| Cesarina |
Cesarina Cordero
ESL 91
Spring 2002
Prof. Tara Weiss
The Role of the Family in a Child’s Life
The family is the prime treasure that we have in our childhood. The family supports us as children and takes care of all our needs. The family is the primary group that plays an important role in society. When the family have good communication among one another, they can solve all their problems more easily because they are stronger. The family must be united so they can realize their desires. For many centuries, the family has been shown as a principal element in the child’s life. Without a family, it is impossible for the children to have a normal life and develop their abilities as social individuals.
The family enables the child to identify where they belong. It instills in the child knowledge, tradition and culture that is passed on from generation to generation. The family introduces the child to these values because it is important for the family and the child to learn these values. When the child is born into an organized family, they will have an organized life. They will grow up as strong adults and be more secure of themselves and be able to share, interact and communicate in society.
The prime elements of a good family are communication and protection. Communication is an indispensable issue where the family and the child try to understand one another and resolve their differences and problems together. According to the article "Agents of Socialization" on (P. 120) of the book "Interdisciplinary English" by Loretta F. Kasper
"The family also determines the child’s initial social status and identity in terms of race, religion, social class and gender. The family has primary importance in shaping a child’s attitudes and behavior because it provides the context in which the first and most long-lasting intimate social relationships are formed."
Protection and a sense of security, is the support that the family gives to the child. It helps them to have a safe life without danger. This includes being kept away from alcohol, smoking and drugs. These problems occur when the children are becoming teenagers. They want to taste other experiences in their lives. They begin to go out with other friends of the same age to parties and meet other people that could be involved in these bad habits.
The family must compromise to provide their children a better quality of life in education, clothes and nutrition. It is an important factor in the child’s life when they are growing up. Family is a dimension in the child’s life where their parents teach them an intimate relationship. They learn culture transmission in language and behavior.
Love has a great place in the child’s life because between children and family, emotions are shared, feelings are expressed and they spend time together. When the child has love in their home they have a positive mind. They will share the same love with their children when they become parents one day.
When the child is separated early from their families they have problems in expressing their emotions with other individuals. They are confused and their minds are frustrated because they have to suffer so much. They have pain in their hearts. Sometimes it is very difficult for children who have been separated from their family not to feel hate for them or want to share their lives with them.
In my own experience, I was separated from my family when I was one year old. I had many difficult moments in my childhood. Being hungry, having no clothes, physical violence and indifference were just some of the difficulties I had when I was younger. Many times I had to work as a slave without anything to eat all day. In the Dominican culture, we usually would have a new dress for Christmas time. I felt very sad when I had worked the whole year and didn’t have a dress or a pair of shoes. Sometimes I washed the same dress every day, and had to wait for it to get dry to wear it again because I didn’t have any other dresses.
I also suffered physical violence because my mother’s aunt and her sons, who were older than me, beat me for any simple mistake or whenever they wanted to. I didn’t know why they acted that way, maybe because they didn’t have a higher level of education or trust for children or simply because I wasn’t their child. I’m not trying to say that I was an angel, but I tried to obey them all the time because I was scared to be punished. They had no consideration, attention or respect for me as a child. Any mistake that I made, I was punished without contemplation.
There was too much indifference in my childhood. During the day I had to do all the housework, cooking and work on the farm as a hand in the field. I didn’t get any consideration for all the work I performed. The family with whom I grew up with also had children of their own. I think that this was the reason that they didn’t love me as a daughter. They had other children my age and older than me.
I worked through all the adversity in my childhood but I always had hope in my heart and knew that I would not take these same actions upon anyone else. I don’t feel any type of hate in my heart because I don’t recognize that feeling. Believe it or not, I keep in contact with these people. I don’t hate them either. I try to show them that the power of the human being is in their spirit, and it is strong enough to hold anything if there is faith in their hearts. I’m a survivor of life because I am strong and I believe in God.
The family can be a wonderful treasure in the child’s life because when the child has an organized and unified family the child will grow up to be strong adults. With the family, the child will fell secure because for the family the child is very significant, therefore, the parents will always try to give them all their love and education. The family wants the child to grow up with enough education as possible. This education should be given at the most important level in the child’s life because education will help them to socialize when they become adult.
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