Our final entry on chapter 4 was written by Vanesa. As you read her entry, you'll see that she has recognized connections to her own childhood. Enjoy!
I enjoyed reading the chapter because it helped me realize and become aware of some issues involved with parenting. I don’t have any children of my own yet, but someday I will and I’m sure I’ll find myself in some of these situations.
I thought it was interesting to find out that parents experience Parent Peer Pressure. Parents may become “concerned with how their parenting looks to others” (p.64), and this may lead them to do things they don’t normally believe in. This reminds me of a few situations I used to put my mom through when I was a teenager. Whenever one of my friends invited me somewhere, say to a Quinceanera (the Hispanic tradition of celebrating a young girl's coming of age - 15th birthday), I was sort of afraid to ask my mom if I could go, fearing she would say no. So to make things easier for me, I would have my friend’s mom call my mom and ask her if I could go with them. I figured, if my friend had permission to go then I should too. I felt that by putting my mom on the spot, she would have no other choice than to let me go. Thankfully most of time she would let me go out, but there were those times when my scheme didn’t work. Now that I look back, I think my mom didn’t want to let me go because she felt I was too young to be out at night without much adult supervision. I now realize that it was a form of parent peer pressure. Every parent has there reasons for not wanting their child to do a certain thing. However, there will be those cases when parents will fall prey to parent peer pressure and go against their rules because they don’t want to seem too uptight.
I found it to be interesting when Elkind mentioned that the period of childhood innocence once ended during the preteen years, but now ends at age six or seven. Elkind used the example of Barbie, who was once meant for school-aged girls, now being owned by two year olds. I agree with this because at my age, I find myself looking at kids and teens of today and thinking, “Wow, they are growing up so fast!” I remember being in 5th grade and still wanting to play with my Barbies; these days young girls are more interested in having a cell phone and wearing the latest fashions. I just think it's interesting how the times have changed. I feel Elkind made a good point when he said, “Because we have lost control over the information flow to our children, we are forced to accept their loss of innocence" (p. 80).
I found this chapter to be very helpful. It hits on topics that we come across in our lives, and don’t really stop to think about until we have the situation on our hands. As mentioned earlier, I am not yet a parent and am happy to say that reading about parent angst did not discourage me. I feel that gaining this knowledge will only help me in the future. I like being aware of situations I may face some day and can only hope that I will be prepared to deal with them accordingly.
I bet that your mom would appreciate that you recognize now why she set boundaries and limits for your behavior when you were a child. Though I've not been a parent, my guess is this is one of the toughest parts of parenthood -- enforcing limits that you know will upset your child. But, in the long run, we do children a disservice if we don't!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I can understand how parents experience Parent Peer Pressure. I have seen parents act differently in public because they are worried about looking like “a bad parent.” I can relate to this type of pressure. I get nervous disciplining my nieces in public. I find it much more difficult than if we were just around family. Children are so different nowadays. I think it is sad that we are forced to accept the loss of children's innocence. I also found this chapter interesting.
ReplyDeleteVanessa,
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to hear your first hand encounter with parent peer pressure. While I read your entry, I reflected on my own childhood. I actually would like to discuss this with my mother because I do not recall a time of her dealing with this type of pressure. I do remember my friends trying the same scheming ideas with their parents, but looking back now as an adult I think maybe my mother said yes too many times. I guess she had child peer pressure. Nonetheless, it may reveal to be an interesting conversation.
-Jessica Taylor