Essay (119)

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

One night after my 14 yr old daughter returned home from the movies she went to with her friends, she was upset because one of her friend’s father scolded her. My initial reation was, “who dares to yell at my daughter?” Then I stopped and asked why he had scolded her. Admittedly, it does bother me a little to have other parents or adults discipline my children. But, how else can my children learn how to behave in public when I’m not there? Stephanie Coontz states, that in the past, children wre raised to not only respect their family’s values, but also to share the community’s values. Most adults feel that unsupervised, misbehaving children are none of their buisness. Also because of the fear of prosecution, parents are worried about disciplining their own children much less someone else’s.Although most parents do not want other parents and/or aadults disciplining their children, infact. The discipling of the children by the community aswell as parents is necessary to raise children into responciable adults. Therefore, the newest partnting rule that states, no correcting other people’s kids has to be confronted. The negitive, inappropriate social behaviors of unsupervised youth and the youth related crimes will be resolved with a community helping in raising children.

Contrary to popular belief, the community correcting unsupervised children is not dangerous, but the community’s help will lead to better social behavior from children. The response from UrbanBabky.com of a “Big No” on the question of is it ever ok to discipline someone else’s child is unfortunetly practiced among adults todaay. The language and bad behaviors of unsupervised children at malls or on the streets goes unanswered by adults all of the time. For instance, a passing parent with a child will cover the child’s ears and/or eyes from the bad language and behavior, but will not say anything to the misbehaving child or group of children. All the parent does is hope his/her child does not behave so disrespectful. Also the obnoxious, inappropriate language and behavior is carried into schools by the children, along with the parents attitudes of not wanting other adults or influential people, such as teacher, correcting or discipling thier children. The assumption from parents that parents can raise thier kids to behave in all social situations without help from the community is unrealistic. I cherish the help I recieve from family, friends, teachers, and the community. The extra set of eyes and ears from the community will help raise my children into responciable adults.

Equally important, the unsupervised children being appropriatly corrected by the community that they live in will lower youth related crimes. Communities across America have adopted neighborhood watch programs to help protect the communities’ family and property. How is watching out for and appropitly discipling children in a community any different? The ignorant and racial statement from the boy (in the artica) about Chinese is concidered crinimal Also, the current problems of gangs, drug use and violence are more apparent in youth culture of today than in my childhood. These problems would be solved if the community would correct and educate these at risk children. The ability to contact the parents of “at risk” children would be easier and more effective if the community was involved more in correcting misbehaving, unsupervised youth. For instance, the night my daughter was scolded by her friend’s father, her acitons could have led into something criminal. The reason the father scolded my daughter was because he heard my daughter wispering to his daughter about “flashing” (my daugher is only 14) a young man that was staring at them (the girls) walking to the car. The father was instantly enraged and warned the girls, more specifically my daughter, of dangers that such a lewd act could lead to, such as rape or worse. He also warned my daughter of the retribution if she was to ever put his daughter into a dangerous or illegal situation. I was glad to have help with raising my daughter that night. Therefore, if either of my children were to make such a hateful and racial statement as in the aritical, I want another adult to correct them, then call me. If my children get involved with gangs, drugs, or violence, I want the help from the community to call the authorities, correct them, and also to call me. Simply correcting the children by the communtiy will lead to lower youth related crime. To make communities and children safe the taboo of not correcting other people’s children needs to be squashed.

In closing, I was raised with the community correcting, discipllining and helping my parents raise me, and also the other children. The only side effects from the communities guidence were I grew up into a productive, respectful, and lawabiding citizen. Squash the taboo o not correcting other people’s children by asking the nex misbehaving, unsupervised child “Do your parents know how you act?” Or, flip open the cell phone and ask for his/her parent’s number Saying something to the children is a start.

Essay 119: 4+/5-.

The key words here are “fully and thoughtfully addresses the topic.” Although the writer has some minor problems with spelling, s/he uses a full range of example, analogy, analysis, and paraphrase from the prompt to explore the question at issue. The thesis and topic sentences are thoughtful, and the discussion within the body paragraphs shows that this writer has really considered what’s wrong with today’s youth and how we might rectify that problem.