The Glass Castle Parenting Style

Throughout The Glass Castle, the Walls family deals with a variety of events including moving, injury, birth, conflict within the family, and more. Many of those events call into question Jeanette’s parents’, Rosemary and Rex’s, parenting style. It is no secret that Mary and Rex prefer to live a down-to-earth, fly by the seat of their pants kind of life. Yet, even throughout the craziness that is the Walls’ family life, there are often redeeming moments where Rosemary and Rex teach their children life lessons of kindness, curiosity, and decency.
To begin with, Jeanette is in an accident where, at the age of three, she is seriously burned and must go to the hospital. After being there for six weeks, her father decides to make a surprise visit,

“[Dad] told me we were going to check out Rex Walls-style. ‘Are you sure this is okay?’ I asked. ‘You trust your old man,’ Dad said…Dad hurried down the hall with me in his arms. A nurse yelled at us to stop, but Dad broke into a run. He pushed open an emergency-exit door and sprinted down the stair and out to the street,” (14). In this example of the Walls’ parenting method Rex basically kidnaps his daughter from the hospital. In some ways it may have been necessary because the nurses began asking Jeanette whether her parents ever hurt her, and at that point Child Services was probably going to be brought in. Rex also tells three year old Jeanette that he does not trust doctors and believes she should have been brought to a Native American healer. Not to mention, the only reason Jeanette was in the hospital to begin with was because, as a three year old, she was making herself hotdogs simply because neither of her parents were around to care for her.
One day, as Jeanette and her family are moving from one place to another, she literally falls out of the car while they’re driving down the road. From page thirty, “Just then we took a sharp turn over some railroad tracks, the door flew open, and I tumbled out of the car. I rolled several yard along the embankment…I lifted my head in time to watch the Green Caboose get smaller and smaller and then disappear around a bend.” Shortly after, Jeanette goes on to wonder if her parents will come back for her at all, she concludes that perhaps her falling out of the car is a burden lifted from her parents. The fact that her parents do not immediately notice she fell out of the car is wildly concerning. For many adults in parenthood, there is often a struggle of taking care of the children and making time for themselves. In the case of the Walls, the parents often neglect their children because they insist on being so wrapped up in their own lives.
Later on, when Jeanette and her family are living in Las Vegas, Jeanette wakes up to flames engulfing their hotel room.

Jeanette’s father comes to the rescue when he busts open the door and gets the kids out, if that’s not enough after ensuring their safety, he rushes back to help put the fire out. In this instance Jeanette’s father demonstrates one of his redeeming qualities, selflessness. Although, Rex’s selflessness is easily missed because of his alcoholism, in a time of need he demonstrates for the Walls children the importance of lending a helping hand. It is times like these when it is no wonder why Jeanette looks up to her father the way she

does.
Lastly, Jeanette explains how her parents always told her and her siblings that Santa Claus did not exist, and while their reasoning is sound for doing so, they took away part of their childhood by doing so. From page thirty-nine, “I never believed in Santa Claus…Mom and Dad refused to let us. They couldn’t afford expensive presents, and they didn’t want us to think we weren’t as good as other kids…So they told us all about how other kids were deceived by their parents.” This is only one of many examples of how atypical Jeanette’s upbringing was. In this instance we see how her parents did not particularly care for the children’s happiness and instead gave them a reality check. It seems that, more often than not, Jeanette’s parents do not believe in protecting their children’s innocence and youthful optimism. Instead they give them cold hard truth and believe they are better people for it.
It is safe to say the connections between my childhood and Jeanette’s are few and far between.

Growing up, even through their divorce, my parents worked very hard to give me and my siblings a steady home. I have always been independent but not nearly so much that I made my own meals at age three. My parents have also instilled in me their faith and trust in medical professionals, as well as the importance of selflessness. While Jeanette’s parents did not entertain such fantasies as Santa Claus, my parents allowed me to cherish my youthful belief in him perhaps longer than was healthy. In reference to parents making time for their kids versus making time for themselves, that is unfortunately an area where my mother in particular struggled. However, in contrast to Jeanette’s mother, my mother rarely made time for herself, and, as a stay at home mother, was nothing but involved in our

lives.
Throughout The Glass Castle Rex and Rosemary’s parenting techniques are anything but traditional. As Jeanette describes her parents from the perspective of her younger self, it is obvious that they had redeeming qualities that made her look up to them. However, as her parents neglected and took advantage of their children’s ignorance, it is no wonder why Jeanette’s family experienced so many challenges.