...The Walls Parenting Paradigm The parenting paradigm most prevalent associated to Rex and Rosemary Walls in The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is a permissive parenting style which involves a variation of low maturity levels, expectations, and self-control; but provides a sense of self sufficiency and regulation. The Walls give their children an extreme sense of self-sufficiency and regulation on the basis of learning by trails and ultimately growing (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”). During the first part of the book, you can see the lack supervision of the parents, “But at that moment, I was wearing the dress to cook hot dogs… I could hear mom in the next room singing…” (9). Though this may seem neglectful, it portrays a trust in...
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...Parenting Styles The Glass Castle was written by Jeanette Walls and tells the story about her life as a child. Throughout the story, the Walls family easily exemplifies a permissive parenting style through the interactions, lessons, and conversations that Rex and Rosemary have with their children. Permissive parents are, “Often taking on the status of a friend more than a parent” (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”). One example of this from the Walls family is the time that, “Mom started yelling at Lori to prove to Miss Beatty that she was capable of disciplining her students” (75). Beating her child to impress someone else is not a motherly action. The interaction was more similar to a friend trying to help another friend by...
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...Walls Parenting Style Rex and Rosemary Walls are permissive parents to their four children in Jeanette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, “These parents rarely discipline their children” (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”). Lori pulls a gun on Billy when he threatens Jeanette and shoots at them with a BB gun. “Lori wasn’t as good of a shot as me, but she pointed the gun in Billy’s general direction and pulled the trigger.” (88). The after math of this event did not lead into Lori being punished for what she did after Jeanette tells Rex it was self-defense, instead the family moves in the middle of the night. The parents are more of a friend status to their children (Cherry). When asked and sober Rex plays and spends time with his kids. “My...
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...In “The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls, Rex and Rosemary Walls have a permissive relationship with their children, although they provide their children with the “basic needs” (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”). They are irresponsible parents and show “little communication” (Cherry) and in some cases are more supportive when they should be more cautious or stern with their children. Rosemary Walls is being an uninvolved mother by not monitoring Jeanette while she is cooking hot dogs instead she lets Jeanette make them herself and it leads to a bad conclusion. In the memoir “The Glass Castle” Jeanette says, “Then flames leaped up reaching my face” (9). If Rosemary was helping Jeanette cook the hot dogs she more than likely would have...
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...The tightness of our parents grip on us as we grow up under their wing can reflect the way we function for the rest of our lives. As many will say "strict parents make sneaky kids" and kids who have uninvolved parents, are often found lost and hopelessly searching for love. In The Glass Castle, Rex Walls and Rose Mary, the parents of four bright and innocent children are often faced with struggles that many are not used to everyday. Constantly on the skedaddle; the hardships of being dirt poor and unsupervised, the Walls children develops an independent mindset and rely on each other to survive. The Glass Castle clearly portrays that the parenting of Rex Walls and Rose Mary is unconventional through Jeannette Wall's evoked sympathy and anger...
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...Regarding the Walls Family Children Every child deserves a warm and caring family. These days, many children are left in abused and neglected families that affect their life afterwards. I believe it is the duty of Child Protective Services to give children the best environment in which to succeed and grow, to evaluate the situation and develop plan for the family while their parents demonstrate that they love their children, their shortcomings as parents outweigh their good intentions. In Jeannette Wall’s memoir The Glass Castle, she talks about her childhood and life, her parents Rex and Mary Walls, her two sisters, Lori and Maureen, and her brother Brian. According to her memoir, Walls family is very different from others families. They are free spirited; moving from town to town, experiencing exciting adventures, using different approaches of teaching their kids, while looking for help from others despite their rough life. The Walls family presents a difficult challenge to me, as the family dynamic is such that a case can be made both for and against the removal of the children from the parents' custody, but Rex and Rose Mary Walls have subjected their children to a host of questionable situations as they have moved about the country in a transitory lifestyle that I cannot consider permissible for the development of healthy children. As an agent of CPS I cannot in good conscience recommend that Lori, Jeanette, Brian, and Maureen Walls remain in the custody of their parents...
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...Jeannette decided to name her book The Glass Castle because of her unconventional childhood growing up. The title “Glass Castle” metaphorically symbolises her life of poverty and dysfunction growing up with her parents and their constantly changing lifestyle. This title reflects the fragile relationships she had with her family members which, if not handled properly; could have demolished her family much like a rock being thrown through a glass house at any given moment. The most memorable moment about her story is, even though her parents were negligent, irresponsible and careless; they still managed to raise responsible and independent adults. The Walls children learned how to depend on each other for everything because Rose Mary was a self-absorbed, negligent mother who only cared about her herself and her interests and Rex was an alcoholic father who only cared about his kids when he was sober. Although both parents neglected their children, they both genuinely loved them, just not all the time. Jeannette grew up happy despite the day to day issues living in poverty. Rex and Rose Mary’s neglect for their children’s basic safety needs are mainly present in Jeannette’s childhood. When Jeannette was three, she badly burned herself when she was cooking hotdogs by...
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...Alexis Duch INS/H1500 Glass Castle Analysis September 27,2012 Jeanette Walls opens her memoir with a scene in which she is three years old cooking hot dogs by herself and her dress catches on fire which escalates to her torso. She yells for her mother to help her and the neighbor takes her to the hospital where she gets to sleep in a clean bed and eat real meals for a few weeks. When she is almost healed but not completely, her Father comes and checks her out “Rex Walls style”. The incidents regarding Jeannette's burns and recovery, and Dad's decision to pick up and move the family, provide greater insight into both her parents and their philosophy toward parenting. To begin, these sections reveal more of Mom's attitude toward life and parenting through her treatment of Jeannette: First, Jeannette is given great independence even though she is only three years old; Mom's logic for this is that Jeannette is mature. Later, Mom commands her to stop crying about the family cat her father throws out of the vehicle, instructing her not to be sentimental. These moments show that does not hover over her children or worry about their physical and emotional well-being. Instead, she is confident in their strength as individuals to deal with whatever happens. Dad shares a similar attitude toward parenting and life, as shown through his scorpion story and his idea of the "skedaddle." The story of Lori's scorpion sting and treatment by a Native American healer shows that Dad eschews...
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...Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, showcases different types of parenting styles from her parents, Rex and Rose Mary. Rex most commonly displays Authoritarian parenting, or a type of parenting in which the parent is demanding, unresponsive to their children’s needs, and gives no choices to their children. Rose Mary, on the other hand, is more Neglectful in her parenting, parenting which is described by one who does not provide safe spaces and does not care for child’s needs. Throughout the memoir, Jeannette demonstrates that her personality has developed through nature rather than nurture, influenced by the parenting styles of Authoritarian and Neglectful. From the start, Jeanette’s father, Rex, displays his commanding, Authoritarian nature: “‘I didn’t propose to you,’ Dad said. ‘I told you I was going to marry you’” (27). Marriage is typically seen as a...
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...Rex Walls’ and Rose Mary’s Questionable Parenting Being married and having kids doesn't make good parents. Good parenting usually comes from a united and loving marriage. In the memoir The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls struggles through life but still makes it through tough times. Rex and Rose Mary Walls are not great parents because they put there own needs in front of the needs of their children and are inadequate role models. Rex Walls and Rose Mary buy unnecessary artifacts not needed in their time of need, therefore putting themselves in front the kids. Rose Mary and Rex Walls were thinking about buying their kids beds shortly after moving, but Jeannette’s “Mom decided that what we really needed was a piano.” (Walls 52) This kind of parenting is terrible because the piano wasn’t needed in this case, the kids needed a bed. Therefore they put their own needs and things that they want in front of the things that their children need....
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...After reading the first fifty pages of The Glass Castle, there have been many times where I felt skeptical about Jeannette’s parents and the way they raise their children. With issues like injury, moving, and family conflicts, her parents have reacted in ways that many of us may find different compared to our lifestyles today. Although I did disagree with their lifestyle, I was also able to connect to a few of the situations that Jeannette dealt with. In our initial reading, Jeanette mentioned how she was shooting her father’s gun at the age of four. Jeanette specifically said, This shocked me because four is such a young age and most kids even my age today are not allowed to shoot a gun. Her parents seem to trust her and feel that she will make safe decisions while using the gun. Many may question this parenting style because a gun is a very dangerous weapon, especially to be in the hands of a young child....
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...Rose Mary and Rex Wall’s free-spirited way of life regularly caused tension in their everyday lives, and more importantly in their relationships with their children. While reading The Glass Castle it’s clear that the pairs parenting leaves a lot to be desired. They both seem to refuse to see how their addiction to an adventurous lifestyle may impede their children. Despite their faults, the two do manage to impart some meaningful lessons to their children along the way. But the lessons they teach are typically undermined by the harmful way they are taught. One of the many examples of Rex and Rose Mary’s harmful way of teaching lessons plays out in the house Grandma Smith leaves Rose Mary. For a while things seem to be going well for the family despite their odd and even occasionally dangerous neighbors. But eventually, Rose Mary and Rex’s parenting choices ended up costing their children yet again. The two’s stubborn refusal to close the front and back door, along with the windows, so they could air out the house, has adverse consequences for at least two of the four children....
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...Children these days are being raised in a sheltered environment that Walt Disney would disapprove of. Walt Disney said that children should experience life; however children are being sheltered with a “no best friend policy” in schools and an “everyone's a winner” mentality. Unlike adults today, Rex and Rose Walls followed Disney’s policy with their children--Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen--but in the worst way possible. Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, is a memoir that describes the abuse that Walls and her siblings endured. The parents let their children experience life, but by putting them in harm’s way; such as, Jeannette Walls burning herself at three-years-old, Rex Walls taking Jeannette Walls to a bar, and letting Erma Walls molest Brian Walls....
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...Neglect or Abuse Throughout the book, The Glass Castle, Rex and Mary Walls showcased their unconventional parenting style. Jeannette Walls, the author of the book and a child of Rex and Mary, gave her opinion on her parents and showed what is was like to be a Walls child. Rex, an alcoholic, didn’t like answering to anyone and felt as though he was a great provider for his family. Mary didn’t want to do what was necessary for her family and had very selfish views of the world. The way that they parented was very neglectful, but it was not close to abuse. Rex and Mary didn’t provide for their children like they should’ve, but they taught their children important values and skills. Rex Walls was an alcoholic man that exaggerated many parts of his life to feel better about himself and impress his children. An example of this is...
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...people. For example, in the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette and her siblings grow up with neglectful parents. They were forced to live with little food and no money in a barely livable house. This experience is what motivated both her and her siblings to work hard and get out of that situation. Jeannette used her sister’s place in New York as a stepping stone on her path to a successful, fulfilling life, far from the one she was forced into as a kid. Although many people might bring up an example that demonstrates a time where Horace’s claim doesn’t work, such as Jeannette’s parents, we have all experienced times where it’s true. In the story The Glass Castle, the main character, Jeannette’s, parents live in old, rotted homes, eating out of the trash, and with little to no money. Jeannette’s parents faced adversity, but it was by their choice, they liked and accepted where they were. They faced daily challenges but never acknowledged the severity of it, and they forced these challenges upon their kids, who used it as motivation. Her parents are what force themselves and their own children into adverse situations. Jeanette’s lack of parenting caused her to develop responsibility and maturity at a young age. Her parents never grew up as people, while Jeanette used the obstacles created by her parents’ reckless behavior to develop characteristics that are ultimately what led her to achieving her dreams in life. The story of the Glass Castle is one of many examples of how adversity...
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