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To Kill A Mockingbird: Parent Influence On Children Changes Society

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Parent Influences on Children Changes Society Many individuals do not realize that a child coming from an “intact married home” is 44 percent more likely to gain a college degree, 40 percent less likely to have a child before marriage, and will earn $4,000 more per year than a child that did not come from such a home. This all starts by how children are raised by their parents, and the opinions the parents have. One may argue the fact that they make their own decisions about something, such as racism, but as a matter of fact it is influenced by the surrounding people, mainly how they are raised. The idea of Racism dates all the way back to the 1800’s. Only after the Europeans established the New World, plantations were requiring enormous amounts …show more content…

This is significant because Scout looks up to Atticus. What people most often neglect to recognize is how children believe everything their parents say and take their advice as facts. In addition, Scout learns to make the same decision as Atticus to love everyone and every skin color as she grows up. Similarly, children generally never forget the lessons taught by their parents. For example, Scout had a bad day at school and when she came home in a bad mood she asked Atticus if she could stay at home and not return to school. Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird then replied, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (qtd. in Lee 85). Scout is not aware of the importance of Atticus' advice until she stands on the Radley’s porch at the very end of the novel. She starts seeing things from others perspectives and why Boo Radley has been hiding all of his life. Advisement to children is crucial because many times they believe and never forget …show more content…

Commonly, children look up to their mom and dad as role models and try to display their behavior. For instance, Kerby T. Alvy, founder and executive director of the Improvement of Child Caring writes, “Parents, in their own behavior - especially facial expressions and posture and body language - convey a lot that kids see. Other times, it can be more obvious, when parents actually talk about their biases out loud” (“How Do Parents” n. pag.). Parents behavior is very influential when they are raising a kid because they are always together. Likewise, children watch their parents every move through the good and the bad and try to model it. Typically, if a parent has a bias against African Americans they will influence their children to have the same opinion to avoid any conflict. On the other hand, sometimes parents do not realize how influential they are. An example was shown on CNN; about a five year old girl in Georgia, who is white. She was asked a series of questions regarding race. She started by looking at pictures of five identical cartoons, except their skin color ranged. But, when she was asked who the smarter child is, she pointed to a light-skinned doll. When asked who the meanest child is she pointed to a dark-skinned doll. She said a white child is good because "I think she looks like me", and said the

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