Ever since we were little babies our parents adored us, that’s just the way things work. Parents feel a deep connection to their offspring. But as their children we don’t feel exactly the same. If we’re brought up by a loving mum and dad we’re more likely to feel annoyed by them and take that love for granted. Whereas on the other hand if we’re brought up without love from a parent, we’re more likely to want it and see what it feels like. The phrase ‘if I love you more, will you love me less’ comes to mind. It’s kind of something you have to read twice before you really understand it. It seems to me that the more your parents love you the more you will accept that as being normal. You may become ignorant to the reality of how lucky you are because a lot of teens wouldn’t feel that same love. I can’t say that the child will love their parents less, but I can say we become very much used to it and don’t show our love back to our parents.
In my English class we’re reading a novel called ‘A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove’, which focuses hugely on the topic of parents and family. It’s basically about a boy named Carl whose mother takes no responsibility for her children and regularly wanders from home for days, leaving Carl, his younger brother and older sister to run a household on their own. After their mother disappears the two boys are sent to their extremely unwelcoming aunt’s for a supposed ‘holiday.’ Carl is forced to get a job by his aunt to pay her for his and his brother’s living expenses. Throughout the book he learns what a parent really is and realises he is missing that in his life. He fights for his and his brother’s rights to have a loving parent who cares for them.
Although Carl is a fictional character I feel so compassionate towards him, I think every child has the right to have a parent or guardian who loves them and treats them with great value. This story is probably a reality for a lot of teens in Australia. If a parent becomes depressed or starts taking drugs this would have a massive effect on their child, because the parent may not be capable of showing their love because they are not 100% themselves. Parents or guardians shouldn’t need to have conditions that the child must follow for them to be cared for, unconditional love is like an unwritten rule of parenting. Children shouldn’t be made to grow up before they need to.
Next time you’re negative towards your parents take a step back and remember Carl’s story and consider yourself extremely lucky if you have a mum or dad or both that feed you, give you a roof over your head and most importantly love you no matter what.
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