Parental Influence

Now throughout my life, being the oldest son, and brother I have always felt that I needed to set the example for the rest of my family. I’ve felt that I needed to be the pillar of strength to carry my family, my parents always made me believe that if I was strong then everyone else around me would benefit. Emotionally as a child I felt shut off from the world because I would be struck/scowled for crying, or even if I’d show the slightest bit of what my parent’s called “overconfidence”, which is basically any type of trying to feel good about my accomplishments in any form. But of course I was always expected to perform at the peak and be above everyone. For this type of upbringing I was “isolated” from the rest of my peers, emotionally detached, and felt as if I was an unwanted enigma. As it says in “Mirrorings” on page 729, “I felt that I was the only one walking about in the world who understood what was really important.”

Freshman year, I received an award for having the highest overall average in Biology. Receiving the medal led me to believe I could become a marine biologist. However, my father never seemed too interested in my education, or the award. My father never once asked to see a report card. I made excellent grades without the

As we grow and become aware of ourselves as being distinct from others, we start to look for approval and acceptance outside of ourselves. Our locus of evaluation shifts from being internal to becoming external. Children need positive regard from important others in their life in order to develop positive self regard. Our conceptual construction of ourselves and the world around us is made up of the experiences we have with important others, as well as the beliefs handed down through family and community. Often they impose on us conditions of worth, as for example parents who only acknowledge a child if he/she brings good grades from school. The child learns to connect its worth to successful test scores since this is what will gain the approval of parents. The more we have to strive to gain the approval of others the stronger these conditions of worth that have been imposed on us become and the more we become distrustful of our own organismic experiencing. Yet it is believed that this is counterproductive for the individual as Rogers believed that the organism will naturally move in the direction of growth and self actualization. He maintained that the greater the unconditional positive regard of parents and fewer conditions of worth a child grows up with the greater the psychological adjustment.

In these families, the roles of adult and child are clearly defined, in accordance to the accomplishment of natural growth rearing style. This stereotypical family very much described my mother’s household as her “mom was home 24/7 and [her] dad worked 24/7… [her] mom stayed home and raised six kids and [her] dad went to work to pay for six kids” (interview, Gina Maglish, 11/22/15). This also described my father’s household until his mother passed away; afterwards, at the age of ten, the roles of adult and child dissolved as he then had to raise himself by cooking his own food, doing his own laundry, and basically raising himself (interview, Glenn Maglish, 11/22/15). The combination of life experiences of my mother and father created blurred lines of adult and child when raising my sister and me. Growing up, it felt as though I was in limbo between being a child and a mini-adult; my father did not want me to miss out on the childhood he never had and wanted to ensure that I had a sense of direction and structure so I always knew I wouldn’t have to fend for myself like he did. Yet, at the same time, my mother tried treating me more as a mini-adult with the goal of instilling confidence by teaching me to

From my birth, I assumed the role of the underdog. Born to a mother who was only fifteen years old, and later raised by my mother and grandmother along with six other siblings in an impoverished inner city neighborhood without the benefit of a father or any other familial male influence in my life, I have always been cognizant of what the statistics predicted would be the likely outcome of my life. Yet somehow, at an early age, I relished the role of the underdog and used it as a means for motivating myself, my siblings, and even my own mother, to pursue those things that appeared to be beyond our reach from a social and economic perspective. Chief among the motivating factors in my life was the idea of obtaining an education. For as

It is widely known that the physical activity (PA) levels for children are not being met world wide. There are a myriad of activities and movements that children can participate to receive the recommended 60 minutes a day of PA. However, how do parents have an influence on the physical activity their children are receiving? Gwendolyn Kay VanDerworp and Sarah-Jane Ryan’s 2014 article “Parents’ Perception of their Influence on their Child’s Physical Activity” studies how parents perceive their influence on there children’s PA. During this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study, three major themes arose in how they perceived their influence on PA. These themes; environment of opportunity, negative barriers, and their interactions with their children, served as the foundation of the article. In this paper I will discuss the findings of VanDerworp and Ryan’s research and how parental influences effect children’s PA.

From an early age, I felt as if my parents were never there for me, and I had to raise myself. I used to have difficulty in interpreting whether my unconventional upbringing should be appreciated or dreaded, but ultimately it has benefitted me in ways I have just recently realized. Without the intensified emphasis on my self-reliant upbringing, I would not be the sophisticated and independent young adult I am today.

From the moment I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian, I knew UC Davis was the ideal school for me. If given a chance and selected off the waitlist I would enroll in a heartbeat considering UC Davis has always been my top choice for undergraduate studies. Not only is Davis in my home state of California, it is also one of the few universities that offers animal science as a major. It would be a dream come true to study at the best vet school in the Western United States. As a dedicated student, I am passionate about my goals and I know, without a doubt, that UC Davis is the best fit for me. In addition, I would work extremely hard to be worthy of a spot at my dream school, so I could have a better chance at pursuing my career in veterinary

As children, we have parents pressuring or not pressuring us into pursuing something. My parents pressured me into getting into a field that made money. So, I've always had the fact that I had to college to get a decent job and make a living in the back of my mind, so I tried hard to get good grades in high school. One of my friend’s parents told him that college is overrated and it will just put you in debt so he never tried in high school. And is going to work a blue collar job the rest of his life. We just accept what we are given and stick to it. There are some exceptions to that as we saw in The Truman Show. But for the most part this is true.

My parents have made decisions that have affected me and my brother. My dad is a very independent man. My father was born into a wealthy family, my grandpa being a doctor. I do not consider my dad to be a self-reliant person, the reason being is because he was negatively influenced by his peers growing up. My father dropped out of high school and began to work at the mere age of 16. Until this day my father is still working the same job and he absolutely hates it. He tells my brother and I to follow our dreams and pursue an education that he could have had. His life decision has influenced my brother and me in a positive way. My brother and I see his childhood as a path that we should avoid, we find his life story motivating because we want to pursue an education and be someone in this

As I entered my teen years, my father expected more out of me than just being a good student. Dad always seemed to have projects going on around the house, and I became his helper. It did not matter what the project was, he always seemed to need my help and I was not happy about that. I had better things to do than wasting a weekend working around the house. Somehow my dad knew how to do everything and felt it was his job to teach all of it to me. I was a teenager and had all of the knowledge I would ever need, so I thought. As it turned out, most of the skills I obtained helping my father led me to a rather lucrative career in manufacturing a few years later.

Genes that are sexual reproduction that have an evolutionary advantage in nature. This can be inheritance gene drive that can be in one individual and can be spread in the offsprings.

After all, my father is an inspiring person to me, he loves me for who I am and what I do, but he wants me to be a successful man in the future life. He is trying to use his knowledge to make my knowledge better and make it easier on me with school. What he does for me I respect it fully. The things he does for me, as in like loving, caring, and helping my feature, I respect it so much. My father always tells me that “If you stay on task, keep safe, and have fun on something you like or even love, keep on going for it and you will be able to accomplish anything and will be able to do and it will be able to help your future family, your family now, people who you love, and others that need you when they need you. Do what you want to and be happy of what you have and you might get

When I was growing up, I remember my family situation as extremely chaotic. I was one of eight children and my father and mother had little time to devote to me individually. Most of the time they spent trying to earn enough to support us with their meager resources. I was often called upon to act as a surrogate mother to my siblings. I felt I had little time to develop my own unique perspective and voice when I was very young. Even as a preschooler I remember doing chores to help out at home. However, this situation did foster some positive aspects of my character. I learned to be mature at an early age and gained a sense of competence because of my responsibilities. But I also was taught put the needs of others second to my own. I feel that I did not learn to value my own, legitimate desires to an adequate degree as a young girl and have only recently acquired a true sense of worth [THESIS].

In 1969 the Governor of California Ronald Reagan, signed the first “no fault” divorce bill (Wilcox). This allowed people to divorce their spouse with no actual reason of why divorce was necessary. After Reagan signed the bill almost every state followed his lead, causing a drastic increase in divorces across America (Wilcox). This means that “50% of all the children born to married parents today, will experience the divorce of their parents before they are 18 years old”(Children). Parents often decide to go through with a divorce because of their own unhappiness. That in fact beyond most peoples belief is a wise decision. No child should be raised in an unhappy home, and living with two people who no longer