“Teenage Wasteland”Parent/Child relationships are very hard to establish among individuals. This particular relationship is very important for the child from birth because it helps the child to be able to understand moral and values of life that should be taught by the parent(s). In the short story “Teenage Wasteland”, Daisy (mother) fails to provide the proper love and care that should be given to her children. Daisy is an unfit parent that allows herself to manipulated by lacking self confidence, communication, and patience.
Daisy lacks self confidence which made it harder to raise her fifteen year-old son Donny. There were many instances where Daisy pondered on what she can do better to help Donny in school, but as she put forth an effort, she always resisted. “She remembered when Amanda was born. Donny had acted lost and bewildered.
Daisy had been alert to that of course, but still, a new baby keeps you busy of course. “(570) When Daisy saw this happening, she never stopped to reassure Donny that even though he had a sister, it was not going to change their relationship. Daisy should have reassured her son by correcting the problem as soon as it surfaced, then Donny should have understood. When Donny started to have problems in school, Daisy gave up without trying, and let a tutor dictate her son’s activities especially when the teacher questions Daisy about Donny’s actions, Daisy replied, “Oh I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but Donny’s tutor handles these things now” (572) In school Donny’s behavior changed soo drastically that he started to stay out late and Daisy just sat back and let this happen. “The tutor had sat down so many rules!She were not allowed any questions at all about school, nor were to speak with his teachers,Only one teacher disobeyed”(572) Because Daisy didn’t believe in herself or her word, she let others control and therefore his behavior worsened.
Communication is the number one aspect of relationships because it is what allows the parent /child to become more familiar with each ones thoughts and feelings. “But he tells us he doesn’t have any homework or he did it all in study hall. How are we supposed to know what to believe?”(569) This example shows that Donny and Daisy are very distant. Daisy should have looked over his homework to show consideration as a parent to correct and make sure his work is completed, but instead she put too much trust in him that he took advantage of her.
Patience is needed to help build a positive relationship with one another in order to get better results. Even though Daisy is raising more than one child, both of them require the same amount of attention. “You’ll never guess what happened at. , Amanda would begin, a Daisy would have to tell her, “Not now honey. “(569) Daisy seemed as though she set high expectations for her children and gave up easily as she attempted to help him with his homework.
“She sat next to him as he worked, trying to be encouraging, sagging inwardly as she saw the poor quality of everything he did-the sloppy mistakes in math, the illogical leaps in English”(569) If Donny noticed that his mother had patience with him while he did his school work, then maybe Donny would not hesitate or feel intimidated to seek help from his mother. Parent/Child relationships are very important for the child to have in their life. In this story, the author portrays many examples on what kind of a parent Daisy is. Many of these examples can be related to relationships today to show that many parent lack something that separates them from their loved ones that breaks the communication process. These relationships should be consist and positive in order for the child to grow with values that help them in the future so they can play an important role in their life.
