Villanueva, Jamie Leane D.

11: HUMSS 201

Creative writing

Directions: Read the essay below. Write a review of the essay expressing your
personal idea or take regarding the parenting issue discussed in the essay. Write in
the most creative way you can. Make use of the sensory words you know to narrate
some personal experience related to your review. You may also share your personal
experience growing up under the guidance of your parents. (20 points)

Most Filipino children grow up with a parent who’s emotionally absent throughout
their lives, which causes them to be the same as well when they grow older. This is
commonly found with fathers and their children, as fathers usually keep their lives a
secret. It’s honestly like they’re living with a stranger. And that’s what I’m exactly
experiencing with my father.

The way Shakira’s father treated them and her mother seemed to be accurate with
how my father acts, and that’s what concerns me so much. Throughout the story, her
father acts like that as a way of showing or letting them experience the hardships that
he went through as a child. It wasn’t even half of what he went through, it may seem
like he doesn’t care for his children, but deep inside he does. Their little secret, the
Krakauer that their father would buy for them as a midnight snack for her and her
siblings, made the effort to come upstairs, knowing he had an injury yet still decided
to come and knock on their door just to let them know he bought a snack for them to
enjoy with him. It’s the little things that’ll stay in your mind as you grow older and
you’ll be looking back at them and you’ll find yourself smiling again.

We know that their father does care but that doesn’t mean that his actions were valid.
For him. It was a way of letting them experience the same things as he did but yeah,
it’s different now. His actions can cause his children to start to hate him and based on
the story, he was successful. The things he said or did may be vague to him but for us
children who had to hear them from their father, it killed us inside. They’ll start to
doubt their self-worth, develop trauma, or even develop social anxiety. Those words
stung right straight to my heart as I was reminded of my father calling me “Bobo” as I
was considered the black sheep of the family due to my lack of interest in academics. I
always wanted to follow his steps so I focused merely on being an artist yet my efforts
went to waste.

I just wanted his approval and praise, as I idolized him so much back then but I didn’t
get a single word out of him. I tried and tried but nothing happened. I think that’s
where I started holding grudges against him and yeah, it grew into this. I treat him
more like someone who’s just been absent throughout my life, even though he's been
there for a couple of years. I don’t necessarily talk to or call him, only to ask him to
replace the water gallon or anything else that I physically can’t handle. It made me
realize that Shakira’s father was honestly much more decent than mine, I wasn’t able
to experience the love or appreciation that I badly wanted from him as a child.

To read that their mother couldn’t do anything but watch as her husband became
overly strict towards their children was something I can see with my mother. She
can’t do anything, as my father won’t hold back from screaming right in her face. I
know that, at some point, she must have regretted marrying this man. Sometimes, I
wish she didn’t choose him. I wish she could’ve found someone else and married them
instead, since I can see that she’s not happy anymore. It may be cruel to say this but
she deserves someone better. She deserves children who’ll be there for her and a
loving husband who respects her more than my father.

Maybe I do hate my father but that doesn’t change the fact that I still care for him. I
wish he could be a better man and a better father and husband to us. He doesn’t seem
to care but I guess he does.