Wisdom of Parents in the Poem, Photograph of My Father In His Twenty-Second Year :: Photograph of My Father In His Twenty-Second Year

Wisdom of Parents in the Poem, Photograph of My Father In His Twenty-Second Year We have all grown up hearing our parent's advice "Do as I say, not as I do". When your parents give this advice you do not always listen at first, but later on in life you may catch yourself using it. I believe it is very important value, respect and listen to what your parent's say; their experience with life is their major tool in shaping their children into adults. Parents have lived life longer than their children that is a fact. And what they have gained is wisdom. Through out their lives they have learned from their personal experience and can use these experiences to try and guide their children in the right direction in a similar experience. In the poem "A Song In The Front Yard" (Gwendoly Brooks, Bridges 44) it gives us a picture of a child wanting to explore more of the world than her parents think she should. "I've stayed in the front yard all my life,"(Line 1) this line tells us that the child was a little sheltered. Not able to go out of the front yard the child was kept in away from the rest of the world. "I want a peek at the back" (Line 2) in this line the child wants to explore more than just the front yard, just to go into the back yard would be great. "To where the charity children play. I want a good time today. They do some wonderful things. They have some wonderful fun. (Lines 8-10) In these lines they show how the child sees the surroundings outside the fence. The child sees that the other children are doing fun things that the child wishes he or she could do. He or she sees the activities of the other children as wonderful. The other children are probably doing things that the child in the front yard doesn't get to do. "My mother sneers, but I say it's fine how they don't have to go in at quarter to nine. My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Ma will grow up to be a bad woman." (Lines 11-14) In these lines the poet depicts the mother's feelings of the other children. She doesn't think that they are the best crowd for her child to be influenced by or maybe the activities they are doing are quite appropriate.