Thank you for contributing! Please elaborate on your topic so we get a sense of what you really mean.Do you believe that most parents truly love their children, but do not fully understand them (their thoughts, moods, feelings, etc.)?
Do you think they mean well, but because they don’t understand, they sometimes end up saying or doing the wrong thing?
Can there be serious consequences?
Relate the ideas you explore to Romeo and Juliet.
10 comments:
Most parents truly love their children because they chose to have children and have an adequate environment in which to raise them in. Other parents, sadly, may not love their children.
Parents have been through the teenage years, so they do understand how we might be feeling and what we want. Because they have matured considerably, they want to help us through everything they've experienced, when the typical teenager wants nothing of the sort. Some teenagers are close to their parents and their parents understand them because the kids are willing to open up and share their feelings and thoughts with them.
Parents always want what's best for their children and have the best of intentions. As I said before, if the child shares their thoughts with their parents, then their parents will be able to help them more and understand the situation/consequences. Parents who don't know about their child's life, tend to say or do the wrong thing, when in fact, they have no clue that they did or said the wrong thing.
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's relationship to her mother is very distant and she hasn't told her anything about Romeo. This I understand, because of the Capulet's hatred of the Montague family. When Lady Capulet is making decisions about Juliet's future, she tries her best to act in Juliet's best interest, but because of the lack of communication may decide on the wrong thing. Similarly, in Romeo's family there is a lack of communication between Lord and Lady Montague and Romeo. In Act 1, when Romeo is sad for Rosaline, we see the lack of communication when he is avoiding his family and parents while being depressed about Rosaline.
As a child gets older, their minds and morals change. Teenagers become more belligerent and obstinant (unruly). Since Juliet and her mother were already distant, they have not had any arguments. Nurse and Juliet have since begun arguing.
In medieval times, parents usually scheduled arranged marriages with people of equal or higher status. In Romeo and Juliet, even though Romeo and Juliet are of equal status, their families are enemies. Juliet's parents want her to marry Paris, one of relation to nobility. Although her parents want her to be happy, they also want their family to have even higher social status.
So while her parents want her to be happy, they would probably not stand for a relationship with the Montagues.
I believe that most parents do love their children because they created them and the child is made of their flesh and blood. I do agree with Arianna, however, when she says that some parents do not love their children.
I don't think that parents don't understand their child's feelings and emotions because, although it may be hard to believe, they were once our age. I do believe though that children don't understand their parents thoughts, feelings, or emotions because they haven't had that experience. Children always blame their parents for not understanding when in truth we are the ones being unreasonable.
Example: Lets say that a boy wants to go to his friend's party, but there will be no parental supervision at the party. Well, when the parent says no to the boy, the boy gets angry and accuses his parents for "not understanding" or "being overprotective" when really the parent is doing the right thing.
I believe all kids in life go through a phase called "teenager dumb". Teenager dumb is when a child goes from being innocent, to being almost oblivious to the world's surroundings and their actions in the world.
In Romeo and Juliet, when they secretly get married without their parents permission, I believe this is a rash decision. They think that if they told their parents, they would get punished, so instead, like most teens, they sneek off and do it anyway. However, what they don't understand is that a good parent wouldn't care if Juliet was in love with a Montague because as long as they are in love it shouldn't matter who with.
-Melanie de Arakal
I believe most parents truly love their children, but some, sadly, do not. Most parents, as Ariana mentioned, chose to have their children because they believe they are fit to raise children. Sadly, some people just have children to get money from the government and probably don't care about them on a personal level. Other's might accidentaly have kids, not saying that they always will not love their child if he/she is a accident, but it is a possiblity.
I also believe that parents usually do not understand their children. Although, they were teenagers once too, things are different now from when they were then.
I'm pretty sure parents do mean well, and they probably do the best they can with the knowledge that they have (TKAM reference! =]), but that might not be the best knowledge to use in certain situations.
There can be serious consequences. If the child misunderstands the parent or vice versa, the child might do something drastic.
I agree with Melanie on the "teenage dumb" idea. Also, to add on to that, when they go to the oblivious phase, they insist that they are not oblivious, contrarily(is that a word? and I am aware that I am speaking as if I am not like that. I am and I know it =]), they know everything.
I agree with Ariana about Juliet's relationship with her mother.
~Alison Wexler
I believe that most parents truly love there children, but I agree with Ariana, Melaney, and Ally that some parents sadly do not.
I have to say that I agree with Melaney that when she says that we are the one's being unreasonable because we haven't had the experience to be a parent, so we don't know what they go through and what they have to experience. I also disagree because I think that parents don't understand there children either.
Melaney also said that parents where once children, so they do understand what their children go through, which I disagree with. Yes, parents were our age once, which means they got to experience it, but there is a difference.
The world changes, it becomes more modern, and people act differently and do things differently. For example, in Romeo and Juliet's time, marriage was arranged by the parents, and it was not based on love. Nowadays, although some religions do arrange marriage, the word marriage to most people means two people that chose each other because they want to spend the rest of their lives together because they love each other.
Just as the world changes, so do generations. Every generation of children is different. The way kids dress, the way kids treat each other, and how school was like has all changed over the years. So even though our parents have experienced being a child, they haven't experienced being a child in our generation.
This applies to Romeo and Juliet as well because both Romeo's and Juliet's parents have experienced arranged marriages, probably with someone socially ranked higher. Romeo and Juliet are experiencing marriage through choosing on their own, and being in love. This is an example of why parents can't understand their children.
AN: You say, "Parents always want what's best for their children and have the best of intentions." I see how this gets twisted -- the parents' desires are the ones that become the most important, regardless of what their kids want, or what they can do. I've seen kids who are put into honors courses when they aren't ready or interested, just because the parents have master's degrees and love school.
I know my parents loved me, but that doesn't mean they didn't mess me up sometimes becasue they just didn't understand who I was...and they didn't want to know (or didn't know how to get to know me).
Most parent s do love their children; but as that child grows older, their parents tend to try and interpret their child's complicated feelings in the wrong way, leading a discussion to worst ends. This leaves the teanager frustrated and misunderstood. They feel they can only go to their friends to deal with simple issues that just turned worst, buit wont to keep them from feeling bad for he/she.It leaves us in a dark position with no idea what to do or say, for fearing the possible outcome. This tears at the parent-child relationship one string at a time until their maybe nothing left, sadly.
Ms. Topping I agree with how the parent's desires become more important. An example would be in what career a child chooses to have or which college they desire to go to. Most parents will only accept their children having a 4.0 (and more) all throughout high school and want them to attend a really great school, when the child might want to go to an arts school. Most of the problems between parents and child result of a lack of wanting to understand and communication. Everything can't be perfect in a parent-child relationship. It just isn't going to happen.
-Ariana Naaseh
Most parents truely love their children but do not fully understand them. They believe because they were once children that they are experts on everything a child may go through. This is not true. Things are different now than they were when they were children. A misunderstanding can cause serious problems. A parent might get angry at a kid at the wrong time causeing the child to have deep sadness or feelings that they want to runaway. In Romeo and Juliet the parents of Juliet don't understand that Juliet loves Romeo so they try and force her to marry Paris. This causes the death of both Romeo and Juliet.
-Emma Kaye
Most parents truly love their children. They try to give them the best environment and life that they can give them. Some parents will sacrifice their lives to care for their children.
But sometimes parents have a difficult time with teenagers. Parents tend to be invasive in a teens life which is a good thing but some teenagers dislike that. They try to shut out their parents from their life but this is a mistake. Parents don't understand that teens need their space.
Parents do mean well. They are trying to set you up so you can be succesful when you go to the real world. They only want to see you succeed. Sometimes parents try to help you but teens see it in a different way.
They can be many consequences. Teens will try to shut out their parents which is a bad idea. They need their parents to help guide them so they can succeed in life. There can also be many serious consequences. If a parent pushes their child too hard, that could cause serious damage to the child.
In Romeo and Julie, Juliet's parents force her to marry Paris even though she is in love with Romeo. This causes serious consequences because she wants to kill herself.
-Hannah Gross
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