Cooper London
Professor Stacy Stuewe
English Composition I
1st May 2014
Boundaries of an Out-of-Hand Parent

The world is such a large place, and each country and state has vastly different outlooks and ways of doing things when it comes to parenting their children. However, I’d like to discuss the actions coming from parents here in the United States. The United States has roughly 313.9 million people, and a good 67% of those people are children between the ages of 0-18. Now, with those numbers being said, how many of those kids actually belong to a loving, caring, safe family? Only about 35% of them actually do. In today’s society we still have parents who are what I’d like to call “old school”, and take it upon themselves to cruelly punish their children and teenagers thinking the punishments actually work. The topic of out-of-hand parents can be easily argued against, however, more people seem to agree that cruel parenting never really gets anyone anywhere, and more civil actions do. What parents would be considered being “out-of-hand ”, many might ask. An out-of-hand parent is a parent who takes it upon his or herself to intentionally punish their child in the most cruel way possible for something small or even something they didn’t do, it is a parent who chooses to party and spend time doing what they want to do rather than taking care of their children, lastly it is someone who neglects to admit their own issues with life, and never seems to try and fix them, so instead they take it out on their own children pointing out their mistakes and hoping they forget about their own. These are vague subjects until you dissect each one and fully understand what they mean. Number one, parents who punish their kids too harshly for things they shouldn’t be harshly punished for are the more old school generation folks who think that being mean and loud actually gets them somewhere, and maybe it does for a few, but from personal experience, when a parent gets aggressive and more harsh to the kid, the kid turns around and does the same thing, maybe not back at the parent, but it definitely alters the way they personally act and react to things as well. It’s like a child growing up playing violent video games, and running around with violent kids, more than likely that kid will grow up with more violent tendencies, based on the influences it is surrounded with. Parents cross the line all the time with overcompensating punishments to miniscule crimes or actions. Parents have lives too outside of home and work, we all know this. Unfortunately some parents take their outside lives a little too far when they have things to take care of, such as taking care of their kids at home. I understand parents want a night out sometimes to get a break from it all, I really do, but when the parent continuously drinks and goes out in order to neglect their responsibilities at home, that’s when I begin to have an issue…and I’m positive I’m not the only one. Partying is a lot of fun, you dress up, go out and dance the night away and if you’re lucky, you might remember what