Characteristics Of A Good Parent In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

A good parent is usually defined as somebody who: takes responsibility, loves and cares for their children, supports them, gives them a place to live and keeps food on the table, makes sure their kids have clothes so they don’t get cold, a good parent is someone who takes care of themselves so they can take care of their children. In the story “The Glass Castle” Jeannette Walls lives in a family of six, with parents Rex and Rose Mary Walls. The family travels all over in search of new homes to live in because the parents can’t keep a steady income to pay for their houses. Rose Mary is a bad mother because of her lack of caring for the children, and how bad she is at taking care of responsibilities, although she takes her children into consideration

One time Jeanette was at a springs with her family, and her dad decided she needed to learn how to swim. He threw her into the water and she was struggling and drowning, after the whole epidemic was over she looked around for her mother and when she found her she realized “Mom who’d been floating on her back acting as if nothing were happening”(66). Jeanette had felt that her mother didn’t care about the situation. Jeanette almost drowned and Rose Mary acted like nothing had happened and as if it didn’t matter. Another example of how Rose cares for the children happened when Rex and rose had baby Mary Charlene. Mary was a little baby at the time and had passed away in her crib unexpectedly, it left Rex heart broken and had changed him but it didn’t seem to phase Rose Mary at all “ Mom never seemed upset about Mary Charleen’s death”(28). Most Mothers would have been heart broken and crying or feeling some type of emotions. But as Jeanette had said Rose Mary just looked at the situation like there was one less mouth to feed. Overall Rose Mary seems to show very little feelings about the children and its expressed many times throughout the

As a mother you are depended upon by your kids to provide them with food and clothes because, legally a child cannot get a job until they are 14. Once the child gets their own job they can pay for things but until then the children rely on the parents. Often times there was no money, and if there was no money then there was nothing to buy food with. “It was the only thing to eat in the whole house”(69). At one point they were so low on food and the children were so hungry they ate butter mixed with sugar. This was because they were starving and there was nothing else edible in the house. Along with having little to no food, the kids also had little to no clothes. The clothes they had were torn, dirty, and smelly, and in the winter they barely had any to keep them warm. “I had 3 dresses to my name, all hand me downs from a thrift store, which meant each week I had to wear two of them twice”(140). Rose Mary did not ever buy the kids new clothes and one thing that is expected by a parent is to provide your family with clean clothes that keep them warm, and for them to have something for them to look presentable