MULTI-TEXT ASSIGNMENT
BY HILARY SZE
MIRRORING
Holly
2014
DEFINITIONS
The definition of helicopter parenting.
Helicopter Parenting
Helicopter parenting refers to overprotective parents who hover over their children closely through all aspects of their lives, including academics, extracurriculars, and friendships. They do not allow or trust their children to make their own decisions. Subsequently, children in an overprotective environment grow up to be dependent on their parents and other people around them.
Context
Holly’s elementary teacher: Okay class, today we will be writing letters to ourselves. Please jot down your goals for this school year in order to be successful. They can be about anything: school-related or not. If you do not finish in class, you can bring it home to finish your letters. I will be collecting them tomorrow.
That day, Holly brought her letter home to show her parents. They ended up revising her goals to mirror their definition of success.
Transcript for the letter above.
The underline indicates the text that has been intentionally scribbled out.
September 30, 2014
Dear Holly,
I am finally in grade 5! September is a fresh start like the beginning of a new year. There are many things I want to achieve before this school year ends. My goals The goals my parents want me to achieve for this year are:
Socialize and make a lot of new friends Straight A+ in all of my classes
Join sport teams Join the school’s science and math clubs
Place first in the 200m track race Win the science award at the annual science fair
Make my parents proud
I will achieve my goals and be successful by talking to more of my classmates, playing sports during recess, and training after school paying attention in class, studying after school, and managing my time wisely by using an agenda. I hope I can achieve this by the end of grade 5 in June!
Sincerely,
Holly
“Look in a mirror and one thing’s sure; what we see is not who we are.”