Childhood development is a process that every child goes through during its early years. During this process, children undergo genetic, psychological, and emotional changes that shape and develop them as they transition from children to adolescents. There are many internal and external factors that can affect a child’s growth and development. The correlation between a child’s environment and development can be seen in Heather O’Neill’s lullabies for little criminals. The main character, Baby, is a young girl that becomes a product of her environment. This is seen throughout the book as Baby loses her mother at a young age and is raised by her young father who is battling a drug addiction. The environment she is raised in paired with the poor
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People living in poor environments usually look to drugs for an escape from reality. Drug culture plays a very big part in Baby’s life because Jules is addicted to heroin. From a young age, Baby is introduced to drug use and its effects. This is very apparent at times in the book where Jules brings his friends to their apartment. Baby knows that her dad and her friends are high and part takes in conversation with them. “They made me laugh so much. I thought they were the coolest group of humans that ever lived” (O’Neill, pg.72). Baby associates the good times she has with her dad and his friends with drug use. The lack of a strong parental figure reinforces Baby’s correlation with drugs and happiness, as there is nobody to tell her she is …show more content…
Since Jules is the only parental figure that Baby has, she idolizes him and ends up following in his footsteps. Baby has no other alternatives to the life she lives. “I was very firm on the idea that I would become a drug addict too now. I didn’t care what drug I was going to be addicted too” (O’Neill, pg. 72). Jules is unable to understand that by letting baby grow up in this environment, she will adopt these actions and behaviors as normal and will continue to express them throughout her life.
Childhood development is the biological and emotional changes that a child goes through at its early stages. Many factors can affect childhood development. Heather O’Neill’s lullabies for little criminals explores the connection between a child’s environment and development through Baby’s poor decisions and life choices and how they originated from lack of guidance needed for growth and development. This is shown through the early death of Baby’s mother, her fathers drug addiction, and her father having to raise her at a young
People living in poor environments usually look to drugs for an escape from reality. Drug culture plays a very big part in Baby’s life because Jules is addicted to heroin. From a young age, Baby is introduced to drug use and its effects. This is very apparent at times in the book where Jules brings his friends to their apartment. Baby knows that her dad and her friends are high and part takes in conversation with them. “They made me laugh so much. I thought they were the coolest group of humans that ever lived” (O’Neill, pg.72). Baby associates the good times she has with her dad and his friends with drug use. The lack of a strong parental figure reinforces Baby’s correlation with drugs and happiness, as there is nobody to tell her she is …show more content…
Since Jules is the only parental figure that Baby has, she idolizes him and ends up following in his footsteps. Baby has no other alternatives to the life she lives. “I was very firm on the idea that I would become a drug addict too now. I didn’t care what drug I was going to be addicted too” (O’Neill, pg. 72). Jules is unable to understand that by letting baby grow up in this environment, she will adopt these actions and behaviors as normal and will continue to express them throughout her life.
Childhood development is the biological and emotional changes that a child goes through at its early stages. Many factors can affect childhood development. Heather O’Neill’s lullabies for little criminals explores the connection between a child’s environment and development through Baby’s poor decisions and life choices and how they originated from lack of guidance needed for growth and development. This is shown through the early death of Baby’s mother, her fathers drug addiction, and her father having to raise her at a young