Many Views on Parenting

It's been a couple of days since I've posted, and a lot has happened! We had a fruitful discussion about parenting. This was especially interesting for me because I tend to have a lot more sympathy for the parents in Davita than many of you. I'm sure this is because I'm a mom already. Some of you also thought the story showed that kids do better with at least one stay-at-home parent. Others wrote on their notecards that staying home wasn't important, but rather balancing career and family or allowing kids to develop their own ideas was the most critical factor in being a good parent.

The different reactions are a great example of that transactional theory of reading I told you about - the meaning you make with a book depends on YOU, including your life experiences and your values.

Here are just a few of the ideas that people took away from the discussion:

"I really liked the idea that parents should always respect what their children choose to do, but should enforce boundaries at the same time." -- David N.

"I thought that the adults in Davita's life (except maybe Aunt Sarah) treated her way too much like an adult. She didn't get a chance to be a kid." -- Molly L.

"An idea that stuck with me was how Anne's mothering and dictating ideas to Davita actually was encouraging free thinking." -- Rebecca K.

"I thought that Ezra was a very religious-based father and Michael was a very opinion-based father." -- Stephanie K.

"One thought: Ezra is a good parent, but Ilana really throws him off, so he had to rethink his values about family." -- Anna B.

"I found it interesting that many people thought Ezra to be the better father because when I think of Ezra, he seems a bit detached." -- Danielle K.

"I think Ezra wasn't really a good parent because he keeps David in only one environment with all Jewish tradition, people, and culture up to the point that David doesn't really care about anything. David says to Ilana that politics are boring, and she responds by saying that you think politics in general are boring, but if they're Jewish you're interested." -- Meghana V.

"The idea that Channah and Michael are foils is an interesting concept that changes the meaning of the book slightly." -- Sophia C.

And this comment wasn't about parenting, but it was something I hadn't noticed in the text that I thought was cool/interesting:

"When Jakob Daw was at the beach with the Chandals, he never went near the water, refused to even put on a swimsuit. When Ilana 'forsaw' his death, he walked into the sea." -- Lisa J.

What do you make of that?? Go ahead and comment on it below!