Blog Post 2/16/12

I believe that anyone who reads "The Glass Castle", by Jeanette Walls, would come to the conclusion that Jeanette's parents were far from the perfect parents, or even good parents. The article, "What Makes A Good Parent?" lists ten important things that contribute to being a good parent, called "The Parents' Ten".  In my opinion, some of the things that I would think would be at the top of the list, were at the bottom.  However, according to this article, one can say that maybe Jeanette's parents were not so bad after all.

When talking about Rose Mary, I would think that her two strongest points according to the list would be relationship skills, and autonomy and independence.  I would say that Rose Mary taught her children relationship skills when talking about certain times she had with Rex Walls.  Rose Mary stood by Rex' side the whole time and coped with his problems with alcohol.  The biggest thing that Rose Mary taught her children were independence, since all she did was care for herself basically.  She taught them independence by just letting them be on their own and fend for themselves.  Her two weakest points would definitely be safety and love and affection.  I remember a point when Rose Mary did not do anything and did not say anything about a man possibly molesting her daughter.  I really did not see Rose Mary show any love or affection for her children, she just cared about herself and her paintings.

When it comes to Rex Walls, his two strongest points were love and affection and autonomy and independence.  I remember reading times where he would bond with his children, especially Jeanette.  They talked about the Glass Castle and he gave them stars as a gift.  Independence of course, since they left their children to wander on their own and take care of themselves.  His two weakest points are safety and stress management.  I remember when he put the children in the back of a UHAUL truck with no seat belts or protection, they could have died.  The other one would be stress management because he abused alcohol and took it out on his family, like burning the Christmas tree down.