My Family In The Movie Parent Hood

From the ages of 8- 14, I lived in a very volatile home. Coming home from school, I never knew if it was going to be a quiet day in my house or if the entire house would be engulfed in screaming. I dreaded the weekends, that meant that everyone was going to be home. Everyone home meant that things could easily go up to flames in just a millisecond. I tried my best to never be home, I would spend the days with my friends. I knew that when I got home there was a 90% chance of everyone fighting. One day in the summer of 2012, things got too heated, and my mom finally decided to move. We packed up everything in a few hours while my stepfather was at work. We moved into my best friend’s home for a few days until we found an apartment within the school district to move into.

My story isn't quite special really, although I have lived under some unique circumstances. My mother was a single parent raising my little sister and I until she married my Stepdad in 2007. I was five at the time and had no father figure until then. From that time on he became my dad. Our new family moved twice before living in a small city where we stayed for 6 years. This is where I made close friends, achieved academic excellence, went to church regularly, life was great or so I thought. What seemed to be our perfect life was turned upside down as hard times fell upon us. I was now the oldest of five younger siblings, my mom wasn't healthy, and my dad had to struggle to keep things going.

When I was a child, most of the stories or situations I have been through was, mostly, my dad hitting me and my parents fighting constantly; so pretty much I did not really grew up watching Barney, traveling to places, and going to Disneyland often. I thought I would have to live like this for the rest of my academic life, but one day around the age of eight, my dream came true. My parents had enough of each other, so they went their own ways; even though, I was glad that I do not have to life miserably anymore, I was not. I thought that everything would settle down and live a calm life with my mom, but as a result, I ended up raising my two siblings. My dad left the house, my mom was in her own world, and I had to watch my siblings. I thought my parents divorce would benefit me, but all it did was for me to not live as an eight-year-old would. I thought that my dream of going to a great university and becoming a Physician Assistant came crashing down. A couple weeks later, my dad came back and long-story short, my siblings and I had to go hang out with my dad for

Everything is perfectly fine, everything is great, then one day it all comes crashing down and shattered pieces are left. My life would never be the same but I guess change is for the best and it forced me to become the person I am today. It’s rough to be the oldest child, especially when your mom is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and you have 3 younger sisters that look to you for comfort when their mom can’t be there. When the cancer is spread throughout your moms body doctors can’t just get rid of it no matter how badly you wish they could. Rounds of chemotherapy only slow it down, yet it’s still there a lurking monster waiting to reappear at any given moment. Nothing can even begin to describe the fear I felt, and still have to deal

“Screaming, crying, perfect storm” as Taylor Swift once wrote, perfectly describes the state that my family has been for the past few years. As my mother was achieving her dream by moving to America, my dad was falling deeper and deeper into his mental complication and depression due to the sudden change of foreign culture exposure. Eventually, my parents decided to get the divorce my sister and I expected for quite some time. Considering our economic status, we could not afford the bill for two separate apartments; so heavy and unpleasant tensions between each other developed as my parents continued to live under the same roof. As time has passed, I have become more aware of the sacrifices my parents have made in order to raise my sister and

When I was growing up, my family was like many other families, happy. Starting at age 6, I noticed a change between my parents because they started to not get along as well as they did before. No longer were they smiling at each eachother in the way you would to someone you cared deeply about. No longer did they laugh together as though someone would if you could see the world through their eyes. I felt my life was crumbling to pieces at such a young age, and there was nothing I could do about

Defying the Nuclear Family: Shortly after my seventh birthday, my parents began having fights much more often than they previously had in the past. Less than half a year later on January 15, 2005 their divorce became finalized and my father moved out of the house. For the first few months while he searched for a home to buy, my nine year old sister and I lived solely with our mother. Soon after, we began going back and forth between our parents’ houses, living at one house for a week and then switching over to the other the next. The two houses could not have been any more polar in how they were run, at my mother’s house there were strict rules and expectations to be followed.

It seemed as if things were getting better, but they never really did. Finally, about five years after their marriage, my parents decided that they were sick of this life style and wanted to get away from it and all of the trouble it brings. We moved here shortly after. It was a good break from the outside influences surrounding us, but the alcohol and anger was still there. My mom started looking for a church that we can attend and finally found one that she loved. She started going Sunday's and eventually Wednesday's as well, taking us with her. She tried to get my dad to go, but he refused. Even so, things really were getting better and we started heading toward a better future for our whole family. The only obstacle was their

I on the other hand, was always the quiet girl who just got her work done and never strayed from the rules. I thought my brother was an imbecile before he left for college, always valuing trouble way more than diligence. When he left, I thought there was hope in the world. Like if my brother could do it, then I could too. When he came home, those expectations were shattered. There was constant fighting between Joseph and my parents. Arguments would echo throughout my household and create a thick tension that felt heavy in the air. Their voices would penetrate my room and bounce off the walls until they surrounded me. They would argue about basically anything. Joseph just had a constant itching to be right even when he was dead wrong. Our family slowly but surely became miserable with one another, like we were no longer family, but instead we were just people living in the same house. I dove deeply into reading and writing, hoping to drown out the sound of the obsessive combativeness that plagued my home. It triggered anxiety for me when he came home. I now have a deeply rooted fear

Our familial background started with my brother; he is the inspiration of my success and the reason I am daily pressured in my educational life. My brother passed through a difficult stage in life where his diagnosis with depression, social anxiety, and situational anxiety had a toll in our family because it was something we were completely unprepared for then. The worst decision he made was his self-diagnosis to drugs. He became a drug addict to cope with the pain of bullying at school because he was in ESOL and co-taught classes. This was a continuous downward fall for my family over the course of 6 years until it reached its breaking climax when my brother was 22. He stopped taking drugs, saw himself in the mirror, and was unable to recognize whom he was. The realization of not knowing himself overtook him to the point of wanting to commit suicide. My family came together to see what we could do make things better. At 14, I realized that I now had to be the backbone for my family. My parents’ discouragements shadowed me as to follow me with figures of pain. My role in my family changed as well. I was now the sole hope for my family to strive in a foreign country and make a name for ourselves

Between 2008 and 2009, not even a year apart, I lost my husband and my job. My emotions were all over the place, but I needed to keep it together for the sake of my children. At times, I felt that my family was insensitive because all I would hear is “you will be alright” or “you are strong” but I was not feeling strong at that moment. My family was use to me being the bread winner and being there for everyone. Who was going to be there for me? I lost a lot of support from family and friends since I was unable to provide for them any longer. No one asked me if I needed anything, such as are bills paid, did I need anything or just how was I dealing with all this trauma in my life. I still needed to survive for my children and the few people that remained in my corner kept me encouraged; it did not include my family but my church family.

The money for the house, savings accounts, and money for the retirement was all gone. It was a hard time for family, going from being able to have anything at any time to going to not being able to buy anything at all. Although the money issue was the main problem it did not compare to what issues it created in my family: trust issues, depression, and a massive amount of stress. During this time my parents hardly spoke, so close to divorce, and it created annoyance in me. For a time, I was angry at everyone and everything to me nothing was fair, for I was envious of what others had: for what they could afford, vacations they could take, and mostly their family. Perfect happy families are what I saw, and I missed mine - I longed for my extended family: tias, tios, my grandparents, and my cousins. But with time I accepted our situations and I learned that happiness did not come from materialistic items, that glamourous items and others were distracting me from being content with myself. My family is doing well now slowing building relationships with one another once again, where we value trust, communication, and being humble with what we are blessed to

My brother and I had to remind ourselves that one day it will be better. I am now a wife and a parent to three children; I took my own childhood as an example of how I do not want my children’s childhood to be. What I have gone through during those years were a lifetime worth of experiences of I should do and should not do as a parent. Even though my parents fought with each other most the time and they do not agreed on a lot of things during my childhood, they were still there to take care of us physically. They did not neglected us in any way; emotionally they were not helping. Parents should be there physically and emotionally to support their children. If for any reason parents do not get a long or love each other the way couples should, then the best thing they can do for their children is to get a

I grew up in a household slightly different from the average household. This abnormal household showed me that no matter the family unit someone can have a positive influence in their life that will push them to achieve their goals. We lived in Maryland so the cost of living was high my parents had to work multiple jobs. This means my brother and I really had little to none parental or supervision growing up. I am only four years younger than my brother so I would hang with his crowd of friends rather than mine. In my household, my mother’s niece, Monet lived with us she is about ten years older than my brother. When my brother and I would wake up and I would be the only person in the house. I can remember waking up and smelling the freshly cooked waffles and bacon downstairs. Monet was my mother’s brother, daughter. Monet became so close to my brother Avery and I she was almost as if she was our sister. I can remember growing up and she would always say, “You don't have to take the route I took, its many more exits on the highway.” Even though I was young I was not blind to the fact of Monet role in the community and her neighborhood job I never judged her, she did what she had to do to make ends meet. It was an experience every day, or anytime being with Monet. She was so popular around Maryland it was almost like everywhere we went we received respect love. Now that I look back at the past, I see that Monet has taught me a lot that I know and live by today. I could

Devastated, I ran to my room gushing my eyes out. All these emotions going through my head of how my life would be without my parents in the same room or even house. From what I remember it all started about mid-June, the weeks before that were crucial. My parents would always argue over how to deal with a situation between me and my brother, Skyler. They hardly spoke to one another, but when they did they would just start bickering. I remember, one night after dinner they both went into ''their'' room with the door locked yelling at one another. Skyler and I didn’t know what to do, so we went downstairs and tried to figure out what was going to happen. With a scared tone I asked if mom and dad were going to get a divorce?" He answered back '' No, they love each other, they wouldn’t do that to us." That following night, was a school night everything was quiet except for my crying. I couldn’t sleep; all I was thinking about how it's going to affect my family.