The Role of Parental Figures on Teenage Boy’s Life Choices:
The Other Wes Moore
Can two men with similar backgrounds grow up completely different? A philosopher once said “We are our choices”. Human beings make the choices that shapes and determine their fate and the person they become. How we make choices are influenced by our environment, education, societal expectation and most importantly our parental figure. In the book, The Other Wes Moore, author Wes Moore explored how two boys who grew up in similar neighborhoods and backgrounds had different turnouts in life. In fact, at first glance, the reader might be compelled to view these boys as the same, and wonder what caused their lives to end up so differently. The boys had one major difference …show more content…
Without the guidance of a strong parental figure, Wes was left to navigate things on his own, and he clearly was not mature enough to make the right choices. The other Wes has definitely failed to succeed and to reach any positive outcomes in his life. Other Wes was apparently driven by the negative models of behavior, which he learned from his peers and social environment. Children who are not exposed to positive moral values during childhood tend to end up on the wrong path. The other Wes only had his mother in his life and Mary lacked the parenting skills to keep her children on the straight and narrow road and relied on her own denial as a means to get her through the day. When other Wes’ interest in drugs escalated to that of drug dealer, Mary buried her head in the sand and ignores the situation. Choosing to ignore Wes’ drug dealing was an irresponsible choice on Mary’s part, because her silence essentially gave Wes the signal to continue. Immediate intervention of parents create opportunities for their children to learn from their mistakes and guide them from repeating mistakes. Personally, if Mary attempted to solve this problem by talking with Wes and finding out the truth about his job, she could have gotten to the root of Wes’ reasons for wanting the job, and come up with some alternatives. Instead, Mary waited until it is much too late, and at …show more content…
“With the support, motivation, and encouragement their parents provided, children were able to excel and perform exceptionally well in school, and have been able to envision a future that includes college (Robinson, 207).” In other words, parents who have hands-on involvement on their children, greatly impacts a child’s social, emotional and moral development and educational growth. Parents take responsibility to ensure that a child is given the tools and the support needed to compete in our ever-changing
The Other Wes Moore
Can two men with similar backgrounds grow up completely different? A philosopher once said “We are our choices”. Human beings make the choices that shapes and determine their fate and the person they become. How we make choices are influenced by our environment, education, societal expectation and most importantly our parental figure. In the book, The Other Wes Moore, author Wes Moore explored how two boys who grew up in similar neighborhoods and backgrounds had different turnouts in life. In fact, at first glance, the reader might be compelled to view these boys as the same, and wonder what caused their lives to end up so differently. The boys had one major difference …show more content…
Without the guidance of a strong parental figure, Wes was left to navigate things on his own, and he clearly was not mature enough to make the right choices. The other Wes has definitely failed to succeed and to reach any positive outcomes in his life. Other Wes was apparently driven by the negative models of behavior, which he learned from his peers and social environment. Children who are not exposed to positive moral values during childhood tend to end up on the wrong path. The other Wes only had his mother in his life and Mary lacked the parenting skills to keep her children on the straight and narrow road and relied on her own denial as a means to get her through the day. When other Wes’ interest in drugs escalated to that of drug dealer, Mary buried her head in the sand and ignores the situation. Choosing to ignore Wes’ drug dealing was an irresponsible choice on Mary’s part, because her silence essentially gave Wes the signal to continue. Immediate intervention of parents create opportunities for their children to learn from their mistakes and guide them from repeating mistakes. Personally, if Mary attempted to solve this problem by talking with Wes and finding out the truth about his job, she could have gotten to the root of Wes’ reasons for wanting the job, and come up with some alternatives. Instead, Mary waited until it is much too late, and at …show more content…
“With the support, motivation, and encouragement their parents provided, children were able to excel and perform exceptionally well in school, and have been able to envision a future that includes college (Robinson, 207).” In other words, parents who have hands-on involvement on their children, greatly impacts a child’s social, emotional and moral development and educational growth. Parents take responsibility to ensure that a child is given the tools and the support needed to compete in our ever-changing