Some people think that family life and parents have great influence on children’s development, while

others consider that external influence plays a more important role in children’s life.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
Parental influence and family life have huge importance to the development of a child, according to
many, while others opine that children's behaviour is influenced more by outside factors like friends,
teachers and the surrounding environment. In my opinion, influences of parents, relatives and family life
are essential for the proper psychological and physical growth of a child, but environmental and external
influences are more useful for them to confront real life. This essay will discuss both views before
drawing a rational conclusion.

On one hand, parents have remarkable impacts on their children's growth, especially to shape a good
childhood. The sense of family, relationship, responsibility, and punctuality are instilled in a child by
parents and it plays an influential role on their maturity. Love and attention from parents develop a
strong character in a child while the lack of proper parenting often ruins it, according to many
psychologists. Furthermore, children mostly mimic their parents and become more like them.
Undoubtedly, this single fact proves how important it is for a child to have a family and proper
parenting.

On the other hand, to become a complete human, we need to study in a school, interact with teachers
and neighbours, have friends, face challenges, learn from our environment, gain social experiences and
all those factors have crucial roles to play in a child’s life. Parents keep their offspring safe from dangers
while their real life experiences teach them how to deal with those obstacles. Outside the home,
children encounter several kinds of situations that teach them how to solve their own problems.
Furthermore, children learn invaluable skills in schools which help them develop a sense of community
to have a normal life beyond their family borders.

To infer, I am convinced that while parents have a huge impact on children’s attitude, social interactions
and external factors are also imperative and cannot be ignored for a child's overall development.