N
Neecee
Guest
I do. Since finding out we are having a boy, my hubby and I have now started to think of all the ways we can buck the trend and make sure our boy is brought up right. So far, what with the media, musical influences and general violence going on, he has three things working against him:
1) He's male
2) He's black
3) He's in London (and South London of all places)
I didn't grow up in London but my hubby did. He was brought up by a single parent on a council estate in South London and his good-for-nothing dad was on and off the scene whenever he felt like it. My hubby has bucked the trend as far as stereotypes go. He's a respectable professional black man who has not turned to crime or violence and blamed it on his upbringing.
There are so many broken families around now and single parent families seem to be the trend, especially in inner cities. I have nothing against single parent families - my MIL did a wonderful job bringing up 3 kids on her own and I have lots of friends who are going it alone and doing a great job. I guess we're just worried that no matter how well we bring up our son, he still may succomb to outside influences and get in with the wrong crowd.
My answer is to run away. Run faaaaaar away from London, back to where I grew up and hope that my surroundings have a better influence on him, but my hubby keeps reminding me that it is not only nature, but nurture that affects people.
Kids nowadays are scary! You can't even tell them anything without the threat of being beaten up or stabbed. I just wondered does anyone else sit and think "How the hell am I gonna do this? How do we grow 'good fruit' and avoid the bad apples?"
1) He's male
2) He's black
3) He's in London (and South London of all places)
I didn't grow up in London but my hubby did. He was brought up by a single parent on a council estate in South London and his good-for-nothing dad was on and off the scene whenever he felt like it. My hubby has bucked the trend as far as stereotypes go. He's a respectable professional black man who has not turned to crime or violence and blamed it on his upbringing.
There are so many broken families around now and single parent families seem to be the trend, especially in inner cities. I have nothing against single parent families - my MIL did a wonderful job bringing up 3 kids on her own and I have lots of friends who are going it alone and doing a great job. I guess we're just worried that no matter how well we bring up our son, he still may succomb to outside influences and get in with the wrong crowd.
My answer is to run away. Run faaaaaar away from London, back to where I grew up and hope that my surroundings have a better influence on him, but my hubby keeps reminding me that it is not only nature, but nurture that affects people.
Kids nowadays are scary! You can't even tell them anything without the threat of being beaten up or stabbed. I just wondered does anyone else sit and think "How the hell am I gonna do this? How do we grow 'good fruit' and avoid the bad apples?"