acts of violence toward others; instead, it makes those individuals less likely to commit crimes if they are already inclined toward criminal behavior (2020). These studies cast doubt on many parents fears about video games.

Gaming and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Therefore, gaming does not cause aggression; gamers may be more aggressive before playing a game because they want to succeed and feel accomplished after beating the games level, boss, or enemy. Secondly, gaming can help children with ADHD symptoms due to its fast pace of action. In their article, Salerno et al. state that playing mechanical movement video games improves visual attention and working memory capacity, potentially improving ADHD symptoms through attentional training resources, which are deficient in patients with ADHD (2022). This shows us that kids who have trouble focusing or paying attention due to ADHD may benefit from playing mechanical action video games instead of just taking medication or going through psychotherapy sessions. This would improve both aspects of their cognitive abilities, such as visual attention and working memory capacity, while still benefiting from traditional treatments like medication or psychotherapy since these would target specific areas affecting the patients mental health.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gamers tend to lose track of time when they get absorbed into a game because they become so focused on completing each level without dying or making mistakes while still trying to avoid getting killed themselves by enemies within each group within the game itself. However, some studies show that losing track of time negatively impacts academic performance if one spends less time doing so instead of studying correctly. Gaming is beneficial, though, mainly when used responsibly, along with traditional methods like medication/psychotherapy. This helps treat underlying issues affecting mental health conditions while assisting young adults in developing better cognitive abilities needed for schoolwork and improving hand-eye coordination skills required for sports activities such as shooting.

References

Dale, G., Joessel, A., Bavelier, D., & Green, C. S. (2020). A new look at the Cognitive Neuroscience of video game play. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1464(1), 192203. Web.

Salerno, L., Becheri, L., & Pallanti, S. (2022). ADHD-gaming disorder comorbidity in children and adolescents: A narrative review. Children, 9(10), 1528. Web.

Parenting is a holistic process that determines the future of children. Numerous activities are involved in the process of bringing up a child. Activities such as interaction, cooperation, motivation, care and creating an enabling environment are critical determinants of a childs future (Caplan et al., 2019). It is imperative that the parenting style chosen has a ripple effect on the future of a child. A poor parenting style is associated with poor outcomes, and the vice-versa is valid for a positive outcome. This research analyzes the nature vs. nurture parenting styles and recommends the best style that must be applied to ensure children grow to be responsible adults. Nature style is founded on the school of thought that children are born with innate features and inheritance that determine who or what they become in the future (Michell, 2022). On the other hand, the nurture parenting style is premised on the school of thought that children are born as empty vessels, and the parents have the control to manipulate their outcomes (Natoli, 2019). Nurture parenting style is the best, and parents must embrace it for better outcomes.

Psychoanalytic and Piagets theories explain the different parenting styles and why each one depends on the other to make a child grow up to be a better person. Through psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud believes that a persons genetics play a significant role in the upbringing process. He states that some inherited features, such as intelligence quotient (IQ) and ability to manage stress, play a significant role in a childs life (Natoli, 2019). On the other hand, Piagets theory offers a concrete explanation of childrens development stages, indicating how the environment plays a significant role in a childs future aspirations (Babakr et al. 2019). Pro-nature theorists believe a direct relationship exists between genes/heredity and outcomes. According to the nature perspective, a child born to parents with low IQ may never have an opportunity to improve their skills. However, it is prudent to note that both nature and nurture may be combined to ensure a child experiences a positive upbringing to become a productive and responsible adult.

From the natural perspective, the environment plays a trivial role in a persons life compared to innate features. In a hypothetical case, a child born with a higher IQ, ability to manage stress, and concentration levels is likely to perform better in academics compared to a child born without these features. Sir Francis Galton researched twins innate behaviors based on different environmental factors and inferred that exposing people to different environments may manipulate their outcomes (Michell, 2022). He further conducted another study on cognitive development and inferred that different brain training activities might help improve a persons IQ and cognitive abilities.

Although the nature perspective significantly impacts how a person becomes in life, the nurture perspective is the better option. Nurture is a better parenting style because it offers an opportunity for every person to become a responsible adult despite their innate characteristics (Natoli, 2019). It is prudent to note that people born with positive innate features and favorable genetic arrangements may never actualize being responsible humans if they are not exposed to a favorable environment.

Piagets theory is perfect for underscoring favorable environmental factors importance in a childs upbringing. Throughout all four development stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, a person is affected by the environment (Babakr et al. 2019). A parent who chooses the nurture perspective assumes the child does not have any positive features and the parent is in total control. A child with a lower IQ and inability to read and write can be made to read and write if the parent creates the correct training environment. The finding is supported by research by Babakr et al. (2019), which inferred that a child born and raised in a loving and well-cultured family is likely to be disciplined and cultured. On the other hand, a child raised in a violent family has a higher chance of becoming violent in the long run. Galtons further research on the twins further proved that identical twins raised by different families end up with features related to the families they grew up in.

Parents using the nurture perspective control the childs personality and can manipulate the environment to shape their kids behavior, character, and skills. The advantage of using the nurturing parenting style is that it offers equal opportunity for people regardless of their genetics or heredity. Further, a person born without the features considered positive can have a chance to improve through training, inhibitory control, and constant appraisal to improve behavior, skills, and personality (Natoli, 2019). Nurture parenting style should be upheld as the main style because it offers equal opportunity for children to realize their dreams by shaping their behavior and skills towards a given trajectory towards their desires. Parents who choose a natural parenting style limit their children to the skills, personalities, and characters that may not be helpful in the present day. Nurture style allows a person to aspire to any personality or profession by manipulating the environment to favor a childs future.

References

Babakr, Z., Mohamed Amin, P., & Kakamad, K. (2019). Piagets cognitive developmental theory: Critical review. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(3).

Caplan, B., Morgan, J. E., Noroña, A. N., Tung, I., Lee, S. S., & Baker, B. L. (2019). The nature and nurture of social development: The role of 5-HTTLPR and geneparenting interactions. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(8), 927.

Michell, J. (2022). The art of imposing measurement upon the mind: Sir Francis Galton and the genesis of the psychometric paradigm. Theory & Psychology, 32(3), 375-400.

Natoli, A. P. (2019). The DSMs reconnection to psychoanalytic theory through the alternative model for personality disorders. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 67(6), 1023-1045.

The problem of parent-child relationships is one of the most examined and actual eternal questions. This question concerns the problems of love and hatred, manipulation and resistance, protest and control.

This point is often discussed in the works of different writers. But in the context of sexual upbringing and instilling of live value, the most significant works are the novels Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Sula by Toni Morrison. Both writers were the Nobel Prize Winners in Literature. Their works are distinguished by the critical and truthful description of reality.

The novel Lolita, which made Nabokov famous, at first was rejected by American critics and publishers. They reckoned that the novel was obscene and pornographic, and were afraid of being persecuted in case of its publication. After Lolita had been published in Paris, the USA and Great Britain, some literary critics comprehended it as the description of a sexual perversion.

However, despite the fact that the plot of this novel depicts the revealing story of the passion of middle-aged Humbert Humbert to adolescent girl Dolores Haze, and of their affair, the novel is full of profound symbolic sense and does not set a task to describe a sexual pathology. Thrilling says about Lolita, it is not about sex, it is about love (Thrilling, 16).

Special attention should be paid to the works of black women-writers, who tried to think through motherhood. Morrison seems to be the most successful Afro-American writer, who raises the problem of interaction and influence of parents and children. Daughter and mother in her novels are the embodiment of the painful experience of racism and sexism.

Hirsh thinks their interaction is not deprived of ambivalence, fear and anger. Analyzing the novel Sula, the researcher emphasizes, Mothers and daughters cant talk to each other frankly, mothers can not manage to tell the stories which they wanted to tell (Hirsh, 180). The formation of women identity is realized through the cognition of the mothers experience that was metaphorically implemented in quilt-making, gardening, songs and folk stories.

Discrepancy of the character with the world is the metatheses of Nabokovs prose. The poem Lilit, in which the fibula of Lolita is outlined, accentuates the key theme of the novel  the discrepancy of the adult characters with the childhood paradise. Lolita is unique not only because the world of children is shown in comparison with the world of adults, but Humbert also aspires to reproduce his childhood and adolescent love in relationships with teenager.

Charlotte Haze is a middle-aged woman of middle-class American type. She is religious and devoid of a sense of humor. She tries to make an impression of a woman of European intelligence and wisdom, but she looks absurd and ludicrous. She combined a cool forwardness with a shyness and sadness that caused her detached way of selecting her words to seem as unnatural as the intonation of a professor of speech (Nabokov, 26).

She sees in Humbert an embodiment of her dreams about sophisticated, refined European man. When she noticed the liking between Lolita and Humbert, Charlotte takes her daughter as a competitor and immediately sends her to the camp.

Humbert writes, She was more afraid of Lolitas deriving some pleasure from me than of my enjoying Lolita (Nabokov, 35). Charlotte has not the real love of mother to Lolita. The girl never shares her secrets and any feelings with her mother. Though Charlotte is not a wonderful mother, her presence hinders Humbert to realize his lust to Lolita and protects the girl from kidnapping. Charlottes death gives a free hand to Humbert.

Humbert combines Lolita with the image of his first love, and finds the physical proximity that he didnt have with Annabelle. But adult Humbert doesnt correspond to the world of the girl. Being a husband of Charlotte, he says that Lolita is his child. For some time, Humbert behaves as a father and keeps a distance. Lolita trusts him, revealing him about her affairs in the camp.

Humbert was not the first lover for Lolita, but he entered the secret adolescent world, where he was a stranger. The teen-girl Lolita personifies in the novel a tempter. She is correlated with Lilit, the legend about the first mans wife, passionate and seductive woman. At the same time, Lolita is associated with the childish purity and innocence. She is an attempt of Humbert to recall his first love.

But his lust to Lolita kills innocence in her, and his illusory victory turns to be a failure. In his notes Humbert is searching for justification of his infatuation of nymphet. He appeals to the antic time, as anything maintained by the Roman law can be regarded as normal. The canon law of the church grew out of the great civilizing achievement of Roman jurisprudence&

This is a conception more effective in Western Europe and the Americas and the English-speaking world than anywhere else on the planet, and we owe it to Rome (Highet, 9). Lolita goes through great changes in the novel.

From an innocent girl of twelve, though experienced in sex, she becomes a woman without past, and thus without future. Dolores has no childhood. She had no father, her mother wasnt good enough to protect from the ruinous influence of the world. The girl was left to herself. When Humbert appears in her life, her individual is transformed to the sequence of events imposed by the adult.

The characters of the novel Sula by Toni Morrison are the residents of the community, where all live by steadfast rules. The family ties determine there the behavior and life positions of its members. The experience of the parents is directly adopted by the children.

Life principles of the adults are acquired by the children on the subconscious level, taking shape to their characters and future life. The novel shows the story of two friends, Sula and Nel. They grew up in the different families, having opposite examples of their mothers. At last this difference led them to the division. The character of Sula tells us the tragic story of a woman with crippled childhood and the distorted system of life values.

Hannah leads a life of promiscuity. She doesnt care of her children. She has a lot of men, and she likes to be attractive to men and spend time with them. But she is not going to marry, because she doesnt want to loose her independence from others. Sula succeeds her temperament. As Hannah, she doesnt feel love from her mother. She tries to fill this emptiness by numerous affairs chiefly with married men.

When a child, Sula heard the conversation of her mother with her friend about their children, and Hannah says, You love her, like I love Sula. I just dont like her. Thats the difference (Morrison, 42). These words destroyed the idea of the real value of Sulas life and trust.

When the dress on her mother burnt, Sula witnessed the fire but did nothing. Eva remained convinced that Sula had watched Hannah burn not because she was paralyzed, but because she was interested (Morrison, 64).

Sula adopts the characteristics of Hannah and Eva. She grew up, looking at the women of her family and becoming like them more and more. Eva is a mother for all in the house. She feels her responsibility for her children, though her love for them is peculiar. Her attempt to save her daughter, when Hannahs dress caught fire, shows that she loves her daughter.

But there was a big gap in their relationships, as Hannah felt been rejected. The continuation of the story witnesses for this. In the way to hospital Eva smothers Hannah. Some time before, Hannah becomes a witness of the murder of her brother Plum.

Eva kills him, because he has a drug addiction. Evas reason for her action is that she saves him from immoral life and suffering. For Sula these actions were the reflection of Evas treatment toward her children. She remembers her mothers words, commenting, Nothing was ever different. They were all the same (Morrison, 245).

The novels raise the problem of the lost childhood. The stories of their protagonists show that the characters and further life of persons are laid in the childhood. And the influence of the family is paramount. Lolita and Sula have anti-childhood. They receive not enough love and warmth from their mothers.

As a result of the lack of moral education they have the fault idea of men and women relationships, motherhood and the role of a woman in society.

These characters can not be regarded as typical, but their feelings are close for many adolescence girls and boys nowadays. These novels can be taken as the negative examples of parent-child relationships, and the call for the responsibility of every person for the development of future generations.

Works Cited

Highet, Gilbert. The Classical Tradition. Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.

Hirsh, Marianne. The Mother/Daughter Plot: Narrative, Psychoanalysis, Feminism. Bloomington: U of Indiana P, 1989.

Morrison, Toni. Sula. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999.

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Vintage International, 1955.

Trilling, Lionel. The Last Lover: Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita. Encounter 11.4 (1958): 9-19.

Violence among youth has drastically increased in recent times. This problem of violence has become a global phenomenon whereby youth from all walks of life are engaged in violence. It seems there must be an internal or an external driving force that entices the youth to engage in acts of unlawfulness. It has become a part of our daily life to hear of youths engaging in brutal killings, suicide, murder, and rape, and child defilement. This wave of youth violence has not spared our high school teenagers either. There has been a lot of bullying that goes on in almost all high schools in the world. It has become a global concern. We have also been witnessing increased acts of unlawfulness and strikes in our schools and wanton destruction of properties. All these forms of youth brutalities can be attributed to a number of contributing factors in our societies that need to be identified and solutions sought (Friedman, Lawrence M. 1993).

The causes of these deviant behaviors among our youths can be associated with several factors such as the media, poor parenting, and the family set up, misuse and abuse of drugs, exposure to horror movies, ease of acquiring weapons, unemployment, peer pressure, broken homes, ignorance and lack of tough punishment to minor offenders as provided by the law. Most critics have attributed the cause of this violence among our youth to exposure to violence by the media. They argue that there is excessive exposure of young children to television programs. Much of our youths free time is spent watching television programs and horror movies than is spent in reading, games, and in other beneficial forms of leisure. Most of these television programs and shows contain aggressive contents which in effect manipulates the mind of the child. They do watch the news where people are fighting each other, committing murder, and all sorts of crimes being committed now and then. In movies, horrible acts of murder and persecution are shown as if they are entertaining scenes (Stephen Pinker, 2007).

Other movies contain themes that show revenge through brutality as the best option. These children watch these movies and programs without their parents guidance and hence they take these vices as if they are part of their daily lives. In most cases, they do not have to experience these cases of brutality as these vices are already fixed in their minds. With the invention of the internet, the youth can access various websites where they can watch videos that contain crime scenes. Due to this exposure, violence ceases to be a worrying phenomenon and becomes a daily experience and hence the child adapts it as a norm. When the child grows up he or she wishes to practical experience this thing in real life. The most unfortunate thing is that these children watch all these acts of violence in presence of their parents. The parents should determine and regulate what programs or materials their children watch from the media (Stephen Pinker, 2007).

Another major contributor to youth violent related behavior is the influence of the environment in which the child has been brought up. If a child has been brought up in a society where he or she has experienced violence at a personal level and where violence seems to be a daily occurrence or a part of life, it is very probable that the child will get used to violence and take it as part of his or her daily life. It is very obvious that a child learns and copies behaviors of the adults and especially their parents. For example, if a child is brought up by a couple who always quarrels and fights and in a situation where the father beats the mother always if the child is a boy, it is probable that he will acquire a cruel approach towards women or develop a strong hatred against men who battle their wife. Consequently, if the child is a girl she may develop a very negative generalized attitude of hatred towards men. Due to this encounter, as the child enters the adolescence stage, he or she may employ defiant and violent acts to bring his or her emotions out (Lane, Roger 1999).

Another major factor that contributes to youth brutality is social alienation. Social vices such as racism, tribalism, nepotism, and social biases have a very negative attitude in the minds of young people. Racism in society and in our schools has made some children feel rejected and alienated. They are exposed to a hostile environment where people are hostile. They feel like outcasts in their society. These young children need a society that provides warmth and love to them and hence a sense of belonging. In such a society where the needs of these children are not catered for, they develop a sense of hostility towards their peers who resent them. As they grow up their anger increases. As they approach maturity, they may result to violence to revenge against the atrocities they received during their childhood years (Blumstein, Alfred 1995).

Whether we blame the media or not, the buck lies with the parents and the way the child has been brought up. Studies have shown that that child who has been neglected and abandoned by their parents develops an attitude of violence. That child becomes less trusting in adults and turns to violence as a natural way of solving his or her problems. A child who has been brought up without the presence of his or her father lacks fatherly guidance that would discourage bad influence and behaviors. Consequently, a child who is brought up without the presence of the mother lacks motherly love which brings about the pain which results in rage. It is from the parents that the child learns what is good and what is bad. Parents should make their children aware that what they see in television programs, shows, music, and movies should be for entertainment and not a way of living. This should inculcate a sense of awareness in the child such that when the child sees a horror movie or a violent television program he or she understands that it is meant for entertainment only (Joseph David E 2006).

Parents have a noble role to play in molding the characters and behaviors of their children and consequently, they play a very big role in determining the kind of a person the child becomes. Parents should teach their children that violence is disastrous. They should teach their children to respect and appreciate each other. Parents should take care of their childrens well-being. A child should be shown that he or she is loved and wanted. Children show love when they get it from their parents. Real care and genuine love provide good precedence in a childs life. A childs first teacher is the mother. She determines the fate of the childs life by the way she handles the child. The childs relationship with the parents determines the childs future. Parents should not let their children be influenced by external factors that distract them from the good thing in their lives. Although parents cannot wholly and always control external and environmental influences on their childrens behaviors, they can assist them to screen these influences and adopt only those that add value to their life. Parents should teach their children to be able to control their anger and temper. They should instill a sense of self-control which brings about self-discipline.

It is very evident that the violent nature of our youth today has been brought about by poor parenting. It is the failure of the parents to mold the behaviors of their children during childhood that results to youth brutality (Gilligan James 1996).

References

Gilligan, James. Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes. Putnam Adult.1996.

Stephen Pinker, The History of Violence, The New Republic 2007.

Joseph, David E The One who is More Violent Prevails  Law and Violence from a Talmudic Legal Perspective, Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, Vol. 19, No. 2, (2006).

Lane, Roger Violent Death in the City: Suicide, Accident, and Murder in Nineteenth-Century, Philadelphia. Ohio State University Press 1999.

Blumstein, Alfred Youth Violence, Guns and the Illicit-Drug Industry. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 86.1 (1995) pp. 1036.

Friedman, Lawrence M. (1993). Lawful Law and Lawless Law: Forms of American Violence 1993.

Raising children is hard work, requiring parents to be able to protect children, instill the right values, and make them law-abiding citizens. Parents who have not succeeded in this and whose children commit a crime may be criminally responsible according to some states laws. Parents criminal liability includes the use of guns by children. While the child should not have any access to the parents weapons, several options could be considered in which adults should not be guilty.

The desire for greater security and the ability to protect families sometimes lead to the purchase of weapons. Thus, about a third of American homes have weapons, and slightly more than four and a half million children live in a house with guns (Hassan, 2018). Laws on the possession of firearms and parents responsibility for possible access to them by children differ in states. However, I believe that if parents decide to store such a dangerous item in the house, they should be responsible for this. Moreover, they are obliged to warn their children about the consequences of its use and tell the necessary safety rules.

Depending on the age and temper, the purpose and method of obtaining weapons by children may differ. Young children are more likely to find it and hurt another by accident due to their parents careless behavior. Adolescents behave more consciously and can specifically look for weapons, and their ability to injure someone can be not just an accident but depends on particular inclinations and education.

Thus, I believe that the possibility of parents criminal liability depends on the circumstances of the use of weapons by children. On the one hand, if such a situation accidentally occurred for children, and due to the parents irresponsibility, they should be punished accordingly. On the other hand, some teenagers may fall under the influence of people outside the family or be socially dangerous and deliberately seek a gun. In this case, the incident requires an assessment of all circumstances to determine the parents degree of responsibility.

Reference

Hassan, A. (2018). Can parents be charged for failing to keep their guns locked up? The New York Times. Web.

Introduction

Young adult literature is a genre of fiction explicitly aimed at adolescent readers. The target audience for this category of literary works is between 12 and 18 years of age, and the novels focus on problems and issues relevant to the teenagers facing new challenges of adult life. Thus, the themes for young adult fiction often include first love and deterioration of the first romantic relationship, sexuality, bonds of friendship, identity, and ones place in the world. In addition, the relationships of coming-of-age adolescents with adults in their life, including parents and parental figures, are often explored. This essay will focus on three works: David Levithans Boy Meets Boy, James Janeways A Token for Children, and Catherine Sinclairs Holiday House. This paper will argue that parental figures in young adult literature play a background role and are employed as a narrative device to provide a source of conflict and character development for adolescent characters.

Parental Presence in Boy Meets Boy, Holiday House, and A Token for Children

The majority of works in young adult fiction have a parent-like adult or a parent or a grandparent. However, few pieces of literature in the genre allow parents to come to the foreground and actively engage with their children. As young adult fiction is focused on the adolescent characters, parents and other adults are not highly prominent, with readers rarely knowing their backstories and motivations. Thus, they are awarded background roles and are often utilized to guide the main characters who are beginning to navigate adult life. In addition, they can be assigned an antagonistic position to establish conflict or serve as motivation for characters to grow and develop. Overall, young adult books tend to utilize parents as an ideal to follow or an antagonist to inspire the characters to change and overcome obstacles.

In Boy Meets Boy, David Levithan portrays a variety of parent-child relationships primarily through the main characters eyes. The book is focused mainly on the relationship between Paul, a gay teenager, and his supportive parents. The second set of parents featured prominently in the novel is Tonys mother and father, depicted as religious, extremely strict, and homophobic. Other adults mentioned in the books are the parents of Noah, Pauls main love interest, who are absent in the narrative because they travel everywhere for business (Levithan 34). It should be noted that other parents are rarely mentioned by the teenage characters, with the author being focused on the issues Paul faces.

In James Janeways A Token for Children, written in the 17th century, the author openly addresses both children and their parents in his mission to turn them to religion. A Token for Children should not be viewed as typical young adult fiction, as it is comprised of the truthful accounts of the conversation the author, a Puritan minister, had with children in the second half of the 17th century. It can be argued that the book was written to turn children to religion and make them more pliable to the will of their parents. Thus, parental figures are described by Janeway as authoritative ethical leaders that children must listen to and strive towards. Furthermore, to the parents themselves, the author bestows the following words: consider what a precious jewel is committed to your charge (Janeway is). It is their responsibility to guide the children and protect them from harm and temptation. Overall, the parents are present in all the stories in the book and play a traditional role as they are charged with the moral upbringing of their kin.

In Catherine Sinclairs work, different parent-child relationships are depicted throughout the book. The Holiday House, written in the 19th century, is a novel about Frank, Laura, and Harry Graham, siblings who live with their grandmother Lady Harriet and uncle David after the death of their mother (Sinclair). The father in the story is absent, choosing to travel instead of caring for his children, with the grandmother, nanny, and uncle assuming the role of parental figures. In the novel, the absence of the parents significantly impacts the siblings, with Laura and Harry becoming unruly and Lady Harriet and uncle David trying to teach them how to behave in society. Sinclair focuses on how children are affected by the absence of their parents and illustrates the necessity of guidance in their lives.

Positive Parental Presence

The discussed works in the young adult genre include several examples of healthy parental presence. For example, Pauls relationship with his mother and father in Boy Meets Boy can be viewed as a positive one. Although they do not react to his confession that he is gay in the way that he hoped, they are supportive and accept their son. Paul notes that they are always friendly to his boyfriends and provide him with a stable family background by been planning family vacations and setting the table for family dinners (Levithan 46). Nevertheless, the author rarely shows Pauls parents actively engaging with him or other main characters in dialogue. Mostly, Sinclair shows their personalities and motivations through Pauls eyes, who thinks his parents can be strange and who expects normal from them when he introduces Noah to them (Levithan 49). It can be argued that the relationship dynamic between Paul and his parents is healthy, with the teenager being anxious about his boyfriend and parents meeting for the first time.

Similarly, the relationship between Lady Harriet, Uncle David, and the Graham children can be viewed as a positive one. Although Laura and Harry are often subjected to physical punishment for their misbehavior and disobedience, it can be asserted that they receive reprimands not out of malice. Lady Harriet and David show care for the children, who lost their mother to illness and were abandoned by their father. In chapter 9, Uncle Davids Nonsensical Story about Giants and Fairies, uncle David tells Laura and Harry a tale of a child-eating giant and the fairy Teach-all to teach them appropriate manners (Sinclair). Uncle David uses the story to show the children the perils of misbehavior in society and ensure their acceptance and survival in it. Thus, he assumes the role of a father for the Grahm children and provides them with guidance and motivation to behave better.

Broken Parental Presence

In Boy Meets Boy, the relationship between Tony and his parents can be viewed as a broken one. His mother and father are not accepting his sexuality, hoping he will find his way back to the religion and start a relationship with a girl. After Paul and Tony are seen hugging, the parents ground Tony, with his mother saying that Paul is the devils influence and is leading her son astray (Levithan 76). Before meeting Paul, Tony could not imagine being openly gay because he was acutely aware of his parents homophobia. They do not accept him and provide the character with conflict and motivation to stand up to them and become more assertive. Overall, the parents are used as an instrument for Tonys character development through a parent-child conflict.

Parental Absenteeism

Parental absence is employed as a device to introduce friction into the arcs of the adolescent characters. For example, in Holiday House, Frank, Laura, and Harry lose their mother to illness, while their father flees to Europe to grieve. These events lead to Frank turning to religion and Laura and Harry becoming the most heedless, frolicsome beings in the world (Sinclair). The parental absence is used to establish the central conflict and to incorporate the idea of the heedless children needing religious guidance and upbringing, which they receive through their grandmother and uncle. Noahs parents in Boys Meets Boy are absent due to their work, resulting in Claudia, Noahs younger sister, assuming the maternal role in the household. This example of parental absence does not create a conflict but serves as a narrative device for Claudias character development. Absenteeism is a common device for conflict establishment and character growth in young adult literature where the focus is on the adolescents and not the parental figures.

Conclusion

In summary, David Levithans Boy Meets Boy, James Janeways A Token for Children, and Catherine Sinclairs Holiday House exemplify young adult literature from different periods. However, despite being written centuries apart, it can be argued that the role of parental figures in the genre did not suffer significant changes. In young adult fiction, parents are assigned background roles, and their relationships with the children, both positive and negative, are used as a device for the character development of the adolescent characters. Furthermore, parental absenteeism is similarly utilized, serving as an instrument to set up conflict and explain the behaviors and motivations of the characters.

References

Janeway, James. A Token for Children. Whiting & Watson, 1811.

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. PDF, Harper Collins, 2013.

Sinclair, Catherine. Holiday house. Project Gutenberg, 2010.

Parents should be involved in their childs education, controlling his actions. For many types of crimes or administrative violations, responsibility comes only from a certain age. Therefore, if a child commits illegal activities, his parents will be responsible for it. According to the Family Code, parents are equally obliged to take care of their children until they become fully independent (Bester, 2021). By default, parents are obligated to fulfill all responsibilities assigned to them by the code. If the child behaves inappropriately and violates the law and public order, it is the parents fault. Consequently, they are obliged to answer for the actions of their ill-mannered child on their own. Liability for inappropriate parenting If parents ignore the rules of conduct, then they are not fulfilling their parental responsibilities; there are severe penalties for this (Bester, 2021). Failure to fulfill parental obligations to raise and care for a child may result in limited or total termination of parental rights.

As for a childs accomplishments, I believe that parents should be rewarded for them as well. This is because each parent, in one way or another, shows participation in the childs development, which then leads to specific achievements (Seccombe, 2017). Even the fact that parents did not limit their childs choice of activities is already considered a factor in further achievements. Thus, parents should be held accountable for any behavior their child demonstrates. Accordingly, they should be punished for their childs crimes and rewarded for their achievements. This is due to the fact that parents always have a direct influence on their children and their childs upbringing is their primary concern. That is why parents should be rewarded for all the things their children do, regardless of whether they are good or bad.

References

Bester, J. C. (2021). The limits of parental authority: Childhood wellbeing as a social good. Routledge. Web.

Seccombe, K. (2017). Exploring marriages and families. Pearson. Web.