Tuesday, April 29, 2014

What Makes a Good Parent

There is no such thing as a perfect parent; good parenting can be so relative, but there are some stand-out qualities.

The most important one is unconditional love and support.


Katy Perry - Unconditionally
(seemed to fit)

In the beginning of The Help, the readers are introduced to Aibileen, a southern black woman who is the help for a young family of three. Along with cooking and cleaning, Aibileen takes care of Mae Mobley, or Baby Girl, as she calls her employer's, Miss Leefolt, baby daughter. Miss Leefolt is a first time mom, and is only 23, and has little idea of how to take care of her child. The first evidence of this fact is when Mae Mobley is a little baby and she won't stop crying. Instead of picking up and comforting her daughter, Miss Leefolt looks at the baby, terrified, and asks Aibileen, "What am I doing wrong? Why can't I stop it?". Aibileen goes to point out that by calling her daughter 'it', there had to be something wrong with the mother-daughter situation. 
This instance isn't the only one where Miss Leefolt ignores Mae Mobley. Miss Leefolt pays more attention to her bridge dates with her girlfriends and the local gossip than caring for her child. There was an instance where Miss Leefolt was talking on the phone, and Mae was trying to get her mother to pick her up and hold her, but she pulled on the phone cord and in response her mother slapped her. After Miss Leefolt struck Mae, she said, "Don't you ever touch this phone again, Mae Mobley!". She then went on to scold Aibileen for not keeping her child away from her. In response to her mother's reaction, Mae acts out by whacking Aibileen in the ear as she was working on comforting her.


Even though Aibileen lost her son, she still has compassion for children, and cares more about Miss Leefolt's daughter than she does. She loves Mae even when she acts out or cries or complains, where as Miss Leefolt ignores her and only pays attention to her when she feels like it.


Unconditional love is the single most important quality that is taken to heart by a good parent. The love should be easy, and not forced, and the mother or father should WANT to support and comfort their child no matter what, and not only when it is convenient.

1 comment:

  1. Your post was very entertaining and I really enjoyed reading it. You did a great job of making the post look interesting by adding pictures and videos. I also liked how you supported what you were saying about unconditional love with lots of examples from the text. I agree that love is the most important thing when it comes to parenting and this is something tat Miss Leefolt clear doesn't understand or want to take the time to give. I thought it was interesting that you talked about how Aibileen lost her own son but was still capable of more love and compassion for Miss Leefolt's child than she was. This shows that some people are just inherently better at being loving and being a parent than others. You had lots of great ideas and presented them very well!

    ReplyDelete