Parental Responsibility For The Child example essay topic

Poor Parenting can cause poorly behaved children " Where The Wild Things Are' was first published in 1963 and is the first part of a trilogy of award - winning books by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. 'Where The Wild Things Are' is haunting and imaginative and describes how a young child, called Max, creates a fictitious fantasy world in order to deal with the terrifying reality of anger. Poor parenting is a lack of parenting techniques and skills in relation to the responsibilities and obligations, which need to be fulfilled in order to accomplish prominent problems within the family relationship. Poor parenting is most likely to come from an absence of cooperation from both child and parent, satisfying both needs and wants so that they both reach common ground. Depending on the age of the child, a lack of parenting techniques and skills affects a child differently psychologically, mentally, physically, socially and emotionally.

However, it is manipulated by the events happening outside the home environment, which can include a divorce or war. The role of the parent in a child's life is very influential and possible outcomes of inadequate parenting techniques and skills can result in the child becoming poorly behaved. This is represented in the children's picture book, ' Where The Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak. While Max battles for authority, his mother demonstrates many parenting techniques, which have led to severe consequences in relation to his poor behaviour. Bad behaviour influences a child's long-term growth as a human being and stunts their journey from child to mature adult. Children develop a sense of acceptable behaviour based on the methods employed by their parents.

Negative behaviour comes as a result of the child feeling insecure, becoming aggressive, angry, antisocial, demanding, dependant, undisciplined and also developing a hateful desire to 'get back at the world. ' These bad behaviour al aspects are outcomes reached as the parent has reacted to become over-controlling with orders, reminders of poor behaviour and warnings. With the parent being the unquestioned boss, it is common for the child with an authoritarian in the household to feel irritable, and get angry and temperamental quite quickly. As a result of being given orders and constant reminders on their behaviour it is no wonder why some children experience behaviour al problems and why many parents seek help in order to constrain their child and try to straighten them out. As Max interprets the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the picture book 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak, it is clearly evident that the ways in which he and his mother are portrayed influence the depiction of characters by the implied reader. Max's mother is represented in the text as the authoritarian.

She has the dominating position in the family and is likely to be the family decision maker. In the 1960's, women were the housekeepers and wives and were the sole minder of the children as the father was a workingman who supplied the bread and water. It should come as no surprise to the implied reader that Max's mother was therefore the dominant authoritarian as her main job was to care for the children. Max is represented as an adventurous but monstrous 6 to 8 year old child with destructive behaviour. He is wearing a wolf suit as a disguise; it symbolizes a sense of development and privacy. Max's behaviour is represented in the monster picture he drew.

It suggests the adventure he is about to enter is not something that is new. He could have been thinking of a fantasy world, far away from the reality of his anger at his mother, and that he has a history of destructive behaviour. Max's poor behaviour and characteristics are influenced by his mother's parenting skills and techniques. In a time of great development and growth in this phase of his childhood, Max's social development characteristics included defying his mother - which is evident at the start of the book when he was sent to bed but instead embarked on an adventurous journey. Max also doesn't have a definite of right and wrong and it is clear from the development of Max and his character in the children's book that he would have had a clearer idea of right and wrong if his mother had enhanced her duties to accommodate for his poor behaviour. This misrepresentation influences Max's overall behaviour and personality traits, if his mother had better parenting skills she may have been able to avoid such a situation and prepare him for the many obstacles he would face as he went through the process of maturity.

The ' wild things ' are represented as friendly and kindly creatures that are almost human. It is clear that Max is fed up with them when he arrives at the place where the wild things are. This is a result of a role reversal. Max is now the authoritarian rather than his mother and the wild things are now the cowering 'child. ' It is evident in the illustrations and text that Max is the person with the power as the monsters are cowering with their claws over their heads.

The illustrations reinforce the fact that Max is boss, especially when he is crowned King of all wild things. The wild things are praising him as he has courage and bravery that they do not, which is not stereotypical as monsters are usually considered frightening creatures. If Max's mother had not acted as an authoritarian so often, Max would not have employed her ideas of solving conflict and would have been able to show different qualities without making commands and reminders. If Max had been bought up to be aware of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and his mother had helped to define the concept of right from wrong without Max having to figure it all out for himself, then Max may not have had to resort to living the fantasy of a dream world where he could escape the anger in reality and for once have the authority rather than being the one who is controlled. It is important to examine the happenings of the time of publishing in order to be able to effectively deconstruct and appreciate the text. Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928.

He was the youngest out of three children and his family was Jewish. They immigrated to America from Poland before World War 1 and lost many of their relatives to the Holocaust during World War 2. His father was a unique storyteller, and so Sendak grew up enjoying and appreciating books. While he was still at high school, he became an illustrator for the All - American Comics and as a result, he became known for his illustrations quite early in life. The creation of Maurice Sendak's 'Where The Wild Things Are' in 1963 impacted the views and beliefs circulating society around that era relating to appropriate literature for children. Sendak not only landscaped a completely new way of writing and illustrating for children, he broke through the relatively unperturbed surface of post-war American children's literature.

In 1963 the USA's focus was on the Vietnam War so you can just imagine the type of wartime hero children's books written for children during this era. The literature of this time was based on what was really happening and it wasn't until Sendak started writing and illustrating for children that this soon changed. Sendak's inventions created the forefront of an era where children's book's transformed so that they were highly inventive. 'Where The Wild Things Are' won both acclaim and controversy from the general public. There seemed to be two points of view; some people thought that Sendak's stories were to dark and disturbing for children to read, however, the majority of people believed he had pioneered and entirely new way of writing and illustrating. However, since he published his first book in 1951, Sendak has illustrated and written and illustrated over 90 books.

He received many awards including the Caldecott Medal for 'Where The Wild Things Are' and the Hans Christian Andersen International Medal in 1970, and was also a recipient for the American Book Award in 1982 for 'Outside There. ' He also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contributions to children's literature and received the National Medal of Arts from the President of the United States. Through this lifetime achievement in illustrating and writing children's book, it should come as no surprise that Sendak's works are still widely appreciated by all ages. The alternative reading of the text is used to examine how various aspects of society and its culture in a particular time and place can shape and impact on how the text is produced. Around the time of publishing 'Where The Wild Things Are,' in 1963, there were several events that were happening to Australia and the USA. In Australia, there was a large boom in the divorce industry.

More and more Australians were filing for divorce. From the 1960's until 1975, married Australians were only allowed to divorce if they had special circumstances. These special circumstances included if your spouse was abusing you or if your spouse was cheating on you. These circumstances favoured women more than men, as it was more common for a woman to be cheated on and abused rather than a man. In Australia, several new laws were passed to satisfy the changes occurring in society. These included the The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1959 (Cth) was primarily a 'divorce act.

' It included and set out the proceedings for the custody, property and maintenance of children, but was only secondary to divorce proceedings. This Act of parliament was enacted and commenced operation as of February 1st, 1961. There was also the Marriage Act of 1961 (Cth), which commenced operation on September 1st, 1963. The Family Law Act of 1975 (Cth) allowed separate proceedings for all forms of ancillary relief. Basically it was based on an application of the marriage power in addition to the divorce power. Part VII of this act in traduced a new approach to family law based on the concept of children's rights and parental responsibility.

This was set up to create greater depth in the meanings of children's rights and parental responsibility and what it involves. The demanding growth of failing marriages was starting to concern the Australian government. The government carved a way to help the individual States deal with this growth, as Gerald Carter explains: 'before 1959, each of the states (of Australia) had its own separate divorce laws. The Matrimonial Causes Act and the Marriage Act created a uniform family law for all Australians although the State Supreme Courts administered it. A Federal Court of Australia was created by the Family Law Act (1975) and came into operation in 1976.

' This not only helped the States to perform marriage terminations quicker but it allowed those involved to deal with their problems faster and decrease the stress levels for the family's it affected indirectly and directly. In America during the 1960's there was a lot of conflict involving sending troops and peacekeepers to Vietnam. One of the major concerns of the American government was to prevent a new Cold War or World War that would terrorize the world. The world at this point in time was still trying to track down those involved in the Holocaust, or moreover, any one who had taken part in World War 1 and 2 that had committed crimes against humanity. For most American's the shock of finally hearing of what happened in the death and concentration camps was absolute torture as some of them reflect back on family members who were Jewish, gypsies, homosexuals, disabled or those who did not fit into Hitler's new Aryan Race. The effects of war and divorce are portrayed in the children's picture book 'Where The Wild Things Are.

' Typically, in the case of war being portrayed in the novel, Max's father could have been sent to Vietnam and as a result Max's mother was now the dominant bread winner and disciplinarian. His mother's parenting techniques were most likely still developing and this can be used to support the thesis, poor parenting can cause poorly behaved children. Max would have known that his mother might have been having difficulties adjusting to her new role of power in the household, so Max was likely to take advantage of this. In the case of a divorce, it would be most likely that Max's mother was participating in a divorce proceeding. Max could have been living with his soon-to-be step- father and would have had trouble adjusting with the new source of power in the household.

In the 1960's children were allowed to determine who they wanted to live with, this also could be affecting Max's behaviour and his mother knew she would not be able 'help' Max to decide. As a result, there would have been a lack of communication and cooperation which combined, produce the doctrine of poor parenting. Young people are often resorting to a fantasy world to get away from problems that they have experienced in the family relationship. In the picture book, Max is a 6 to 8 year old child who chooses to create a fantasy world as a way to deal with the reality of anger.

Most young people nowadays are resorting to a fantasy world to get away from crime and drugs. Everyday reports of youth crimes are increasing in society. Education Queensland has tried to regulate poor behaviour by students and it would be beneficial if parents adapted some of their techniques. Education Queensland regulated bad behaviour by rewarding 'positive behaviour' and then employing 'consequences for negative behaviour. ' If parents of children adopt this tactic, behaviour al patterns in children could be controlled more easily and parents would find it simpler to regulate their child's behaviour. Steve Ryan from the Queensland teacher's union commented on the way parents become lax when their children keep breaking rules: 'If you are trying to teach on a daily basis and the child keeps re-offending and re-offending there's a limit to the fresh starts you can give the child.

' If parents decrease the amount of fresh starts they give their child, the child will realize that, by breaking rules, they aren't going to get away with bad behaviour. ' While it is not accurate to blame parents, bad behaviour was often a spill-over from children being bored and frustrated at home. ' Quite possibly, parents could make it part of their responsibility as caregivers to occupy the child so that the child will not rely on a fantasy world to get away from boredom and frustration, but from problems in the youth crime, drugs and the strain on family relationships. In order be a successful parent, adults have to meet parental obligations and legal responsibilities. In English law, the interests of the child are considered most important compared to marriage and divorce proceedings. This is reflected in the legal expression of the parent-child relationship in terms of 'parental responsibility' for the child.

Parental Responsibility is defined in Section 61 B of the Family Law Act of 1975. It was adapted to mean all the duties of a parent, their powers, responsibilities and authority, in relation to their child. Hence, such a responsibility carries with it right, such as the right to discipline the child; the right to chose the appropriate education for the child to receive, and the religion of the child. However, the majority of the emphasis on 'parental responsibility' is the duty to bring up the child, in a manner both parents see fit. Parental responsibility is not affected by any changes in the relationship between the child's parents. For example, if the parents separate, divorce, marry or remarry, they both still obtain parental responsibility for the child.

Section 60 B of the Family Law Act, part VII ensures that the child receives adequate and proper parenting to help them achieve their full potential. It also ensures that the parents fulfil their duties, and meet all their responsibilities concerning the care, welfare and development of their child. Parental responsibility is only as restricted as society is by law. Basic aspects of parental responsibility include feeding and clothing the child, as well as providing a roof over the child's head. A parent also has an obligation to protect the child from harm and to not neglect the child. Recently, laws have been passed to protect a child from misconduct; especially from any assault that they may be exposed to.

For example, the indecent treatment of a child under the age of 16, which appears in the Criminal Code Act of Queensland under section 210. It is the parent's responsibility therefore, to protect their child from any from of harm and neglect. If they do not meet this obligation, they will not be meeting the legal responsibilities expected of them as parents. In the children's book 'Where The Wild Things Are,' the only parent in the household is the mother. It has already been established that she is the authoritarian and dominant breadwinner of the house and can use this position to discipline her child Max. In this case, Max's mother acts without consulting the father.

Both parents have a right to decide on the day to day running of the child's life and it is evident in the text that Max's mother is the only one making these decisions. This is an obligation and legal responsibility, which has not been fulfilled. Also, an obligation of both parents is on how they discipline their child. It is not fair to provoke the child and not expect them to react. In this case, the mother should have known better, and if she and the father had bought Max up with appropriate techniques in disciplining and rewarding, it would be highly likely that Max would not be behaving in the manner in which he is portrayed in the picture book.

A violation of the family law, under section 60 B part VII, it is against the family law to deprive the child of proper and adequate parenting. As there has already been violations of other family law in relation to joint responsibility between both parents, proper and adequate parenting would be almost impossible without a third party decision. As there is always conflict between the parenting techniques and skills of both parents, in decisions of disciplining for example, both parents should express their points of view and come to a compromise. Any violation of parental responsibility is not only violating the duty of care of the parent, but can cause the child to behave badly. As a result, Max's behaviour in the picture book should come as a surprise. A lack of parenting skills and techniques causes a lack of cooperation from both child and parent.

Without the key to successful parenting, it is difficult to satisfy both needs and wants of child and parent so that it is impossible to reach common ground. It is important to realise that it is impossible to maintain a relationship within the family if communication is not as good as what it was and it should be expected then, that a lack of cooperation can cause problems. If a parent does not fulfil the obligations and legal responsibilities then it would be clear that poor parenting does cause poorly behaved children.

Bibliography

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o Carter, G.B. (1995) Australian Legal System, Blackstone Press, NSW.
o Hennessy, C. (2004) "Violence and drugs top school woes", The Gold Coast Bulletin, 25 Mar.
PG 3. o Kirshenbaum, M. & Foster, C. (2001), Parent-Teen Breakthrough - The Relationship Approach, Penguin Books, Australia.
o Monahan, G. (1999), Family Law, LBC Nutshell, Sydney.
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o (1994) "Relationships Within The Family", Mental Help, URL: web (2004) "The Artistry and Influence of Maurice Sendak", Children's Books URL: web.