A Family is this.... - miamimath

Message to the Reader
When I started this magazine I only had
Viktoria Betke
Editor
Editor: Viktoria Betke
Managing Editor: Crystal Reimer
Associate Editor: Lisa Burnett
Contributing Editor: Anna Voth
Researcher: Vika Betke
Art Director: Rachel Reimer
Graphic Design: Viktoria Betke
Advertising department
Advertising sales Viktoria Betke
1269-336-9865
Circulation department
Circulation manager Vika
2543-384-6750
Marketing department
2453-465-2190
one goal in mind to show people how important a
family is to everybody. How everybody needs a
family, even though things can be tough sometimes there is always a way to fix things, but the
question is are you choosing the right path?
Everybody who had children wants to give
them all they have, but not everybody knows how
to raise a child. So in my magazine you’ll find an
essay on how to raise a child in three easy steps.
Most parents don’t know if they should
spank their children, if you’re even allowed to
spank children. Find out in my editorial if children should get spanked or not. You’ll read different people’s opinion, and might find the answers
to your questions.
And also don’t forget to read my short story
which is about two eight year old twins whose
parents want to get a divorce and want to separate
them too. Well what do you do in this kind of
situation? Find out what the twins decide to do.
Well overall I had lots of fun doing my
magazine I learned a lot of stuff about families
that I didn’t know before. I have spent a lot of
time in this magazine and hpe you’ll have a good
time reading all my articles.
Family Magazine is published 12 times a
year.
BOX 261
Victoria B.C., 1K8 GFV,
2943-435-9834
01 FAMILY January 2010
Viktoria Betke
Table of Contents
Research Essay
Raising a Child_____________3-4
Oats/Rationale_____________5-6
Movie Review
A Cinderella Story__________ 9
Oats/Rationale_____________11-12
Short Story
We will Always Be Together _ 15-16
Oats/Rationale_____________17-18
Editorial
Should Children get Spanked__20
Oats/Rationale_____________ 21-22
Feature Article
Big Family_________________25
Oats/Rationale_____________ 26
Poem
The Birthday Child__________27
Oats/Rationale_____________28
Bibliography________________ 33-34
January 2010 FAMIlY 02
RAISING A CHILD
Have you ever wondered why
your kid has turned out the way
he or she is? How can you raise
your child better? As a parent it’s
your responsibility to raise your
child, so he’ll turn out to be a
great kid. As David Blunkett said
as quoted in Kamel Ahmed’s article “Should it be a crime to hit
you child?”, “I do believe that the right to
smack in exceptional
circumstances is one
which should remain
with parents and child
carers who are carrying
out the explicit wishes of
parent.” It’s very important to raise your
child healthy, to spend
time with him, yet do
discipline him in the
way it works for you as
a parent and your child.
Raising a healthy child is
very important. Children should
start to eat healthy when they are
still young. Eating a balanced
breakfast tends to result in a
healthy weight. When children
can’t finish something they’re
eating, you as a parent should
never force your child to finish it
because eating when one is full is
very unhealthy. Eating meals together as a family is beneficial
because it connects your family
which children really need. Being
active is also very important for
your family. Usually when
parents do activities, their chil-
03 FAMILY January 2010
dren want to do them with them.
Most children learn from examples,
so seeing their parents being active,
eating healthy, and loving others
sets a good example for children.
Another important thing to
do as a parent is spending time with
your child. Some parents don’t do
that, so the child feels left out and
parents won’t be part of their life
anymore. As a parent you should
love your child, care for your child,
and make your child feel special
and wanted. Raising your child
should be a parent’s main goal.
Children should trust their parents
so that they can talk with them, but
parents have to earn their trust. If
they come home from school they
usually have lots of stuff to say,
and to show so parents should take
time to ask about it and listen to
them. Children will feel special if
they know that you care about their
life. Taking time for your kid won’t
ever hurt you later on in life when
your kid is an adult; he will remain
connected with you and talk with
you. Then you’ll know that you
did a good job of raising your
child.
The last important discussion point concerns discipline, the
one thing that causes problems
for most parents. Some parents
think they should punish their
child by hitting them excessively
while others don’t punish their
child at all for anything.
The government already
made a law that smacking is illegal because
some parents just don’t
know how to raise and
punish their kid. . 84%
of people believe that
the parents should have
the right to raise their
own child and not the
government or state. I
agree parents should
have the right to raise
their child I mean it’s
their child, but some parents
don’t care about their child in that
case I would just take the child
away from them just because they
don’t want their child anymore.
Also the child might just turn out
as a violent person. Countless
studies say smacking does not
work. As Countless studies said
as quoted in Kamal Ahmed’s article Should it be a crime to hit
your child?, “It merely gives children the sense that violence is an
appropriate response to get what
you want.”
So now you know that
raising children healthy, spending time with them, and discipline them the way it works for
you and your children is very
important. It can be very hard
but it’s worth it. Don’t leave
your child alone because children need parents. A kid wants
to be healthy and spend time
with their parents. Even though
they don’t know it now, later on
in life if you did a good job raising your child he’ll know that
you punished him because you
loved him and wanted him to
have a good life.
they are watching us to see
what we do with ours. I can't
tell my children to reach for
the sun. All I can do is reach
for it, myself.” (Joyce Maynard)
“It's not only children
who grow. Parents do too. As
much as we watch to see what
our children do with their lives,
So do you want your child to be
great? It’s your responsibility.
January 2010 FAMIlY 04
OATS
In this text I will write about
family .I will talk about difference of my family and in the
past. I will define responsibilities
of each member. In my family
there are four members. Those
are my brother, father my mother
and I. We do not live with our
grandmother or grandfather but I
have the grandmother.
In first paragraph I will tell
something about family in past.
In my mothers and fathers time
there was not computers like today. The families and children
were much more together than
today. Today is much bigger
need for money and for life. So
the people are working much
more then in past. They do not
have time to see each other that
much. There were no so many
cars. Today many people have
even two or three cars.
In the past there was less disease.
For some disease there were
medicines. Today they have
05 FAMILY January 2010
found medicine for
many diseases but the
problem is there are
again new disease
likes aids. I think disease always will be
problem even in the
future. I think also
there is division between male and female activities but
less.
My mother's name is Jane. She was
born in Germany in 1954. Now I
will give you few examples of her
responsibilities in the family. I
think her is to care about children
to cook, clean shop for food and to
worry about everything. In this few
examples you can see as I said in
one paragraph, the division between male and female activities.
For example many of these things
my father does not do.
Now I will tell something about my
father. My father's name is jan and
he was born in 1955. I will give
you as in last paragraph few examples of his responsibilities. Those
are: going to work what means
earning money, giving you a
money, maybe sometimes get jealous and helps you with school. The
examples are also division between
male and female activities. My
mother also does not do this example.
Grandmother's name is hgtz. She
is also living in Germay but not
with us. She is very old so I asked
her few questions about her life
in the past .I asked her something
about hospitals and doctors in her
time. She told me that there were
hospital and doctors but in a bigger cities.
In a smaller cities there was not
hospitals. Who lived in a smaller
city he needed much travel to
come to hospital in a bigger city.
My brother's name is james. He is
one year younger than me. He is
14 years old. He likes basketball,
tennis and computers. He is going
to a school named "International
school." He likes rap music. He
also has some functions in the
family. He also needs to go to
school, he has good grades,does
his homeworks and sometimes
helps his parents.
Now something about me. My
name is jag .I am 15 years old .I
like to play football, tennis and
computer .Me and my family
lived for five years in germny. I
finished eight grade in there .I
talked about my mother's, father's
and brothers functions and now
something about my functions in
the family. My functions are: going to school, having good
grades, helping to my father and
mother.
RATIONALE
T
his example fits to my theme
because this essay is talking
about a family in the past, and the
responsibilities of a family. My
theme is family; I would like to
talk about the responsibilities of a
family too. The student that wrote
this essay was talking about his
own family. I think he really
loves his family. He talked about
everyone one of them and their responsibilities and what they like to
do. I don’t really know what the
purpose is supposed to be but I
think he just wanted to tell how important a family is for everybody. I
don’t think that this is a good essay
because when I started reading it I
didn’t really know what the three
thesis points were. The conclusion
paragraph wasn’t good either because first it didn’t state the thesis
points or anything in the essay;
the guy just talked about himself
what he likes to do. It also doesn’t sound like an essay it sounds
more like a presentation. There is
also lots of spelling mistake. This
is a personal essay. I think the
guy tried really hard so people
will understand his essay better
but it just doesn’t sound like an
essay.
January 2010 FAMILY 06
07 FAMILY January 2010
January 2010 FAMILY 08
PRINCETON GIRL: A CINDERELLA STORY
Rating: G
Length: 95 min.
Director: Mark Roseman
Starring: Hilary Duff & Chad
Michael Murray
Personal rating: 9/10
Everybody has a dream but
can they fulfill it? Sam has one
dream to go to Princeton but can
she do it with no one around to
help her?
A Cinderella Story is another romance, drama, and family
film that will bring your family
together to enjoy a movie that
everyone will enjoy. The cast that
was chosen Sam (Hilary Duff)
and Austin (Chad Michael
Murray) were great.
“This film is what dreams
are made of.” Hilary Duff also
starring in Raise your Voice is
Sam who is a senior girl friendly
and shy. She lost both her parents
and is living at her stepmom’s
(Jennifer Collide) place, where
she is treated like a slave. Sam’s
only dream is to go to Princeton
College where she will be miles
away from her stepmom, and
maybe find her prince there too,
but maybe she has already found
her prince her anonymous email
buddy Austin (Chad Michael
Murray ) who is also starring in
One Tree Hill. Austin a hot and
popular guy at school, captain of
the football team isn’t happy with
his life. No one really knows
what he wants to be, except one
girl Sam. When Sam and Austin
09 FAMILY January 2010
decide to met at the dance, Sam
wearing a mask freaks out when
she finds out its Austin. She doesn’t know if one of her dreams will
ever come true. Sticking up for herself Sam manages to believe in herself. “Never let the fear of striking
out keep you from playing the
game.” Are the words her dad always used to say and it helps her to
stick up for herselve.
The best moment of the film is
when Sam finally sticks up for herself and shows people that she is
not just someone to be used. Even
though she has no family, no job,
and no money for Princeton, she is
happy being herself and she believes that things are going to be
o.k. It makes us feel that everyone
has the right to stick up for themselves and do what they love to do.
The film has impacted the audience
by making us feel that everyone has
the right to stick up to your own
dream and do what you like to do
not what others want you to do; it’s
your life and you should live it. I
think the director Mark Roseman
wanted to show people that they
should stick up to their own dream
and believe in themselves. The film
has lots of things you can learn
about but you should be aware that
the stepsisters are acting just like 6
year olds. They do anything just to
get Austin’s attention. I don’t think
that fits to the film the stepsisters
are supposed to be mean not childish.
Three effectively used elements in the film are music, artistic
aspects, and cinematography. The
music in this film is very good; it
really fitted to all parts. Most of
the time there was calm and sad
music. There was funny music
when the stepsisters act all weird.
The artistic aspects were very
good too; you could see what
kind of character they had because of the way they dressed
because some people where over
dressed and you knew that they
are rich and think high of themselves, but others where dressed
normal and you knew that they
are just normal people. Sam
mostly wore dark colour clothing
(except at the end when she believes in herself) to show that she
is an outsider. At the end of the
film Sam finally lightens up and
shows people who she really is,
she starts to wear brighter colours. The stepsister had their
whole face full of make up and
dressed up in bright colours to
show that they want to get attention and are “popular”. I think it
worked pretty well because they
stood out more than the others.
Last the cinematography the
movie had lots of tilts (when
stepsister had their swimming
lesson) and pans (Sam driving to
school). All kinds of close ups,
medium shots, wide shots, and
long shot. There was mostly close
ups and medium shot in a conversation. I think the cinematography was pretty good the shots all
worked, they could of added
more special effects.
So get your family together
and watch a movie that teaches
you life skills and is enjoyable for
everyone.
January 2010 FAMILY 10
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
Y
ou’ve seen this before.
Steve Martin as the nervous
parent awaiting a baby delivery. Steve Martin reluctantly
acknowledging his daughter’s
independence. Steve Martin
falling victim to kids’ pranks.
From Parenthood to the Father
of the Bride remake and sequel to 2003’s Cheaper by the
Dozen to, uh, last week's
Yours, Mine and Ours, the
man who began his career as
a brilliant, absurdist comic has
defined himself as a soft,
weepy dad, running through a
thousand family-film clichés.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 rehashes it all with no presence
of originality or humor.
Martin reprises the role of Tom
Baker, father of twelve and
husband to wife Kate (the
sparkling, grounded Bonnie
Hunt). In an effort to bond the
family one final time before
11 FAMILY January 2010
grandkids are born When the simpleton dialogue
and chickens fly
isn’t distracting you – or your
the coop, Tom
kids, by the way – listening to
cloyingly conMartin’s plaintive whining and
vinces the clan to
pathetic rah-rah talks might.
vacation at their
Screenwriter Sam Harper
old lakefront
wrote a lovable family film with
haunt. There, they
his first attempt, Rookie of the
meet their nemeYear, but his Cheaper by the
ses: the clean-cut
Dozen efforts lack all ingenuity
white-teethed Mur- and vitality.
taugh family led by
perfectionist papa
Of course, there’s always the
Jimmy, played by
“meat in the pants” gag to
the painfully underutilized
keep the kids laughing. But will
Eugene Levy.
they laugh if they’ve already
The Murtaugh kids study hard,
seen the same trick pulled in
attend Yale and excel at sports.
the first film? How difficult
The Baker kids excel at poop
would it have been to conjure
jokes. Taking a lifelong rivalry
up something else? At least
between the dads to its inevitathe original movie featured a
ble conclusion,
pair of saucethe families
soaked underCast and Crew
prepare for an
wear and a
Director : Adam Shankman
annual Labor
playfully
Producer
:
Shawn
Levy,Ben
Day competihammy Ashton
Myron
tion – one the
Kutcher. This
wealthy Murone results in
Screenwiter : Sam Harper
taughs win
two guys falStarring : Steve Marwith regularity. tin,Bonnie Hunt,Piper Perling off a dock.
abo,Tom Welling,Hilary
Naturally,
In fact, whenDuff,Kevin
Schmidt,Alyson
there’s the obever there’s a
Stoner,Eugene Levy,Carmen conflict that
vious male
chest thumpElectra,Taylor Lautner,Jaime might find the
ing, but it’s got King
film’s funny
a pretty tight
bone, it ends
set of reins on
with people
it. The fun amounts to competifalling. Off docks, balconies,
tive campfire sing-alongs, egg
logs, whatever’s available.
toss training, and flat banter
Other slapstick options for a
about child-rearing techniques.
Tom vs. Jimmy log-rolling con-
test, which you’ve probably
seen on TV, are many. Sadly,
the scene’s high point involves
one character slipping splitlegged and crunching the family jewels.
The potential for creative, appealing, family-targeted laughs
is there. But director Adam
Shankman takes a poorly
timed, easy way out for each
gag and the movie suffers.
Levy's snarky shrewdness is
wasted, as is the quick wit of
Bonnie Hunt. Too often, cast
members are stuffed onscreen
for awkwardly short scenes, resulting in a bunch of family problems solved in ridiculous, fasterthan-a-bad-sitcom fashion. If
you’re a teenager wanting to
check out Hilary Duff in this one,
don’t bother. She has about 6
minutes of screen time.
Points are scored for Hunt,
sharp and sensitive, and Carmen Electra as Murtaugh’ s new
trophy wife.
But what to make of Steve
Martin? His recent work has
two sides: misfiring family films
and more mature material like
Shopgirl. Perhaps there’s an
artistic middle somewhere with
a movie like the un-PC Bringing Down the House (a far better Adam Shankman film). Regardless, with more familyfriendly movies in Steve Martin’s future, upcoming attempts
have gotta be better than this.
Even the bloopers
during
RATIONALE
T
his movie review fits to my theme because
the movie is about a family, how they have problems with their
own family and another family and how they’re solving it. My
magazine is about how families can solve problems. Norm
Schrager is the writer of this movie review, I think he did a
pretty good job, he mentioned the name of the actors and he did
a brief summary of the movie. He also mentioned that he didn’t
like the movie because it’s kind of like the first one. He didn’t
just tell you the bad things but also some good stuff like the
movie is funny. I think the purpose is that a family may have
problems but they can always solve it if they really want to save
their family. The author recommended not to watch the movie if you are
a Hilary Duff fan because she only plays like 6 min. on screen. He also
said that it’s just like the first Cheaper by a Dozen nothing new.
January 2010 FAMILY 12
13 FAMILY January 2010
January 2010 FAMILY 14
We Will Always
Be Together
D
ad are you coming?”
Belinda asked. Usually he was on
time but the last few days he’d
been acting weird; by coming
home late. He was just different
than he used to be. Belinda and
Becky the two 8 year old twins
didn’t know what’s wrong with
him; they really loved their parents and wanted to help them as
much as possible.
That night, the twins got
ready for bed, and as they waited
for their parents to say good night
to them as usual, they heard a
crash. They went downstairs but
stopped when they heard their
parents arguing. Not wanting to
eavesdrop, they turned to go upstairs when they heard their mom
say, “…. so then leave and do
your business if that is all you
care about.”
The twins didn’t understand what was going on with
their parents. They really wanted
to help them so they did as much
as they could; two weeks later
when they noticed things were
finally the same again just as it
used to be their parents were talking with each other and actually
15 FAMILY January 2010
doing some paper work
together. “At least they
are doing something together again,” Becky said.
One evening
Becky brought coffee to
her dad in his office he wasn’t there
so she put the cup on his desk. As
she started to leave, something on
the table caught her eye. Looking
closely she saw a word was spelled
in big letters. “Divorce,” she read
out loud.
She dropped the paper in
shock and ran out of the house to
the tree house that her dad had built
for the twins. Once inside, she
thought about her discovery. She
couldn’t believe
it, all this time
they thought
their parents had
solved their
problem. And
now they were
getting a divorce! She
started to cry,
wondering what
was happening
to their family.
She loved both
of her parents
and could never
choose with
whom she would live, yet she could
never be apart from Belinda. The
thought of Belinda made her sad.
Belinda came in all happy and
ready to play some games as always, but seeing her sister’s face
almost made her cry too.
“Becky what happened?”
she asked.
Oh no how was she ever
going to tell Belinda that they
might get separated because of
their parents. So she tried to explain, “I just went to dad’s office
to bring him some coffee, he wasn’t there so when I put the cup on
his table, I found some papers.”
She stopped unable to continue.
“What kind of papers?”
Belinda asked. “Tell me.”
They both just
stared at each other neither one
knowing what to
say; never in
their lives did
they think that
they might become separated.
What were they
going to do
now?
“Divorce
papers,” Becky
said looking
down.
Suddenly
Becky jumped
up. “Hey I have
a plan,” Becky
said excitedly. “What if we live at
mom’s place for a week then
move to dad’s for a week and
then back and forth! That way we
can stay together.”
Belinda said, “Yeah this
would be great….”
“What would be great?” a
voice interrupted her.
Turning around they saw
their parents in the doorway.
“Well before we answer your
question don’t you have to tell us
something yourself”
The parents looked at
each other then their dad said,
“Well we kind of figured you had
found out about our divorce, but
you have to understand. Things
are not working out between your
mom and me. I’m going to take
one of you girls with me to New
York, one of you can stay here
with your mom. I got a great job
there and I must start work in two
weeks. So who wants to stay
where?”
It grew quiet; Becky and
Belinda didn’t say a word. What
could they say? Their entire plan
just vanished.
“You don’t have to decide
now just tell us in the morning
o.k.?” their mom said as they both
left.
“So what are we going to do
now?” Becky asked.
Belinda looked at her sister
and then down. Neither knew what
to do; someone had to leave go to a
big city, to a new school, to new
friends.
“Hey you know what? Mom
and Dad have their problems and
want to get separated but that doesn’t mean they can separate us. I
won’t leave you even if it means
not living with mom and dad…”
Belinda said.
The next morning as the
whole family ate breakfast, Belinda
spoke up. “Mom, Dad we have decided where we’re going to live,”
she started, “We are both staying at
grandma’s place; you guys may
have problems and want to get
separated but that doesn’t mean
you can destroy our lives and separate us. A family problem concerns
everybody in the family not just
parents. You never asked what
we wanted, so we talked about it
and this is what we want.”
Everything became quiet
and no one dared to move. All of
sudden their dad apologized and
said that they could stay with
their mom, and just come for
summer vacation. “I’m very sorry
that we didn’t ask your opinion;
you’re right! A divorce does concern everyone in the family. So
you can stay here and finish
school; you’ll just come to my
place in the summer.”
The next two weeks were
the best weeks Belinda and
Becky had for the past few
months, their parents seemed relaxed and no one was stressed as
they all had been. Even though
their parents were getting a divorce they were still friends and
now they knew that they had children that they needed to take care
of together in order to raise
them.
January 2010 FAMILY 16
A
middle aged woman
opens the lid of her mailbox
and finds a strange letter. She
begins reading.
January 15, 2005
Dear Mrs. Deen:
After thirty years, I have finally
found you, my birth mother. I
always knew I was adopted and
that you did not want your
identity revealed. However, my
adoptive parents were recently
killed in a car accident and I
found your name and address
in their personal belongings.
I would like to meet with you.
Please call me if you would
like to get together.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Peters
Anna dropped the letter to the
floor, shivered and wept uncontrollably for a long time. Finally she wiped the tears from
her face and stared at the telephone. She picked up the business card that fell from the envelope.
Rebecca Peters, Interior Decorator and Antique Dealer
Reeling from shock, Anna
thought back thirty years to
small town in Minnesota.
Anna snuck out of the house
17 FAMILY January 2010
that
night. She stuffed her bed with
pillows and even put a blonde
wig under one of the sheets to
fool her mother, just in case. She
met her friend Lori in the open
field behind her house. They
walked four miles to a trailer
park the other side of town and
arrived at the party a little after
midnight.
Classic rock and roll was blasting
from two large speakers, while
couples in various stages of alcohol and drug induced haze lie on
the floor kissing and writhing.
Lorie found her boyfriend in the
next room passing a joint back
and forth between friends, and
the girls joined in. Several hits
later, they were numb and buzzing to the music.
Someone put a glass of beer in
Anna's hand which she drank
quickly and then got another.
When she started slurring her
words and staggering, a senior
named Eddie put his arm around
her and announced to everyone,
"I get to be babysitter now", wiggled his eyebrows suggestively
and steered her into a bedroom.
Eddie was one of the most popular boys in school. Six feet tall,
black hair and bright blue eyes.
He was every girl's dream, including Anna's.
When she woke up the sun
shone bright in the large window. She tried to remember
events from the previous night.
It was all a blur. Anna looked
around for Lori, but she was
not among the litters of sleeping humps on the floor. Head
pounding Anna nudged Eddie
who grunted and sat up slowly.
"What a night last night! I was
totally wasted! Want a ride
home?"
"What time is it? I have to get
home" Anna whined.
They stepped over the bodies,
walked out the door and
climbed into Eddie's rusted
blue Chevrolet. He started the
car, lit a cigarette and backed
out of the driveway.
"Do you remember what happened last night, I mean after
we lay down on the floor? I
can't remember a thing." Anna
whispered wincing at the pain
in her head.
"We got wasted that's all."
Eddie gave her a crooked
smile.
It was six o'clock in the morning so Anna was safe; her parents would be asleep on this
early Sunday morning. After
Eddie dropped her off down the
street she tip-toed up the back
steps and
slipped inside the
house to her
bedroom.
Three
months later
when Anna
realized she
was pregnant she told
Eddie.
"I can get the money for the
abortion but I'll have to tell my
parents." he shook his head
sadly.
"No abortion Eddie. I want this
baby."
Eddie walked away quickly
and did not look back.
Anna was afraid talking to her
parents Bob and Jean about the
pregnancy would start a fight.
They were constantly bickering
and talking about divorce.
That evening they glared at
each other, pointed fingers and
yelled accusations. After they
calmed down, Jean called
Eddie's parents.
"Jean, how do you know the
baby is Eddie's?" Margaret
asked.
Jean slammed down the phone
angrily.
"You're giving the baby up for
adoption Anna." said Jean with
a sigh.
"No! I am keeping this baby
and raising it."
Her father broke in abruptly.
"How? We can't help you! And
what about college?"
An hour later, Anna and her parents arranged for her to stay with
an Aunt in Chicago, have the
baby and return
home in time for
graduation. She
would finish senior year early in
January and hopefully no one
would notice her
condition. After
all this was 1975
and teenage pregnancy was a black mark on the
family forever.
Anna never saw the baby and
agreed to a closed adoption.
However she always secretly
hoped to meet her son or daughter. They told her nothing about
the baby, not even its gender.
At a restaurant or on the street
she would look around and notice tall young people with bright
blue eyes and black hair. Anna
never had any other children.
There was longing in
her heart and emptiness
in her life that she could
not fulfill.
Anna looked at the
business card once
again, picked up the
telephone and dialed.
The next day she
walked into a small coffee shop and looked
around nervously. Suddenly a very tall attractive young woman with
black hair and blue eyes
approached her.
"Hello, you must be Anna, I am
Rebecca." She had a crooked
smile.
Anna looked at her and then
embraced the young woman
who stood stiff.
Anna backed up. "I'm sorry. It's
just that I have imagined this
moment for the last thirty
years." And she wiped away
the tears running down her
cheeks. They moved to a table
and sat down.
After a long conversation Rebecca said she had to get back
to her office and she said goodbye but promised to keep in
touch.
After she left, Anna realized
that Rebecca had taken the letter and business card from her.
Clearly Rebecca wanted the
relationship on her own terms.
Anna smiled to herself and
watched all the young people in
the restaurant and on the street
but did not notice anyone in
particular.
January 2010 FAMILY 18
The short story that I
chose is about this old woman
Anna who got a letter from her
daughter Rebecca that she has
never seen or heard of in her
life. When Anna was about 17
years old she got pregnant, the
guy didn’t want the kid and
wanted an abortion. But Anna
19 FAMILY January 2010
wanted the kid; her parents told
her she had to give up to adoption. And now 30 years later she
can finally meet her daughter
and get to know her.
I think the author’s
theme is about relationships between mom and daughter and
the purpose is that young people
should know what they’re doing
because once something is done
you can’t take it back and you
have to live with it. The text
relates to my purpose because
people should know what
they’re doing because usually
their kids get hurt the most. It
support my central idea because
Anna didn’t know what she was
doing when she was a teenager
(she was drunk) but still her
daughter had to deal with the
fact that she got raised not by
her real mom.
SHOULD CHILDREN GET
SPANKED?
The question “Should
parents spank their kids?” has
been asked over
the past few
years. “We do
not wish to see
an increase in
the prosecution
of parents, for
moderate physical
punishment,” the
report said. Among
working-class 88
percent of parents
believe it is sometimes necessary
to spank a naughty child. What
do you think works to get your
child to listen to you? In my
opinion I think parents should
spank their children when
they’re small so ages 2-12.
“Children have rights as human
beings and also need special
care and protection.” stated the
government.
It’s true that spanking
children might give some children the sense of violence because of inappropriate language
and they become afraid of their
own parents. Some children
even receive bruises but it’s important to point out that there’s a
difference between disciplinary
spanking and abusively beating
your child. In my opinion children need to be raised and if it
means spanking then go ahead.
So some children who lack respect need a smack on the behind. They need to know who is
boss, and also know
what’s good and bad.
I’m not saying every
kid needs to be
spanked but some
children do so they’ll
know who is boss.
Some children will need to
get more than just
one smack because
otherwise the message
won’t stick and it might be the
only way to get the child’s attention. Children these days need to
be raised when their still small
because then the parents are still
the boss of their children and the
children will listen or learn to
listen to their parents. I
would say between the
ages 2-12 they should
still get spanked (if
they need it). It’s
good to tell/show
the child what’s
good and bad
when they’re little. Later on in
life when they’re
bigger most children make
their own choices, and most
likely won’t listen to their own
parents whatever they do because
they’re big enough to make their
own choices. So if you want to
raise your child you have to do
when they are small.
Finally as Lillian Samuel
from El Sobrante said, “We
spanked ours when they did
something that could harm
them, like running in the street.
They got the message and never
did it again. Spare the rod, spoil
the child.” So spanking does
work but you have to know how
and when to spank your child.
Like Lillian said, “Spare the rod,
spoil the child.” So I bet no one
wants a spoiled child. You
should talk with your child after
he/she is spanked and always
explain why he or she was
spanked. Sometimes you don’t
even have to spank and just talk
with your child and they’ll understand you.
Every parent should
know their own children and
know how to raise them. The
government should allow spanking as
long as it’s disciplinary spanking
and not an abusively beating. In
my opinion I don’t
think the government
should tell parents how
to raise their child. It’s
your child but don’t
blame anyone if your child turns
out to be a bad child. So stop
beating your child and spank
them disciplinary.
January 2010 FAMILY 20
Child abuse is an immense
problem that does require immediate help provided to the
child from the side of specialists. Once a teacher gets an
allegation of abuse from a
child, he must not require a
written statement from the
child or must not make the
child repeat the allegation in
front of other teachers or
adult people. The teacher
must not wait until the end of
the school day, but report immediately by the means of
telephone and support it with
a written report within the
next 36 hours. The teacher
takes individual responsibility
for the report, so it cannot be
done anonymously. Both the
telephone and the written report are subjects of certain
legal procedures. The telephone report should include
detailed information about the
person making the report and
detailed information about the
child, suspected of being a
victim of abuse: location, special needs, injury, ect. Afterwards all the details must be
repeated by the contact person and approved by the reporting teacher. By no means
a teacher should contact the
child’s parents and a teacher
21 FAMILY January 2010
should not make an investigation.
The next step after the telephone report is the written report. A fax report is an interchangeable form of a written
report, required by the
“Department of Children and
Family Services”. The written
reports are made through the
forms: SS 8572 or SS 8572(2),
reporting the fact of child
abuse and by the form DOJ
900, which is a medical report.
Copies should be made and
saved by the reporter for
further organizational process. Generally
all the forms if
needed are
provided by
the child
protective
agency.
All the information in
the forms must be full
and as objective as possible.
They require detailed information about the life of the child,
his needs and other information. A personal opinion of the
reporter has no legal value.
The information of both written and telephone report is
confidential. This confidentiality in case of its violation may
result in 6 month of jail, for
the person violating it. The
teacher may feel free to contact the child protective
agency for any questions that
may occur throughout the
process of reporting the
abuse or neglect. The identifying information provided by
the reporting teacher should
be clear. The teacher is completely responsible for any
information that he conceals,
including the name of the
possible perpetrator from the
contact person. The response
and the actions of the child
protective agency following
the reports may have a wide
range. The teacher has to be
ready in case the parent requests details about the reasons the child abuse report
was made. Only a small
amount of people have
access to the
report details – and
they always
are designated reporters such
as CARE Program
SCAN Team
members. The
main
role of the
teacher is to make the report
legally right, according to the
local abuse-reporting plan.
Any illegal action, incorrect
information that does not coincide with the reality and is
subjective attitude is a law
violation and the teacher
takes responsibility for false
evidence.
I think
my Editorial is an Argumentative essay because it’s arguing about child abuse
what to do about it. I don’t think
it’s a good Argumentative essay
because it doesn’t have the 5 paragraphs and it doesn’t really state the
three thesis points, it just tells you
what to do about child abuse. This
text relates to
my purpose
because it
shows you
that abuse will never lead you to be
a great family, and the kids need to
be taken away from parents who
abuse their kids. It supports my
central theme by showing that a
family can never be great with
abuse and violence.
The author’s central idea is that
people should help children who
get abused. The call to action is
people should call and report immediately if they know someone is
getting abused. “…report immediately by the means of telephone and
the written report.” The stance is
“Child abuse is an immense problem the does
require help provided to
the child from the side
of specialists.” And the
purpose is to save more
children from abuse.
January 2010 FAMILY 22
23 FAMILY January 2010
January 2010 FAMILY 24
Things do not stay the
same, especially family size you
might think that your life is on
track but suddenly life changes
life changes. This is what happened to Agnes Betke who
thought she was the baby of the
family.
After being the youngest
for eleven years and five
months, Agnes Betke received
another sister. “I never thought
I’d get another sister I thought I
would be the youngest for the
rest of my life.” she says.
Agnes has grown up in a
big family; she has three older
sisters -Katrin, Viktoria, and
Valentina. She also has two
brothers Vitalij and Theo, and
one brother- in- law Simson.
“Having a big family is actually
pretty good. You never get
bored, and there’s always someone you can talk to and do stuff
with. It’s never quiet even
though we’re supposed to sometimes because the little kids are
sleeping but well it doesn’t work
in a big family,” she says. When
her family moved to Canada six
year old Agnes wanted to have
another sister because she didn’t
know the language and needed a
play mate. As she gradually
learned the language and found
friends, she didn’t even think
about having another sister or
brother.
25 FAMILY January 2010
So as she grew up she was
be the oldest she thinks they are
treated the same they get the same
allowed to do everything. But
stuff, of course youngest are always now she realizes how much rethe cutest ones and get everything
sponsibility the oldest children
they want but Agnes did as much
assume. They have to babysit
work as the
others.
when the parents are gone. Older
Her siblings
children alsay she was
ways do more
spoiled
chores because
though. “I
they are older
think Agnes
and parents exdid get
pect more from
spoiled a
them. Now
little, but
Agnes is happy
now as I
that she’s not
look back
the oldest or
she didn’t
youngest anyget spoiled
more. She really
as much as
likes being the
our little
youngest child
two year
but now being the
old sister
second youngest
Agnes who was the youngest
Becky.
is even better for
for many years is a grown up now her. “That way no
But no
one
one can say you
really
can’t come with us
complains about it because we all
because you are too
kind of spoil her because we never
young,” she said.
thought we would get another sisShe’s very happy with her
ter,” Agnes’s sister Katrin says.
family every family has problems
Her mother Nadja Betke
sometimes but there can always
tries hard to treat everybody the
be solved she can’t imagine a life
same. She never thought about hav- with out her whole family. Everying another child, but she’s very
body is special in some way. She
happy she has Rebecca now.
says, “Younger children always
“Rebecca makes the whole family
need a family they can have fun
laugh and keeps us together; she
with and feel special.” So just remakes us a big happy family. Now
laxed and enjoy every moment
all of us can’t imagine a life withyou have with your family.
out her,” she said.
Agnes has always wanted to
The Families Commission
says its latest report on preschool discipline methods
shows positive parenting techniques work for ordinary kiwi
families.
Chief commissioner Jan Pryor
said the results were encouraging and showed parents tried
hard to use techniques they
thought were effective.
“Parents told us they preferred
to use positive reinforcement
with their kids because that is
what they think works best.”
Researchers Julie Lawrence
and Anne B Smith asked the
families to record their discipline
practices in parenting diaries for
the report.
Parents were three times more
likely to use positive reinforcement, praise and affirmation
rather than punishment.
When parents did use
punishment they were
most likely to use “time
out” or withdrawal of
privileges, with smacking
as a last resort.
Most parents were firm
but fair in their style of
parenting, as opposed to
totally authoritarian or
permissive said Ms Pryor.
“The majority of parents surveyed
say discipline is about getting their
children to behave in a socially
acceptable way.
“There is also an encouraging indication in this report that our family violence messages, alongside
positive parenting information and
support, are helping parents find
techniques that work for them.”
Support included wider family,
friends, written material, and professionals such as early childhood
teachers, doctors and Plunket
nurses.
The majority of caregivers had
three or more support people but
some parents had little or none,
making it harder for them to
positively parent.
The Families Commissionfunded report involved interviews with 117 parents from 100
families, and investigated the
discipline strategies used by today’s families with their preschool children.
The study surveyed 98 mothers,
16 fathers, and three grandparents, 10 per cent of whom were
M?ori. The families had an average household income of
$50,000 – $60,000.
The feature article that I choose is positive discipline which means parents don’t have to punish their child. It
should be a last resort. The author’s purpose is to tell parents that positive discipline works and punishing
should be a last resort. This feature article fits to my purpose and central idea because the article is talking
about how to raise your child, should you be allowed to punish them. This is exactly what I talked about in my
editorial. It fits to my purpose because I want to give some advice for parents too, on how they should raise
their kids.
The feature article did have a good interview in it (subjective writing). But I don’t think it is a good feature
article because I wasn’t even sure if it was one it doesn’t really have a good start or angle which indicates angle/slant.
January 2010 FAMILY 26
A Family is this....
To be apart of a family like mine
is so divine
where love is shown
hurt is shared
our love for each other is never impaired
we talk
we laugh
we cry
but we are a family
and we do it all together
for as a family
we do it all as one
you hurt one
you hurt all
and as a family unit
we will all stand tall
for we are family
a family full of strength
a family full of love
a family no one can touch
that, s why I love my family so much.
I think that this is a great poem, it talks about what a family means and should feel. This poem relates
to my purpose and central idea because it’s about a family the importance of a family and that is just
my purpose (what a family means to everybody). This poem is also stylistically effective and the thing
that makes it a poem is stanza.
27 FAMILY January 2010
Eyes glowing like stars,
together a family
with the birthday child,
feeling happy and special
ready for all the presents.
A happy, loving,
and a caring family,
sitting together
in a peaceful restaurant
getting ready for supper.
January 2010 FAMILY 28
Pictures
http://beautydepravity.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/couple-arguing.jpg (page 15, parents)
http://www.beebeesee.tv/images/PrussianBlue.jpg (page 15, kids)
http://blog.cleveland.com/lifestyles/2007/10/large_family-fun.jpg (page 2, top picture)
http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//7000/400/50/4/27454.jpg (page 22, dad/kid)
http://childpack.com/wp-content/themes/wp-max/images/big_ad.gif (page 4)
http://www.childstarlets.com/captures/samples/alyson_stoner_cheaper.jpg (page 12, girl)
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/film.nsf/reviews/cheaperbythedozen2_1 (page 11)
http://covers.bkpub.com/fall09/9781605093482WhaleDoneParent.jpg (page 7)
http://www.creativepapercrafts.net/technique/img/200606-Family.jpg (page 19)
http://dadshouseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/mean-kids-girl.jpg (page 22, girl)
http://eccasa.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/mother-child-discipline-small-1.jpg (page 20, girl sitting
on chair)
http://evansandassoc.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/family_copy.243211216_std.jpg (page
27, background)
http://extension.umd.edu/images/family.jpg (page 5)
29 FAMILY January 2010
http://www.familytimes.co.nz/features/kiwi-parents-say-positive-discipline-works/ (page 26)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3399/3193496532_f2598cd612.jpg (page 17, baby)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/320300354_a8e1ce5eef.jpg (page 31 right)
http://www.getfrank.co.nz/assets/images/Halfwidth/NewFolder-6/_resampled/ResizedImage450338
-parentsincontrol2.jpg (page 21)
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/5617787/discipline-main_Full.jpg (page 22, mother
and kid)
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2004_A_Cinderella_Story/2004_a_cinderella_story_027.jpg
(page 10, boy)
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7000000/Cheaper-by-the-dozen-cheaper-by-the-dozen-27008162-1018-424.jpg (page 12, far left)
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=bar+code&gbv=2&aq=f&oq= (cover bar
code)
http://images.zap2it.com/movies/49651/49651_ba.jpg (page 12, guy alone)
http://imgs.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/sfmoms/2009/11/19/spanking333x342.jpg (page 22,
boy)
http://www.jennifercounseling.com/images/sad-woman.jpg (page 17, woman)
http://media.avclub.com/images/media/movie/3974/Cheaper-By-TheDozen2_jpg_595x325_crop_upscale_q85.jpg (page 12, top right picture)
http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/mag0802/new-family-dinner-01-af.jpg (page 3)
http://platial.com/img/2006/05/3/cheaper_by_the_dozen.jpg (page 12, middle down family picture)
http://pgscinfoskills.pbworks.com/f/Bibliography_.jpg (page 31 left)
http://www.poetic-creations.com/store/prodimages/family.jpg (page 32)
http://www.specialblessingsdaycare.com/cc6family.gif (page 16)
January 2010 FAMILY 30
http://www.stomptokyo.com/reelopinions/images/steve_martin1.jpg (page 12, middle top family picture)
http://www.texascollaborative.org/BoerckerModule/Stouffers-Advertisement.jpg (page 14)
http://www.themoneytimes.com/files/Spanking.jpg (page 20 top)
http://tinafiveash.com.au/images/series_heyhetero_family_big.jpg (page 24)
http://us.ent3.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/
a_cinderella_story/hilary_duff/gallery.jpg (page 10, girl)
http://www.vpa-enterprises.com/vpa/vpaenglish/images/sunsetbeach.jpg (back cover)
http://ybgr.org/img/plc/2Mom%20and%20daughter.jpg (page 18, bottom picture)
http://yorksimcoeirish.com/VanDerVechtAD.jpg (page 28, background)
31 FAMILY January 2010
Research
Betke, Agnes. Personal interview. 27 December 2009. Interview.
Betke, Katrin. Personal interview. 28 December 2009. Interview
Betke, Nadja. Personal interview. 15 September 2009. Interview.
http://www.bu.edu/sed/caec/files/10tips.htm
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/film.nsf/reviews/cheaperbythedozen2_1
http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/ViewDocument.aspx?id=34
“Family.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed.1993.
http://www.familytimes.co.nz/features/kiwi-parents-say-positive-discipline-works/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/may/04/childrensservices.childprotection
http://www.helium.com/items/1395655-loss-of-a-daughter?page=2
Lynxwiler, Christine. Longing for Home. USA: Barbour Publishing. 2005.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-family-is-this/
http://www.thetotaltransformation.com/?dsource=googlegenhome3&gclid=COOPqZWiq
Z4CFdA65Qod7C1Vpw
January 2010 FAMILY 32