Examples Of Awful Parenting In Melinda's Speak

Awful Parenting in Speak Melinda’s parents are guilty of neglect and horrible parenting. To start off, Melinda’s parents do not think about Melinda and are egotistical. On several events, her parents show selfishness when Melinda needed them the most. For example, when Melinda was late for school she tried asking her mom to drop her off. However, the mom said “‘You expect me to drive again.’ Another nod. ‘You will need boots it’s a long walk and it snowed again last night. I’m already late” (96). Furthermore, without understanding Melinda, her child’s situation, she made Melinda go to school, already late because she was late for work. In fact, Melinda’s mom is a manager and it would have been fine to go to work a bit late to drop her daughter off.

As they were talking about a solution, Melinda stayed quiet. Noticing this, her mom said “‘She’s jerking us around to get attention.’ Immediately, Melinda thought, “[Inside my head] would you listen? Would you believe? Fat chance” (114). In addition, Melinda’s parents think that Melinda is being purposefully difficult to be dealt with and is asking for attention in an immature way. Moreover, they jump to conclusions and assume this as they do no think that something happened to Melinda to make her need extra attention. By being impatient and clueless to their child, they are guilty of poor parenting. As a matter of fact, the parents do not notice how Melinda feels internally. They are bewildered as to what happened to their child and even when they should be able to tell something is wrong by looking at Melinda’s wrist, they do not have an impact on helping Melinda’s situation about why she has changed. To emphasize, when the mom sees Melinda’s cut on her wrist the next morning, she says “I do not have time for this Melinda” (88). After knowing that Melinda tried committing suicide, Melinda’s parents still do not do anything to physically or mentally help her out effectively as to why she