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Essay on To Kill a Mockingbird: A Lesson on Parenting

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“No!” The child screamed. This one word comes out of the mouthes of young children all the time in contemporary society and it is directed towards their parents. When parents ask their children to do something, this is a common response. It is a usual response from children who think they have a right to challenge their parents’ authority. Children in the 1930s generally acted very differently towards their parents. A high degree of respect was expected from children by their elders. In modern society, this expected degree of respect has declined. Many theories exist to try to explain why the respect children give their parents is plummeting. This disrespect from children displays a great deterioration in civility in modern society. Since …show more content…

If the request is finally carried out, it is many times done under protest (Cowen). Insufficient amount of respect for authority is shown by them, compared to children in the 1930s. There are many theories and reasons why children now have a lack of respect for proper authority. One reason is that modern American parents have less time to properly discipline their children due to fathers' and mothers' extensive work schedules. They are generally rushed, so they will do whatever they can to have their children behave at the moment. These methods sometimes lead to poor decisions from the parents, such as giving in to the child’s demands to stop unwanted behaviors, such as tantrums (Cowen). Mass media may be another reason for this deterioration in authority. The media is everywhere, and it exerts great influence over today’s children. Children may choose to emulate certain characters from the media and think all of their actions are suitable. Frequently, these morals clash with those of the parents. The children may, consequently, look up to these icons in the media and use them, instead of their parents, as role models. In conservative American society, many of these actions are viewed as disrespectful. In the 1930s, mass media was much less extensive, thus its influence over children’s minds was much more limited. There are many additional speculations that can be explored to

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