The, What Makes A Perfect Parent, Raises The Question Essay

Chapter 5 of Freakonomics, What Makes a Perfect Parent, raises the question, â€Å"how much do parents really matter?† This is a very interesting question with a number of different answers. Steven Levitt, the author, goes into great detail to answer this question. Right of the start, Levitt mentions, â€Å"Clearly bad parenting matters a great deal† (Levitt, Dubner p.154). He uses the correlation between abortion and crime, making the argument that unwanted children will be worse off in life versus other children who are accepted into their parents’ lives and loved. Levitt raises yet another question asking how influential are those loving and accepting parents on the outcome of their child. Interesting enough, genes are responsible for about fifty percent of a child’s characteristics and personality but what is responsible for the other fifty percent? Judith Harris, author of The Nature Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do, argued that peers are more influential on a child than parents are. Levitt challenges her position and mentions that parents are usually the ones responsible for deciding a children’s peers. For instance, parents are the ones who choose what neighborhood to live, where to send their child to school and strive to find their child the right friend group. Levitt examines school performance of children to measure certain components of a child’s outcome such as personality. He argues that education is at the inner most of a child’s development. In hisShow MoreRelatedWhat Makes a Good Parent1404 Words   |  6 Pagesthe question â€Å"What makes a good parent† is not easily obtainable. You should spend a lot of time in contemplation before reaching to it. And still there is no guarantee that finally you will get it. Since many people have different opinions on raising a child there may be thousands absolutely different answers to one and the same question, a rather tricky one, I would say. To tell you the truth, after I asked myself the same question, several things went through my mind. What kind of parent willRead MoreParenting Styles1525 Words   |  7 Pagesthe other is 25, and now a grandfather as well. I have heard many people say things like: â€Å"I raise my kids the way I my parents raised me† (while complaining about the things that their parents’ did), â€Å"I am doing the best that I can† (then learn to do better), and â€Å"children should be seen and not heard† (This was my father’s favorite). Nobody seems to know the perfect way to raise children; is there a perfect way? When I did a Google search for the term â€Å"parenting styles†, I got over 52 million results;Read MoreChinese Mothers926 Words   |  4 Pagessuperior Every parent wants to be proud of their children, to see them succeed in school, music, sports or whatever path they may choose. The professor and the author Amy Chua wrote the essay â€Å"Why Chinese mothers are superior†, where she tries to compare western parents to Chinese mothers and their different methods of raising children. Plenty of the people reading this essay may get the wrong idea and misunderstand, when Amy Chua tries to present Western parents as bad parents who don’t know howRead MoreThe Perfect Family Is Not Always The Case For Everyone Essay1045 Words   |  5 Pageseveryone? When someone thinks of what a perfect family is, chances are it looks like a mother, father, and kids all living together. This ideal scenario is not always the case for everyone. There are many circumstances that people are placed in, which would limit them from being able to fit in this stereotypical connotation. A perfect family is normally defined as a group with two parents and their kids, but for anyone who has grown up missing a parent it is a parent or parents and their kids. If you wereRead MoreA Picture Perfect Baltimore Family Essay1401 Words   |  6 PagesSaint Maybe is a story about a picture-perfect Baltimore family. The Bedloe family, the focus of the story, is far from being perfect. The family consist of parents Bee and Doug, Claudia, the oldest child, Danny the middle son and Ian the youngest. Danny marries Lucy, a divorcee with two children Agatha and Thomas. Lucy was pregnant before meeting Danny, so Danny’s daughter Daphne, is someone else’s baby. Danny may know Daphne is not his daughter, but ignores the fact. Ian, only 17 years old, suspectsRead MoreAdoption, Domestic And International Adoption Essay1611 Words   |  7 PagesMunsie College Writting 12-14-16 Many people want to have their own children, but what are other options? Adoption gets helpless children out of the foster care system, but having their own child gives them a better connection. Three reasons why parents should adopt is because it helps get kids out of foster care, adopted families have all the same rights as families formed from birth, and adopting a child helps parents start a family if they can’t get pregnant. Although some people think that havingRead MoreIdeas of Parenting1121 Words   |  5 Pagesoften harsh parenting style contributed to the success of her daughters. Chinese parents believe that if their children are successful, it is a reflection of the parents. Hanna Rosin, a contributing editor for the Atlantic, has very different views from Ms. Chua about the correct parenting style. Ms. Rosin believes that the more relaxed, nurturing, and self-led style of Western parenting is the better way to raise children. She believes that placing your c hildren under immense pressure can produceRead MoreWhat Makes You The Person You Are? Essay1093 Words   |  5 Pages What makes you the person you are? Starting with biologically, when we are born we have a sex female or male. Socialization helps create the person you will be. Your family starts to raise you through their beliefs. The peers come along and help you become the person you are without your parents. Then media comes and influences you to other cultures and beliefs. This is when family socialization begins, based on the sex parents start giving gender roles. When you find out someone is pregnant theRead MoreFreakonomics Essay1424 Words   |  6 PagesThe book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is designed to pose fundamental questions concerning economics using a variety of imaginative comparisons and questions. Examples of these comparisons and questions can be seen in the list of contents, with chapter titles such as â€Å"How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real-estate agents?† and â€Å"Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?† Not everyone is interested in economics, but with titles that grab attention, it is almostRead MoreSame Sex Adoption Is Controversial1443 Words   |  6 Pagesbe the parent of a foster child, it is difficult to understand why the topic of gay adoption is controversial. Yes, there can be a bad outcome but there can also be a very good outcome of these kinds of adoptions. The LGBT Adoption situation can be fixed by allowing any adult or parent to adopt a child if they have the right living environment or the knowledge and skills that it takes to raise a kid in the proper way. But social workers have reservations on considering gay adoptive parents because