Discussion Board #3

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(1) Initial Post (250 words) posted by February 18

How powerful is parental involvement in influencing the body ideas and standards of girls? Does parental involvement sometimes perpetuate cultural standards of image? Is parental involvement powerful enough to help girls overcome the stigma that can accompany not fitting into peers' image standards?

(2) Follow up response (250 words) posted by February 25

Posted on a different day than your initial response, your follow up response is a response to a peer's post. Please attempt to challenge your peer and present unique ideas and perspective, bringing in ideas from the textbook as well as other sources. "I agree" or " I disagree" is simply not enough to constitute a valid and comprehensive follow up response.(250 words)

Gabriela Mendez

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Parental involvement and influence mold the childhood of an individual. The values, lessons, and good and even bad habits individuals learn and adopt into their personality are greatly influenced by the role their parents played while they grew up. Depending on whether a girl grows up with a male or female parental role (or both), these roles and who they are played by impact development, both socially and emotionally. For example, in a scenario where a girl is born into a family with a strong female parental figure, her upbringing is very likely to be influenced either positively or negatively by that parent. If the parent holds strong positive values, for example, regarding self-image, the girl is likely to imitate these values in her own life. However, if the parental role feeds strong negative emotions (lack of self-esteem for example) this will also likely lead to self-esteem issues in the child (Lips, 191). In a cultural sense, the same can be said. If a family holds strong cultural values and the parents fill traditional roles, for example, the mom attends the house and the kids, and the father is the breadwinner, the children in that family might grow and fall in the same footsteps as their parents (Lips 228). On the other hand, depending on the nature and difficulty of their lives, a mother who tends to fill the traditional role might encourage her daughter to dream bigger for herself to avoid the same struggle she did. However, the role a parental figure fills still impacts the way their child views society and themselves.