A Parent's Attitude Towards Different Genders

In the novel “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza lives in a neighborhood filled with different types of families. These families have different ways to raise their kids, but I have two in particular that have caught my eye, the Vargas family and Sally’s family. These two families show that both boys and girls need a lot of attention from their parents, but girls need a little bit more of it.

“But Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his hands just like a dog, she said, like if I was an animal. He thinks I’m going to run away like his sisters who made the family ashamed. Just because I’m a daughter, and then she doesn’t say. Sally was going to get permission to stay with us a little... Until one day Sally’s father catches her talking to a bad and the next day she doesn’t come to school. And the next. Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy... (93-94).

This quote shows how girls generally need more attention than boys. Especially girls like Sally, are prone to trouble, so a parent of a girl like this should keep a watch on them even more attentively than Sally’s dad did. Also, the parent needs to show more love and support towards their daughter since girls are usually the ones that are pressured more in tough situations. This is mostly because girls are put as the lower gender in society, and have a harder time becoming more strong and independent as men do. With the necessary love and support a parent could give to their daughter, she will have more pride in herself, therefore reducing her chances of being in unacceptable situations like skipping school.

“The kids bend trees and bounce between cars and dangle upside down from knees and almost break like fancy museum vases you can’t replace. They think it’s funny. They are without respect for all things living, including themselves” (29).

Though girls may need a little bit more attention, both boys and girls still need an ample supply of it altogether. They need their parents because it is through them that they learn how to act properly not only at home, but also anywhere else in the world. Without it, the kids would turn out like the Vargases, rude and destructive.