There
are many controversial opinions on whether or not Rex Walls and Mary Walls were
fit parents. When this argument is
brought up, it can easily be determined that financially the Walls family was
unstable. However, even in these circumstances, three out of four of the
children grew up to be very successful and grew up with high moral values and
very intelligent. Mary Walls was only interested in her art but had very high
moral values. Rex Walls was a loving and intelligent dad but had a heavy
alcohol addiction. One thing that was obvious throughout the entire memoir is
that Jeanette never felt at one point that she was unloved because the Walls
were fine parents who loved their children. Furthermore, although many may feel
that the Walls children should have gone to foster care, yet if those children
had gone to foster care they would not have nearly turned as successful as they
did. Although foster care can be beneficial in some cases, it can also be very
damaging to a child’s early development, because often they have a feeling that
they were unloved by their birth parents. In the end, all that matters is
tender loving care. The best way to dive into this argument would be to look at
each parent individually and to really ponder whether that parent was a “fit
parent”.
When
we take a look at Rex Walls we notice many noble qualities such as intelligence
and optimism, but with these positive qualities we also have some negative
qualities like alcoholism. Rex Walls did what he thought was best for his
family and taught his children math and science, so much so that whenever they
were to enroll in schools they would be placed in the advanced brackets. Rex
was very smart but had dreams that never really quite worked out. He always
tried to find a way to support his family his way and not work under anyone,
which would explain why he would never be able to hold a job. He did also have
an alcoholic addiction which would really hurt the family financially and
emotionally. There were countless times where Rex came home drunk and began to
fight with Rose Mary or cause some other sort of problem. Although many don’t
see the ideal father being an alcoholic, Rex still managed to teach his
children and love them a lot:
“Dad kept telling me that he loved
me, that he never would have let me drown, but you can’t cling to the side your
whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is “if you
don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” What other reason, he
asked , would possible make him do this?”( 66).
I truly loved this passage because it is so
true. I think it’s important for parents to teach this to their children in
order to grow. This lesson teaches that we should learn how to do things on our
own and become more independent. Rex Walls was a fine father that had an
alcoholic addiction, but I could say without any doubt that he would do
anything in the world for his children especially Jeannette.
Next
we take a look at Rose Mary Walls, the mother of Jeannette Walls. Rose Mary had
very high morals in life and lived to try and be exactly the opposite of her
own mother. Rose Mary had a saying for pretty much everything and saw beauty
where most people wouldn’t. She was never wasteful and loved art so much that
she pretty much dedicated her life to it. The only issue I noticed throughout
the memoir is that she lacked a lot of responsibility. She worked as a teacher at
times throughout the memoir but always ended up quitting because she hated it.
Also, at the end of the novel, we find out that she had land that was worth a
million dollars but never went and sold the land even in desperate times. Rose
Mary believed that her land was precious because it was passed down from
family. Even with this lack of responsibility, she was a great mother because
she taught them high moral values and influenced Lori in becoming an artist.
“Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said.
“It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty ””( 38). I really
took this quote to heart because I kind of felt that it was meant to be
remembered throughout the memoir. It was almost like Rose Mary was directly telling
Jeannette that the struggles that she goes through now will make her beautiful
and strong in the future. I really think that Rose Mary had a deeper
understanding on why she did the things she did. The funny thing is that Rose
Mary’s lack of responsibility made her children responsible because they needed
to basically take care of themselves when money was tight. Rose Mary was a
fantastic mother that taught her children responsibility and high morals.
We
have seen many reasons as to why Rex and Mary Walls made good parents. It is
hard to determine what makes a good parent. We have had many discussions in
class about what makes a good parent and it is very different because quite
frankly there is no one right way to raise one’s child. One particular article
was a list of what is valued higher for parent and was from one to ten with
different requirements for parenting such as love and affection, etc.
Regardless of how a parent rates, what is more important for raising a child as
long as the parent works to be there for their child and love them I believe
they are doing something right. Parenting is quite difficult and has a lot of
controversy. In the article “Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids” by Lenore
Skenazy, who was both applauded and condemned. Skenazy allowed her fourth-grade
child to ride the subway alone. I loved this article and I believe that
children should be entrusted with more responsibilities and should be taught to
be more independent. Skenazy makes several valid points as to why allowing her
child to take the subway alone has be beneficial. One argument she makes is the
question of whether or not cities are safer of less safe than they used to be.
“Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence,” Skenazy wrote
on April 4 in the New York Sun.” (Skenazy pg 1) The child from this article
seems to be completely fine with the responsibilities of taking the subway
alone. I think that parents worry way too much about their children and need to
give their children some responsibilities so they become more independent. Our
generation is too coddled and is hurting our generation. Furthermore, the siblings from The Glass Castle have turned into
working members of society and have made a huge impact on the world. They were
doing a lot more than taking a subway alone and they turned out great.
Parenting
is hard to gauge what is considered fit and unfit, but I believe that the Walls
turned out the way they did because they lived in those conditions. We learn
that if you struggle now, then you gain a lot more in the future. I believe
that the events that took place in their life helped shape the Walls and make
them all the more responsible. Rex and Rose Mary Walls did fantastic jobs
raising their children and have done so with their own type of parenting.
Work Cited
·
Walls,
Jeanette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.
·
Epstein,
Robert. "What Makes a Good Parent?" Scientific American Mind 21.5
(2010): 46-51. Print.
·
Skenazy, Lenore.
“Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids” The Daily Beast (2008): Print.
