So, I was trying to think of an example of good parents that ended up with a “bad seed” for a daughter, and you know what I came up with? Seventh Heaven! Remember that show? The happy Camden family with the seven kids, where mom was a homemaker and dad was a minister? Anyway, I was remembering the fact that Jessica Biel got started on that show and that her character left when Biel wanted to take some, how shall we say provocative pictures for a magazine. It’s slightly fuzzy, but I remember her character, Mary, started to get into trouble and committed a few crimes like breaking and entering and vandalism. Basically, the sweet young lady that formerly liked playing basketball and flirting with boys all of a sudden turned wild, despite her otherwise wholesome upbringing.
I feel that this is very similar to what happened to dear Charlotte Temple, if you take out the minister father and the misdemeanors, of course. Her only crime was “eloping” with a man, which we learn was supposedly worse than death back then. I think that Charlotte’s parents set their very loving, functional relationship as a marital example and that they wanted her to succeed. If most young women today had this sort of example at home, I think there would in theory be a lot less divorce and single parent families. Women would find a good role model for their husbands in the figure of their father and could look for someone like him, instead of some jerk. Note that I said that this would work for most women, because our two examples of Mary and Charlotte prove that good role models do not always mean success.
So then, can parenting predict whether or not a daughter will “fall?” I think that both sets of parents in these cases wanted the best for their daughter and really loved her. Both accepted or were willing to accept their daughter back after her “fall,” which we briefly discussed as pretty exceptional for that time in the Temples case. For Charlotte’s parents, living in almost turn-of –the-century England to seek out their daughter and want to take her home goes against everything else we have read. This action, albeit by fictional characters, is something you would be more apt to see in contemporary society, or you know, with the Camdens, who are also fictional!
On the whole, I’m not sure there is much parents can do to keep their daughters safe from their own “treacherous hearts.” I think the best things would be to: set a good example yourself, love and accept them, and teach them to be morally and ethically responsible and self-aware. After that, you just have to hope that they make it I guess.
I feel that this is very similar to what happened to dear Charlotte Temple, if you take out the minister father and the misdemeanors, of course. Her only crime was “eloping” with a man, which we learn was supposedly worse than death back then. I think that Charlotte’s parents set their very loving, functional relationship as a marital example and that they wanted her to succeed. If most young women today had this sort of example at home, I think there would in theory be a lot less divorce and single parent families. Women would find a good role model for their husbands in the figure of their father and could look for someone like him, instead of some jerk. Note that I said that this would work for most women, because our two examples of Mary and Charlotte prove that good role models do not always mean success.
So then, can parenting predict whether or not a daughter will “fall?” I think that both sets of parents in these cases wanted the best for their daughter and really loved her. Both accepted or were willing to accept their daughter back after her “fall,” which we briefly discussed as pretty exceptional for that time in the Temples case. For Charlotte’s parents, living in almost turn-of –the-century England to seek out their daughter and want to take her home goes against everything else we have read. This action, albeit by fictional characters, is something you would be more apt to see in contemporary society, or you know, with the Camdens, who are also fictional!
On the whole, I’m not sure there is much parents can do to keep their daughters safe from their own “treacherous hearts.” I think the best things would be to: set a good example yourself, love and accept them, and teach them to be morally and ethically responsible and self-aware. After that, you just have to hope that they make it I guess.
2 comments:
I loved your 7th Heaven reference! What a hilarious show. It tried so hard to be moral that it was boring. Yes, Mary Camden was a bad seed. She started out wholesome and turned bad. I thought that story arc was so funny. It always seems to be the minister's daughter who goes slutty. I personally know a minister who has a coquettish daughter. Perhaps their family is so goody-goody they just have to get wild? I have no idea, but it seems like a pattern.
OOOOOO 7th Heaven! Happy the Dog. But yes, that is the PERFECT reference. Mary represents a lot of ministers daughters. well not a lot, that'd be a generalization but ok, so I once knew a guy who dated a pastor's daughter and they made out in a hot tub.... my 14 yr old ears thought that was soooooooo racy. and maybe it is. but it makes me think about her fall, was it similar to Charlotte's? Probably.
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