In “All Joy and No Fun,” the author Jennifer Senior describes her opinion on parenting and its negative effects on parents. Full of highs and lows, and she describes that well when remembering a moment of time with her son as being “in a state of pair bonded bliss; now I was guided by nerves, trawling the cabinets for alcohol.” She believes that parenting is something we choose, and yet seems to be something we cannot live without.
Children are looked at as “subjects to be sculpted, stimulated, instructed, groomed,” in this high stake modernized world. This pressure to create the perfect child with the perfect future is making parenting more of a job than years before. She believes that mothers and fathers are comparing the way they are parenting to the ways of others; and because of this, they believe they are doing the wrong thing. This worsens with the fact that more couples are waiting longer to have children. They have been professionals, and expect that they should perfect the act of parenting. As a result of waiting, their higher expectations about having children ends up disappointing them. They no longer can enjoy the carefree open schedules that they’ve had for so long.
This leads to the fact that parents who have more money are less happy than those with less money. Hans-Peter Kohler, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania states that “countries with stronger welfare systems produce more children- and happier parents.” With this option, parents no longer have to worry about high health care costs, daycare, or even education costs.
Although the author argues strong points, I do not agree with her main point that parents are less happy than nonparents, based on my personal experience. Most of her research included in her essay was about why parents are unhappy, but I think they may not have been happy before they had children. It is my opinion that children give parents a reason to strive for something better; to make their lives and their children’s lives richer. All the smiles, kisses, and hugs erase the mess they may have made, or the lamp that was knocked over.
I agree with Jennifer that loving the act of parenting and loving one’s kids are two separate things. However, I don’t think parenting is what is making parents unhappy. The studies she included in her article make the assumption that the parents were happy before they had children. I think there are many other stressors in their lives, and they may already be aggravated when they come home to their children. Having a short fuse makes any broken vase, or stained shirt a little more dramatic. I liked how she included some studies showing that people with children were happier than those without. Especially because before I had my child I was unhappy most days and after I had her I noticed that I am barely ever unhappy. I realized that parenting is something that’s trial and error. It’s something that can be stressing if you try too hard to be the perfect parent, and let every little obstacle bother you. In my opinion, the essay was rather confusing and I didn’t like the structure. I also don’t agree with most of the findings, and think that there are more factors that make people happy as individuals rather than parents.
This summary is very good. I feel it is complete and brings out the important pieces to the story. I think you responded well to this story. You brought up some some quotations as needed but mostly all done in your owm word. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi amanda. I think this summary is really strong in the beginning and you've quoted some of the more resonant lines and seem to have a really good grasp of the basic message of the article.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned in another peer review that I'm not sure that we are supposed to include our opinions and experiences when summarizing. I liked reading how you feel about the authors statements and I agree with you, but I don't think it's important to the summary.
(I agree with you that THE STRUCTURE FELT CONFUSING- I had to re-organize it for myself to be able to summarize!)
The author does actually get on to make some points about WHY all this studies show that parents are unhappy... and i don't see any of that in your writing here. (it's a very small section of sort-of-positives or explanations, but it is in there)
:)- Brie
Amanda--
ReplyDeleteYou do a good job at including much of what Senior says in the article! I'd like to see her main point clarified a bit, though. What exactly is her opinion about parenting, do you think? She cites many reports that seem to say parenting does not make people happier. She's a parent herself--do you think that's her personal view? Or does she somehow try to reconcile what she believes personally with these negative studies, and if so, how does she do that?
I was very interested by your comment at the end that the essay was confusing and you didn't like the structure. I'd like to hear more about that. (That's one possible way to respond...) Maybe that made it harder to work out what she was really trying to say?
In revision, pay attention to paragraph structure. I'm going to post a short page on it in a day or so in this week's folder, but mainly make sure that main ideas of each para. are clearly established. In this sort of writing topic sentences are a very useful way to control those main ideas. Normally they're the first sentence in the para. and igve its main idea, so that if you look down the beginnings of paras. you should be able to see the main structure of, in this case, her article (or her argument/exploration).
You do stray into response here at the end (and assignment here had just been the summary part), but that's fine. Just make sure to keep them distinct so that your reader can tell what's coming from the article and what's coming from you. I do think you could flesh out a little more the reasons she gives as explanation for some of those study results. You mention the pressure to create perfect child, trend to have children later in life, impact of financial situation. Anything else??
One minor point: remember to use author's last name, not first name (sounds too informal).
I thought this essay was great. You used quotes from the story I felt like you was quick and to the point and that is what a summary is. Great job.
ReplyDeleteVery good and detailed explanation of the article.
ReplyDelete