I Stand Here Ironing

In this story I really felt as though I can relate with Emily in many ways. On page 284 in paragraph 15 it says that, "She always had a reason why we should stay home", is a trick I tried many times when I was young as well. Emily felt out of place no matter where she went, I think that many people just didn't understand her. I too had problems with people understanding me as a child and even now my family just doesn't "get" me or even try to. I think that her mother felt very bad for leaving her with family when she was working, but it is very hard to try raise your children and work. I work, raise my children all week by myself, and go to school at the campus and take online classes which is really hard. I think that it would be easier if my children had a place to stay sometimes, but I would never be able to let them go live with someone else. I think that Emily feels as though her younger sister gets all of the attention and she falls in the shadows of everyone else. "Now go to sleep, Emily, there's noting to hurt you", is what she would hear from her mother when she would wake at night with bad dreams but her mom could not comfort her. Emily's sister was sick and her mother could not spend time with Emily until she got better. I think that this was really hard on her because she didn't get the special one on one time with her mother that children so greatly need. She seems to be shoved from pillar to post in order to make her mother's life easier, which would help Emily if her mother were able to work more. This is a double edged sword though because Emily can have a roof over her head but she is not always under that roof to feel the security of having her mother with her. I know how hard it is to work and be a single parent and want what is best for your child, but sometimes something has to give. I will not my children go through what I went through as a child, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible. My mother and father both worked full-time and were not home very much. They missed many school events and activities that I was in because of work. I know that they had to work so we could eat and have a house, but it would have been nice to have them around more.

Raising children is a real struggle, especially if you have work, school, activities, etc. to work around and I think that Emily is another child who suffers from a lack of attention. I am sure when she has a family of her own she will realize a little better what it is like, but you don't always understand at the time. I just wish for Emily that someone would have taken the time to get to know her better and realize what she was going through. She must have felt lonely and scared when she wasn't at home and at the school for children. I can't imagine what she must have thought and the emotions that went through her head.