The Importance Of Parents in Child's Life.

Hello everyone, I have never posted here before I just signed up, I recently found this forum and it seems like everyone is a great help.

I have to write a very laid back essay in french on the importance of parents, but it has to be in debate form. I will also present it and create a discussion from it to a class.

Does anyone have any ideas on any important things I should touch on, and what kind of debatable discussion questions I could bring up?

This is for Tuesday but possibly tomorrow, I have 3 other projects I have to finish tonight and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You ahead of time!

While we cannot help you with your French, we can certainly help you with the essay structure and with arguments you might use. The question is, do you want to write a very conventional essay, listing the things that anyone might say about the importance of parents, or do you want to make an unconventional argument?

Thank you so much for replying!

I think I am going to write a conventional essay. I have to have a thesis, conclusion etc but the topic is very broad. It was given to me. But yes, I do have to touch on all different things that anyone might say about the importance of parents, and both sides of those things. I can also include my opinion on anything.

What is your opinion? That's the question. Jot down your ideas and then organize them into an outline.

I have a strong opinion on the importance of parents, I think they are the ground to our lives and a necessitiy for creating a good life as adults, and surviving as children.

I just am not sure how this is a debatable subject, I guess.

Some debatable points:

Does it have to be parents in particular who provide these things, or can grandparents or other guardians play the same role?

What is the relative importance of the broader culture? If parents are peaceful or altruistic, but the culture is violent or encourages self-centered consumerism, which will win out?

What about abusive or neglectful parents? Should their genetic contribution to the child outweigh the child's best interests in determining who should raise the child?

Wow thank you so much that will help a lot.

I greatly appreciate it :)

Also, if you are looking for debatable issues, you can ask how different parents' values can be from society's before society is justified in removing their children from their care. For instance, what about parents who do not believe, for religious reasons, in using modern medicine? Or parents who hold extreme political views? Both of these have had cases in the news recently:

slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/eleven- year-old-dies-needlessly-when-parents-refuse-medical-care-an d-pray-instead/

infoniac.com/offbeat-news/parents-lose-custody-of -their-children-for-teaching-them-nazi.html

Wow thanks, for all your help! I took all of what you both have said and did my french presentation, I think it went really well!

:) Thank you both again!

I am glad you think it went well. It's unfortunate that the presentation itself was in French. Otherwise, you could have posted a draft here for more detailed feedback.

I'd be curious to see the presentation anyway. Just so that those of us who read French can at least see what you said.

Je parle francais.

I can read French fairly well myself -- I just wouldn't want to have to edit anyone else's use of French grammar. So, I suppose you could post the presentation to get a general response and to satisfy our curiosity. You may even find that some of the other people in the forums know French well enough to offer some editorial tips.

its important because a child gets to know that he/she is loved

I'd say that depends on the parents, really.

My point, exactly. It may be aunts, neighbors, grandparents, or other care-givers who provide that love when parents are abusive or neglectful.

Certainly one can hope that that is the case. I don't know if that can ever substitute for the love a child should get from his or her parents, though.

Right. Of course. Those of us from abusive or neglectful homes are forever marked by the experience, even though some compensating love or care may have come from other places. But, because this is the case, it's important not to write essays about parental love as if every parent offers this. Because, certainly, in many cases a child will get better care from somebody else.

Of course, one could also approach the topic from the opposite angle. Perhaps the importance of parents in a child's life is defined more by the child's innate love of the parents, whether the parents deserve it or not, than by the parents love or lack of it for the child. That is, parents have such power to nurture or to harm their children because their children love them, and those we love always have more power over us than those we care nothing for.

An insightful spin.