Blog #2

Question: How should adults in 2012 "parent" their children? Lend your opinion on how this should be done. Think about the approach your parents/guardians have taken in raising you. Consider the parenting you've seen of others in your peer group (how your extended family parents your cousins, or how your friends parents deal with your friends), and finally, think about the parent you might want to be someday. How would you go about raising your children? What nonstandard would you hold them to (if any), what rules would you impose (if any)?

Parenting in today's society is much different from parenting in the past. In past times, parents would just let their kids roam free in the neighborhood and not care where they were as long as they were home for dinner. The worst thing they could do was get in a fight, which was sometimes considered a commendable thing, as long as you child won. And now today, with technology being as advanced as it is, parents have so much more to worry about than before. Some things they still have to worry about, and then there are some new things that they have to worry about. One of my parents biggest policy is being honest. My dad says "No matter what you do, I will always believe you. Until you break my trust, your word is the word I go by". I take that very seriously. And I plan on installing that into my parenting when I become a parent. Trust is. in my opinion, is the most important part of any relationship whether it be friend to friend, parent to child, or whoever. Trust is one policy of mine that cannot be broken or changed. Another thing I am a firm believer in as well as my parents, is the importance of always standing up for yourself and for your family. People will take advantage of you if you appear weak or do not stick up for yourself. No, you shouldn't walk around picking fights with people and doing so to prove that you are "tough". That's not being tough. It doesn't even have to involve fighting. Just being able to use your words to let a person know that what they are doing will not be tolerated by you is a skill and a nessesity that every parent should teach their children. Although I love my parents very much and I believe that everything they do is because they love me and that they want the best for me, I do not always agree with the decisions they make. I believe that sometime they make me do things around the house just to keep me busy, which I always do without complaint  Also, sometimes I believe that my brother and I are treated unfairly, whether it be in my favor or not. So since this bothers me, among other things they do, I know that when I am a parent, I will change some things when parenting my children. But a majority will be the lessons and values my parents taught me.

Blog #1

Q: To help understand race-relations in America today, it's important to look back on our past/history. We've been doing that with our reading of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's story of the South of the 30's, along with our viewing the PBS documentary, Freedom Riders, that dealt with the 60's. But this all took place decades ago. How would you sum up race-relations in America today, and more specifically, what is your own personal experience with it? What do you see are some of the more important issues, ideas, controversies at the heart of race-relations in America today?

I believe that race relations are improving from where they were back in the thirties and when race differences first presented itself in the United States. I think more people are becoming more accepting and open minded about the ideas that were seen as completely unacceptable and frowned upon in previous society. For example, interracial marriages were completely unacceptable in the past and now large parts of society today have interracial marriages. A lot of my very close friends and some of my family members ever are considered to be "mixed". In the past, the idea of a white man or woman having a child with a black man or woman was not even a thought, whereas today it is more common and is seen a lot more as years go on. Even though things are improving from the past, there are still stereotypes and prejudices and beliefs that one race is superior. There are still racial slurs being thrown around in society. However, the slurs that were seen as so offensive before are now said and condoned by a lot of African Americans today. They are mostly seen in songs and other media, but mostly during conversation. Some people refer to each other as "my n****" which in the past that would have been totally unacceptable. This just shows how quickly things can change from the 60's until now. Although some people seem to be more accepting of the blend of cultures, you will still see some people who strictly believe in separation of races. However the viewpoint, it makes our society an interesting one to live in.