Bad Parenting In As She Grows By Lesley Anne Cowan

According to Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey, about ninety-three Canadians have consumed alcohol their whole life. Why is this important? The novel As She Grows by Lesley Anne Cowan, written in Toronto, is based around Snow, just fifteen, who grew up without a mother or father. She was raised by her grandmother, a well-meant but mentally unstable alcoholic. Her grandmother is part of those ninety-three Canadians who have consumed alcohol their whole life. All of these people can potentially abuse alcohol, and their children would be affected by bad parenting similar to Snow. In this essay, I will be analyzing Snow’s relationship with her alcoholic grandmother, and consider the effects of bad parenting, through negative effects

Alcoholic parents could have a young, teenage or grown-up child but either way, they can disturb a child’s life and cause damaging effects that can last a lifetime. The negative effects can range from low self-esteem, loneliness, guilt, abandonment, anxiety to as extreme as depression. It is because they feel they are different from other people, that they develop a poor-self image that they carry throughout their life. In the novel, Snow feels very different from her best friend Carla. Even though Snow may share her stories about how her grandmother drank too much one night or cursed at her after-school, she knows that Carla may nod her head and say that she understands, but in reality, she never will. On page fourteen, Carla said, “Sorry. It’s not a good time. My mom’s being a drag” (Cowan 14). However, Snow stated, “Though usually, Carla’s fights are over stupid things, like her mom refusing to buy her a pair of jeans or shrinking her shirt in the dryer” (Cowan 15). This passage establishes that Carla’s family problems are so minuscule compared to Snow. She will get upset at her mother about insignificant things, while Snow fights with her grandmother daily and her grandmother will go as far as harassing and abusing her, by cursing or being violent. Her grandmother’s unpredictable and chaotic behavior disturbs Snow’s life and causes harmful effects that can last a

Alcoholic parents tend to have lack of rules in the household, which influences children to develop a sense of liberty. This is revealed when Snow said, “She would give me a curfew that I’d always break and an allowance that I’d always waste on cigarettes on the first day” (Cowan 8). This shows that her grandmother’s lack of rules caused Snow to turn to smoking and drugs for comfort in dealing with her problems. Likewise, she barely identifies her grandmother as a parental figure but rather someone who is her responsibility to watch over. At times, she feels as though she is accountable for the complications connected with hergrandmother. For example, Snow stated, “I start to pick up the empty beer cans around her, sticking my fingers into opened holes, five cans on each hand. I do this without even thinking. Habit, I suppose” (Cowan 9). This passage demonstrates how Snow no longer views her grandmother as someone who takes care of her but adequately someone she takes care for, by cleaning after her chaos. Her grandmother can also be very unpredictable; she can be overjoyed one moment or yelling the next. For instance, Snow stated, “Her slurred voice gets louder and uglier. You selfish little bitch, she yells at me” (Cowan 4). Her grandmother would often react impulsively and curse at Snow. The unpredictable and chaotic atmosphere, with this sort of recurring harassment, can cause