The Glass Castle Parenting Style Analysis

Children need a safe and steady place to grow up in. Kids looked up to their parents and aspire to be just like them when they grow up. Rex and Rosemary Wall have different beliefs when it comes to taking care of their children. Although they seem to love each other, Rex and Rosemary, from The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, create chaos and instability in their home with their volatile relationship. Creating an unstable environment making it difficult for the entire family, it always made the children terrified when they fought because it usually ended up Rosemary getting injured physically or mentally, as time passed by Rex began to leave more frequently and not come back for days, making Rosemary and the children without money for food and just worried about Rex in general.

Throughout the glass castle both Walls parents portray several qualities that would put them into the category of being uninvolved parents. One example being when Jeannette is young and a stranger climbs into her bedroom window and touches her inappropriately. She says, “I asked Mom and Dad if we could close the doors and windows when we went to sleep. They wouldn’t consider it. We needed the fresh air,” (Walls 103). Even after their daughter is put in danger neither parents take precautions to insure it never happens again. According to the article, an uninvolved parenting trait could be low responsiveness which is shown in this part of the book through the Walls lack of concern. “One evening when Dad was away and we had nothing to eat and

Throughout the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls all psychological premises of parenting paradigms are shown but the most fitted paradigm would be the permissive parenting paradigm because Rosemary and Rex Walls acted more as friends than parents, left their kids to self-regulate, and did not require mature behavior. Permissive parenting includes that the parent “act more as a friend than a parent” (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”) and throughout The Glass Castle there is many evidence that indicates this. In one scene Jeanette is describing the relationship with her dad and neighboring children, “Kids from the Tracks came knocking at the door, and when I answered, they asked, ‘can your dad come out and play?’” (59). This is a prime example of permissive

Jeanette Walls, author and protagonist of The Glass Castle, writes about her experiences growing up in a somewhat dysfunctional family. Jeanette’s life story is a rollercoaster of emotions with all of the difficulties that are thrown at her. Her situations in life rooted from the lack of parental attention she was given. Even though her father had great potential due to his intelligence, his biggest desire was to drink away his life. Her mother, on the other hand, did not even want the opportunity to showcase her parenting style because, in her opinion, it was just a distraction from the more important things in her life. I believe that an appropriate quote to summarize the message of the novel is “‘Things usually work out in the end.’‘What if they don’t?’‘That just means you haven't come to the end yet’” (Walls 259). This quote accurately explains Jeanette’s point of view throughout the novel and how she needs the reassurance that life will not only go on but will get better.

Each and every parent has their own style of parenting. Each parenting style is based on certain beliefs and conventions that are used to teach children to become increasingly self-sufficient as they age. The novel “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, explores the unusual ways that Rex and Rose Mary Walls’ raise their children. Generally, parents will attempt to keep their children out of harm’s way by any means necessary, although, in “The Glass Castle,” this is not the case. Rex and Rose Mary Walls' unconventional, relaxed style of parenting teaches their children Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen to be self-sufficient at a young age.

Any responsible parent that truly cares for their child(ren) and has their best interest at heart would do anything to make sure their child(ren) are safe. However, Rose Mary and Rex Walls, Walls’ parents, appear to not have the same ideology as they allow their children to be victims of sexual assault several times. For example, Grandma Erma begins to sexually assault Walls’ brother Brian Walls, while their parents are out of town. The children try to explain the story to their parents, consequently making the parents angry. While scolding the children, Rex and Walls break out into a little argument:

A few times in the book she would be inappropriately touched, or beaten up, and her father would do nothing to avenge or just protect his daughter. Brian came to her side a couple times and defended her against bullies, but Rex would never be empathetic. She had a little brother, but what she needed, was a preventive father. When Rex came home drunk most of the nights, he was violent and rude to his children. To try and make a difference for the whole family, and to get them to believe in Dad again, her birthday present she wished for was for her father to stop drinking. He lasted a couple months, but the disappointment and betrayal she felt of her father was immense and “...she couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze” (Walls 123). She was the last to believe in him and with the overwhelming dishonesty and deception, at last, she had finally lost faith in her Dad.

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

The Walls exhibit very particular parenting styles in the Glass Castle. More than anything else their parenting style is authoritarian. The Walls family do not have many rules but the few rules they do are up for debate within the family. Rex and Rosemary have very high expectations for how their children act. They expect their children to act against the grain from modern society, they don’t care about what people think. They’re drifters and expect their kids to go with the flow and reject things that go against their way of living. One might assume while reading the Glass Castle that Rex and Rosemary’s parenting style would be uninvolved but when Jeanette and Brian burned down that shed, Rex explained to them that there’s a place in a

Parenting is not one of the easiest jobs in the world to have; you either are responsible enough to parent or you're not responsible enough.You have to be able to raise a child from birth and teach he/she all the necessary tools to succeed in life. As said in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Work, “Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood” (245). All parents will raise their children in different ways, whether they are very strict or they’re lenient, others can be easy going and strict depending on the situation and the way they group up will shape them into who they become as adults as shown in The Glass Castle with Jeannette Walls and her parents.

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, demonstrates a certain type of parenting that may be uncommon. The Walls parents have a different type of parenting style. They want their kids to learn from their own mistakes, teaching them right from wrong. The certain parenting style that relates to them would be permissive parents. Permissive parenting, have few demands to make of their children. These parents rarely discipline their children because they have relatively low expectations of maturity and self-control (Cherry, The Four Styles of Parenting). The kids had to learn to fend for themselves on their own because their parents weren’t going to hand it to them. “None of us kids got allowances. When we wanted money, we walked along

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls the most exemplified parenting style shown by Rex and Rose Mary is Permissive Parenting. The Walls parents have few demands, they don’t discipline their children, and they interact with the kids as if they were friends.

This trend continued in Welch where not much changed for the family other than their continually deteriorating conditions. The kids had started at a new school and were having trouble assimilating, Jeannette in particular was having trouble with a group of african american kids who would beat her up every recess because of her apparent differences. However because of her past experiences with bullying she did not want to tell her parents because she thought they would “... only make things worse” (Walls 141). Jeannette is afraid of what her parents would do if she spoke out about her bullying, their neglect had made the children believe that they were better off getting beat up than ask for assistance from their parents which was probably in most cases. This further cements the idea that her fears and bullying are rooted in the neglect of Rosemary and Rex. Jeanette's problems continued to grow. Once Rex took Jeannette on his business trip, and in between games when he was hustling Robbie she danced with him. Then, not wanting to upset anyone she said nothing when Robbie groped her. All the while Rex neglected to intervene and later Robbie took her upstairs and tried to force himself on her, eventually deciding she wasn't good enough. When Jeanette told Rex about what happened, hoping he would set Robbie straight, all he did was tell her, “‘I’m sure he just pawed you some,’ Dad said as we pulled out of the parking lot. ‘I knew you could handle yourself’” (Walls 213). Rex completely neglected her the whole night, not even lifting an eyebrow when Robbie took his daughter upstairs, and because of his neglect in the past she was almost too afraid to say anything. Rex is lazy and neglectful, so in most cases he wouldn't have done anything. In this case he only said something.

Many psychologists throughout history have indulged in studies related to parenting behavior and how children are affected from such behavior. The work of Diana Baumrind, which is considered to be one of the most influential and well-studied theories of parenting behavior, was the first to identify three styles of parenting (Sclafani 44). These styles of parenting are called authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. This paper will further explain descriptions of these styles and the typical behaviors of children as a result of each style. This paper will also provide insight on the parenting style I was raised on along with my thoughts on types of discipline I might use in the

Authoritarian is only one of three parenting styles that Baumrind details. The other two styles include authoritative and permissive. These two variations in parenting styles were seen in the way my relatives and friends’ parents approached parenting. I observed how the parents of my close friend handled parenting. They maintained control over aspects in my friend’s life like school and chores but allowed the freedom to make decisions in areas of social activities. The most striking difference between my parents and my friend’s is the use of reasoning and the expression of warmth. Her parents provided justification behind their commands and or punishments while maintaining a sense of love and affection. The bond and love that is evident between my friend and her parents is not as strong in the relationship between my parents and me. The style that her parents exhibit is known as authoritative because of their focus on some parental control, use of reasoning and warmth. While on the other hand, my cousins raised their children in a completely different manor using a permissive parenting style. While they provide obvious love and affection towards their children, they fail to exert control and regulations. They did not have any real sense of rules in their household. Their children tend to act and do whatever they wanted with little to no repercussions.