All Joy and No Fun
Why parents hate parenting.
By Jennifer Senior
The author Jennifer Senior begins her story telling the reader she finds her two year old son waiting for her on her building doorstep. Her son runs to her from his babysitter arms and she feels an in expressible loveliness. This is a scene that she has played in her mind before she has actually had a child.
The reality is she walks into a chaotic apartment avoiding getting hit with blocks by her son that ends in a timeout. Senior thinks of a friend once telling her about the Children’s Museum in Manhattan how it was a great place but really needed a bar. The author thought that rude but she could say that for her apartment at that moment. She felt like some parents feel at some point of parenting.
The author states the parents with children are not any happier then their childless peers. The more children the less happy parents were. Single parents were the least happy.
Times have changed today as far as parenting goes. Generations ago people didn’t think about whether having children would make them happy they just did it. In today’s society people have the choice to have children or not and as many as they want. That may be the reason why parents are less happy. Parents who made more money and had children later were less satisfied being parents.
The Author makes a good point about European countries. Senior noticed the countries with stronger welfare system produced more children and happier parents. Parents are happier in these countries because the have a year of paid maternity leave and day care is paid for when they do go back to work. Education and health care for children are paid for. Therefore a parent’s mental health will improve making parents happier. In the United States things are different and that could be a reason parents are unhappy parents.
Children can provide moments of joy and also can make parents frustrated. The author mentions parents always remember the negative moments but what about the good moments? With children moments of happiness come and go. Therefore the author points out is happiness what you experience or state of mind?
Parenting is difficult and can make parents unhappy at times. But there will come a day parents will look back at moments they thought to be unhappy and unpleasant and appreciate those moments in time in retrospect.
Jackie--
ReplyDeleteYou've picked out some of the important things here--good!--but I think you can develop this further.
I'd cut the first two paragraphs, though. This is a specific anecdote the author uses to introduce her topic, but it's a specific detail, not one of the main ideas of the article. The main ideas are what you should focus on in a summary. (And this is a minor point, but don't refer to the article as a story--that sounds like it's fiction. Callit an essay or an article.)
A good portion of the article is a discussion of the reasons why these surveys show that parenting doesn't make a person happier. Read through the article again to pick out what those explanations are, in Senior's view. Your paragraph about how times have changed is on the right track!! What are the other reasons? If you mark up and underline and take notes as you read along,it will help a lot in finding her main points.
I really liked your summary you did a great job and you pick out some great points from the article.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lydia. I have such a hard time writing.
ReplyDelete