Perfection and Purity There is a critical issue that countless families in America face far too often in their lives. It spans back generations and affects members of the household as young as toddlers. Fathers and mothers often cannot agree on the definite answer to this problem, and the conflict has a profound impact on the children, who soon take their own stand on the issue. The issue is this: when making a sandwich, should it be cut into triangles; a superior, sleek, and perfect design that's easy to handle, or should it be cut into rectangles? The answer to this question has sparked many a heated debate, and there are some who have simply given up trying to find the best solution; they are content with whatever shape their sandwich arrives in. But these people will never understand …show more content…
Triangles are superior. They are the second most perfect shape; right after circles which are not practical for most sandwich purposes. They have three angles and three sides, and three happens to be the number of completion and purity in many religious and secular texts. The holy trinity, Third time’s the charm, etc. And in Latin, the phrase “Omne Trium Perfectum” means that every set of three is perfect and complete. Why would you settle for anything less than perfection when it comes to the things you put in your body? Some of the best things to put in your body are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and other classics like ham-and-cheese, as they are the perfect embodiment of childhood joy and freedom. Eating them as adults allows us to remember the simpler things in life, which helps us in our journey to become perfect and good human beings. These sandwiches alone are not enough however, for us to truly enjoy their effect. They must be combined with the triangle shape. They must be cut into triangles, at least two but as many as necessary; and they must never be allowed to be cut into any other
Author Harriette Pipes McDoo addresses how family values are influenced by racism in her book, Black Families. She expounds that the challenges faced by African American families have given them the ability to strengthen their core family values through overcoming racially fueled injustices (McDoo 69-71). Factors like racism, poverty, and the fight for equal rights are all factors which vary across the nation within each household affecting individual family value systems. Along with the challenges of adversity, each passing generation inside of American culture have emphasized less and less on multigenerational relationships with families moving and growing into new families to new locations. This rift in the familial structure stems from the evolution of the traditional family combined with the self-motivated desire to succeed
In the works of Alistair MacLeod, Alden Nowlan, and Aaron Smith, each author establishes that the difficulty within parent-child relationships is a result of the differences between adult and child mentalities. Due to vast life experience, the parental figures in all three texts possess fixed, personal notions of what is morally correct, which clashes with the growth mindset of the children and incites miscommunication in the relationship.
In Annette Lareau’s study and subsequent book Unequal Childhoods, she examined the lives of twelve children of different social classes. In particular, she focused on parenting styles within their households and their effects on the children’s future and found a direct correlation. Two of the children from her study were Alexander Williams and Tyrec Taylor, both African-American nine-year-old boys.
One thing that almost everybody will have to deal with at least once in their lifetime is parenting. In parenting, both parents are needed to make the job easier on themselves, their marriage and their child. In the essay The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was. by Hope Edelman, Edelman tells her experience with co-parenting. Edelman, along with many women, initially believed that co-parenting was possible. She soon figured out, however, that it was not a realistic goal. Some points that Edelman hits in the essay are the gender roles and societal expectations in parenting, being the nurturer versus being the provider, and how poor communication can ruin
Families are organized with fathers as the figures in control and the mothers are subordinate to them. Mothers, however, take compete charge of the children, and so from a child’s point of view, mothers appear to be authority figures as well. Children are obligated to respect and obey these authoritative figures. (p. 103)
The role of the family has changed in America, in which, the authority of the parent does not have much influence in the child’s future. Tocqueville note that the father has lost most of his authority from the child, "which formerly separated a father from his sons has been lessened and that paternal authority, if not destroyed, is at least impaired” (Tocqueville 219). For example, young men are able to make their own decisions based on their priorities and
Women and men are nestled into predetermined cultural molds when it comes to gender in American society. Women play the roles of mothers, housekeepers, and servants to their husbands and children, and men act as providers, protectors, and heads of the household. These gender roles stem from the many culture myths that exist pertaining to America, including those of the model family, education, liberty, and of gender. The majority of these myths are misconceptions, but linger because we, as Americans, do not analyze or question them. The misconception of gender suggests that biological truths no longer dictate our gender roles as men and women; they derive from cultural myths. We, as a nation, need
Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbirth are transforming the lives of American children. In the postwar generation more than 80 percent of children grew up in a family with two biological parents who were married to each other. By 1980 only 50 percent could expect to spend their entire childhood in an intact
In the last two decades divorce has increased substantially leaving couples single and families broken. Divorce is the reality for many families as there is an increase in divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families. Divorce cannot be overlooked as it negatively affects and impacts youngsters for the rest of their lives. Although it is the decision between two parents’s children are hurt the most in the process. The concept of divorce is extremely difficult for children to understand as there are many unanswered questions and uncertainties. “Will my mom or dad remarry and who will I live with?” are concerns children express while going through divorce. Many
In present-day society, families go through several problems and arguments regarding numerous issues which would have been considered unacceptable in past times. Throughout a variety of different cultures, the level of respect and obedience for one’s parents has diminished while the negotiation of conformity and rebellion has risen. This statement is supported and evidential in two different stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although these stories represent different cultures, they both exemplify the values and importance of family relations; as well as demonstrate in every culture families face social problems. In both these stories, two major topics stood out which allowed me to compare each one to one
Were all preoccupied with our bodies , and dissatisfied with our looks, that most of us are willing to try anything in order to obtain that perfect figure. The standards that are set are unbelievably high, as they’re unrealistic for what the ‘normal’ body figure should be.
Throughout history a one-parent household has been deemed as a nontraditional family, but in today’s society it seems more and more common with every day. Although the reason and causes vary, each year the number of children raised by a single parent increases. Most people don’t seem to realize how much this can change a child’s future. The impact of childhood experiences simply set the disposition of adulthood and the rest of their lives. There is not one sole factor that affects child development, but one very important one is the role and relationship created with one’s parents. How a child is parented and raised leaves a lasting impression on them, commonly for a
In the United States today more than one-half of all marriages end in divorce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reason why women have typically received custody of the children far more often than the fathers. In order to better understand child custody one must first examine how fathers have often times been left out of the picture, and conversely why mothers have had such hard times raising children on their own. This paper will first examine the perspective of a father who has lost custody of his children.
Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1
There are several parenting styles which guide children throughout their life. These parenting styles can be either good or bad and this will have an effect on the child; either a positive or a negative one. This essay investigates the parenting styles from which emerge questions about the role of the mother and the father. It also focuses on the ways that either too much mothering or too much fathering might have an effect on the child’s identity later on in its life.