Developmental Profile

Media Journal

The parent-child relationship affects us more profoundly than any other relationship of our lives. It is the foundation of all of our relationships and the source of our earliest understanding about love, intimacy, trust and security. This relationship can start to build one’s self esteem and self-assurance or it can scar us for life. For this assignment, I chose to analyze parts of two well-known movies as well as a tragedy currently being presented in the media.
I believe that parents play an irreplaceable role in the lives of their children. This vital relationship positively impacts a child's physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It is deeply valued by millions of American families. The movie, Big Daddy, is a about a young boy that has been sent back to live with his biological father. He did not know that he had a son, but found out shortly after his mother passed away and the boy was brought to his home. The father, played by Adam Sandler, takes on the responsibility of raising the five-year-old little boy. In the movie, he adopts a permissive parenting style and allows the child to make his own decisions and rules. He does not give his son boundaries or guidelines. The movie depicts that not having rules, guidelines or parental expectations will result in the child making the right decisions for himself on his own. However, both our text book and research shows that although these type of parents tend to be warm and supportive with their children, not setting rules and boundaries for children to follow usually results in children who are rebellious, impulsive and domineering. Adam Sandler does not say no to his son, which is a main characteristic of a permissive style parent. Sandler was simply a resource for his son rather than a role model that should be communicating what is to be expected from his son. Permissive style parenting over a long period of time will result in teens that may have difficulty with self-control and