Summary Of Ellen Rittberg's 11 Rules For Raising Teens

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“Don’t” a word used a little too often in the article “11 Rules for Raising Teenagers.” Author Ellen Rittberg states her opinion in how she believes these eleven rules are what you need when raising teens. In Rittberg’s article the eleven rules are broken down into how each of these rules apply to teenagers and why they need to be enforced by parents while raising their teenagers. Although Rittberg may have good intentions in providing a guideline of rules in raising teens, she gives a bad impression to readers by making logical fallacies on many occasions, inappropriate use of appeals when trying to relate to readers, and using offensive word choices when trying to get her point across. Throughout the piece, Rittberg makes logical fallacies on multiple occasion. She first makes a hasty generalization when stating “Don’t buy your teen a car. If you do, he will total it or wreck it in record time. Guaranteed.” Rittberg not citing any proof or evidence of such “Guaranteed” …show more content…

For example, Rittberg goes on to say, “What they need is for you to be a reliable responsible role model worthy of their respect and not come overgrown finger-snapping hipster who wears too tight jeans.” Using this appeal of ethos is inappropriate when trying to prove the point she’s making. A statement such as the one shown in the example above can offend the audience of parents and lead to losing respect of readers. Another inappropriate use of appeal is when Pober Rittberg suggest “if you buy into teen logic (which is basically illogic, the product of an immature brain and every extreme of emotion known to mankind) your mouth will go dry and your ears and nerves will surely fray.” Using this appeal of pathos is another inappropriate way of trying to relate to her readers. Only leaving the audience once again offended that she may have just called their teens brain illogic and

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