Quinn

Are Parents Real People?

 

        Parents can often be looked upon by their kids as being over protective, overly cautious about the decisions that their children make. Day in and day out they seem like robots doing the same things over and over.  Parents can also be looked upon as being on the opposing “team” from their children.  In the story “The Sentimentality of William Tavener” by Willa Cather, at the end of the story the father, William,  decides to let his boys go to the circus after all.  Hester, the mother, hands the boys money but tells them not to waste it and that their father works hard for his money.  The boys then felt that they had lost their powerful “ally,” their mother, to their father’s “team.”  Parents are very human.  They make mistakes.  But does this mean that parents aren’ t real people?  Parents are just like any other person that you would meet.  There should be no reason to think that parents aren’t “real.”  They laugh, they cry, they can be funny, serious and God knows what else!  I think the assumption that parents are “unreal” is very untrue.  If you were to look at William Tavener’s wife and the kind of parent that she was, she would show that she’s very careful and protective of her children.  However, she also shows that she allows her kids to do the things that they need to do and gives them choices.  She shows that she is a good mother and a “real” understanding person. 

            Many parents may have had the same kind of personality traits when they were teenagers that their sons or daughters have.  Maybe some parents even act immaturely like their own son or daughter.  In the story “Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight” by Robert Cormier, Mike’s father had girlfriends and buddies in high school just like every other teenager.  How does that make parents real people?  Regardless of age, people share many experiences and characteristics.  By having experienced being teenagers themselves, parents understand what teens have to go through and how they must deal with their parents. 

            The idea that parents aren’t real people was probably created by a child or a teenager.  At that point in life, at least from what I am experiencing, we often take our parents for granted because we are too busy trying to make friends, or find a boyfriend or girlfriend, or be better than our brother or sister, and we don’t take the time to listen to our parents and hear what they have to say.  In Robert Cormier’s story, “Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight,” Mike said that he did not know his father was 45 years old.  I think that he must not have spent much time with his dad or not have taken the time to just talk with him once in a while.  He must have been totally focused on his own life like most teenagers.  Maybe the question should actually be “Are Teens Real People?”  Parents seem “unreal” because teens have not experienced the reality of parenthood or adulthood.  We don’t understand our parents because we don’t take the time to think about how hard our parents have to work sometimes in order to keep our lives running smoothly.  Our parents have already experienced adolescence and they know what we are going through.  But teens may not understand this and look at their parents as being boring and repetitive when it comes to the daily grind.  This is probably why the idea that parents aren’t “real” exists.  In Willa Cather’s “The Sentimentality of William Tavener,”  Hester refers back to her childhood when she was a little girl in Pewtown, and wanting to go to the circus very badly.  She said that her father ended up taking her and Hester explained that she may not have forgiven her father if he hadn’t taken her.  She must have realized that parents don’t always have to be predictable and overly cautious but can actually be fun sometimes, making them seem more “real”.

            I often hate that I have to ask permission from my parents to go somewhere or to do something.  I hate it even more when my parents will not let me do the things that I want to do.  I feel that my parents have this irritating power over me.  That makes my parents seem less “real” and more like robots.  Much like in Willa Cather’s “The Sentimentality Of William Tavener,” the boys had to wait for their parents to okay their request to go to the circus.  The boys in that story and all other teens hate that.  That’s what life is like with parents and as irritating as that may be to teens, as long as parents love their children, they are as real as a real can be.