Atticus Parenting
Atticus, Really a Good Parent? As a parent, whose main job is setting up boundaries for their children's actions, Atticus proves to be a mostly good parent, but in certain situations is too lenient in which his boundaries don’t hold up. Atticus comes across as a responsible father, who’s parenting tactics work well on his children when looking into Scout’s behavior. Scout being mostly a mischievous child is able to honor Atticus’ word and look up to him. During a conversation that Atticus has with Scout’s Uncle Jack, he mentions that instead of hitting her, he is able to get away with a few threats, “Jack, she minds me as well as she can. Doesn't come up to scratch half the time, but she tries. (Page 116)” When Atticus says “minds me as well
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In this case, Atticus’ parenting tactics don’t necessarily work on Jem, as he enters his rebellious phase. When Atticus tells his children to stop playing a game that would offend their neighbors, Jem says that “I don’t know, Atticus didn’t say we couldn’t-.” When Scout suggests listening to Atticus and stopping the game, Jem tells Scout that, “if [Scout starts] behaving like [a girl, she] could just go off and find [some girls] to play with. (Page 54)” When Jem starts with the phrase, “Atticus didn’t say we couldn’t-” he is able to find a loophole in what Atticus has said which suggests that Atticus’ soft boundaries and moral of giving flexible instructions to his children is not effective when it comes to Jem, but works when looking at Scout. When Scout defends her father’s word, Jem is quick to jump at her by telling her to stop “behaving like [a girl]..and find [some girls] to play with.” This demonstrates that though Atticus’ word had an impact in Scout’s actions, it simply angered Jem. It is arguable that this is simply because of Jem’s age, and that he is going through a rebellious stage. But once again all fingers point at Atticus, as he should be able to adapt to his children’s different stages of life, and parent accordingly. This further proves that though Atticus’ efforts may be effectual in most cases, they may fail to
In this case, Atticus’ parenting tactics don’t necessarily work on Jem, as he enters his rebellious phase. When Atticus tells his children to stop playing a game that would offend their neighbors, Jem says that “I don’t know, Atticus didn’t say we couldn’t-.” When Scout suggests listening to Atticus and stopping the game, Jem tells Scout that, “if [Scout starts] behaving like [a girl, she] could just go off and find [some girls] to play with. (Page 54)” When Jem starts with the phrase, “Atticus didn’t say we couldn’t-” he is able to find a loophole in what Atticus has said which suggests that Atticus’ soft boundaries and moral of giving flexible instructions to his children is not effective when it comes to Jem, but works when looking at Scout. When Scout defends her father’s word, Jem is quick to jump at her by telling her to stop “behaving like [a girl]..and find [some girls] to play with.” This demonstrates that though Atticus’ word had an impact in Scout’s actions, it simply angered Jem. It is arguable that this is simply because of Jem’s age, and that he is going through a rebellious stage. But once again all fingers point at Atticus, as he should be able to adapt to his children’s different stages of life, and parent accordingly. This further proves that though Atticus’ efforts may be effectual in most cases, they may fail to