Stereotypical Family Relationships
When I was young, my father was my hero. I remember the smell of his cologne in the mornings as he wrapped me in my pink jacket and held my small pink hand in his as he walked me to preschool. The late night smells of pipe tobacco that lingered in the living room just before bed, always made me fall asleep in the arms of safety. I also recall my first day with the Nancy Green Racers, a local ski club. I cried silently underneath my goggles all the way up the lift because the man sitting beside me, for the first time in my life, was not the smiling face of my father. Somehow, over the years I’ve spent growing up, I’ve also grown farther from my father. Whether it was his inability to understand the adolescent pressures of being feminine, or my inability to accept his attempts at understanding, the end result today is a void, a gaping hole between us. Relationships between parents and children are difficult things. They vary between one family and the next. They also change with attitudes, choices, and especially during the turmoil surrounding the child’s transition to adulthood. The stereotypical views of the relationship between parent and child are greatly altered in Western society by the media and our societal values.
We see families as units that are indestructible, constantly supportive, and held together by a bond that cannot change or be broken. This perfect image is not widely supported in reality. Breakdowns between families, particularly between parents and children, are a common occurrence in today’s hostile world. Although stereotypical views of these perfect family relationships may seem accurate, they evade reality more often then not. Particularly when focusing on the relationship between parent and child at the time of adolescence. Gender socialization inflicted upon young adults by our society is not the only difference between girls and boys growing up. As David G. Myers mentions, “Differences between the sexes arise, genetically, from their differing sex chromosomes and, physiologically, from their differing concentrations of sex hormones” (Myers 126). These undisputable facts also play a role in the distance that is most prominent during adolescence. As the body’s hormones begin to shape the young adult into an adult, they also begin to impact the social construct that one perceives in the world. “What biology initiates, culture accentuates” (Myers 127). The gap between parent child relationships that evolves during adolescence is not only a product of our culture and society; this gap is an evolutionary tool that works itself on the body and mind to complete the process of the child gaining independence from his or her parents. As the onset of puberty commences around the age of ten to fourteen for the average child, it is easy to comprehend the positive correlation between the beginning of puberty and the emotional gap that suddenly takes shape between parent and child. The hormones that are suddenly surging through the body in larger amounts cause changes not only physically, but also mentally. It is common to see emotional outbursts, periods of detachment, and a preference for solitude displayed by the child at this stage. Often a breakdown of communication will occur between the parent and child and violent verbal fights become frequent. As mentioned previously, the child will also begin to rely heavily on peers for direction and information about the way to behave in the world. Emphasis is taken from the parent as a primary agent of socialization and put on peer groups at this stage of life. This adjustment in perception plays a role in the loss control that occurs, which more often then not leads to further trouble in the relationship. Though biology and psychology play a significant role in the parent-child split during adolescence, there are other f
Some topics in this essay:
Statistics Canada,
David Myers,
Somehow I’ve,
Seventh Edition,
Stanley Hall,
Knorr Schell,
,
Green Racers,
Alice Munro,
parent child,
relationship parent child,
primary agent socialization,
stereotypical views,
primary agent,
world gender,
societal values,
family ties,
parents children,
relationship parent,
period adolescence,
short period,
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Approximate Word count = 1761
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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