Perspectives

This part of the study guide will help you expand your perspective on the interview “Parents Who Love in a Living Hell” by Laurie Ashner and Mitch Meyerson. We will discuss parenting styles and other similar tex…

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Cultural perspective

It is important to consider the cultural influence on parenting styles in the US in the 1990s, which led to more parents being overprotective. 

From a cultural perspective, parenting saw a shift in the mid-1980s in the US. Fears regarding children’s safety increased and federal policies like Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind created an achievement culture. Amer…

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Other texts

When you analyze “Parents Who Love in a Living Hell”, you could also consider comparing the article with other texts that deal with similar themes. For example, you could look at the prose-poem “The Parents” by Kelly Cherry. “The Parents” talks about how children grow up in a fantasy land of Mickey Mouse and princesses, and their parents quickly feel that they are losing their children as toddlers become teenagers. Later, the roles are reversed, and children start taking care of their par…