Bambara

I believe parents should be very careful when talking to children. Most of the time children copy the actions of their parents. So when parents lie, sugarcoat or make empty promises their children will eventually start doing the same thing. I believe that promises are important, but when words are carelessly thrown around to make a little kid happy, that child will find it hard to know the true value of words and why promises are important.

In Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara, the author shows that Hazel, the main character, dislikes the way of what adults doing, and she also feel mad at adults don’t do what they said. Parents are the first teacher in every people’s life, and what they do and say will affect their kid deeply. In this story, Hazel shows us that what parents or adults said will have an impact on kids. The most dramatically plot in this story is when Hunca Bubba said he just teasing. Then, Hazel could not stand the way of adults treating kid anymore and started to cry. In my opinion, I also have some same experiences as Hazel, so I think adults or parents should follow the rule “Their words are their bond”. During my childhood, a lot of adults, including my parents, in order to please my mood, so they made up something good to tell me. My mood indeed became good after hearing that. But with the times goes by, I found that was a lie. I felt so sad after I realizing sometimes what adults said was a lie, and I began to not trust them sometimes. I also tried to complain that with them and asked them why did you lie to me. This kind of way do help them become “Their words are their bond”. Therefore, for the adults and parents, it is very important for them to follow the “Their words are their bond”.

However, Although “Their words are their bond” is so vital for a kid, it is needed to based on the situation to do it. Once, I watched a move La vita è Bella. The story background is in Fascist regime period. The two main characters, a father and his son were Jewish, so they were forced to send to Jewish concentration camp. They were also facing the risk of attacking from Nazi, but the father did not want his son face this brutal fact. He decided to lie to his son and claimed this was a game like hide and seek. Who can hide for a long time, who is the winner. Eventually, the father’s lie save his son’s life, and he helped his kid had a wonderful life during the war period. I think this is movie is not teaching parents and adults how to lie to kids, but teaching them how to help kids live in the happy and unconcern environment. Should adults shield the kids by saying the only nice thing? I would say yes if a family try to make a happy environment for their kid during the difficult period.

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