Whale Rider
16 years ago
Imperial Federation Map
This is a map of how the world looked to Britian in the 1880s
Saturday, October 24, 2009
"Children Aren't Coloring Books" - Making a Text-to-Text/Self Connection
One of my favorite quotations in these first few chapters is the statement made by Rahim Kahn. When Baba, Amir's father, complains to Rahim that Amir is not the kind of boy he expected to have as a son, Rahim Kahn replies, "Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors." Parents are often guilty of this. They project their own wants or needs onto their children and rather than helping them find their own paths in life, they push their children along a path of their own design. This only makes people unhappy. The children either live lives that are not truly their own or they live their lives feeling they aren't really worthy of their parents' love and respect. Do you agree or disagree with Rahim Kahim? Please support your position with a text-to-text or text-to-self connection. Don't forget to use some specific details from both Kite Runner and another text or your own life.
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I agree with Rahim Khan. I agree with him because i have felt this way. My dad wants me to be a nurse but i dont think that is something i could see myself doing. I love kids and want to take care of kids so i would like to be a pediatrician. Its almost like a nurse but in some ways different. I see this happening in Kite Runner. Baba wants Amir to be just like him but Baba doesnt understand that Amir is very different of him. Amir is a leader like his father. Amir is very interested in writing and he writes his own story but Baba doesnt pay much attention to it because Baba doesnt want Amir to be a writer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan that children aren't coloring books. Amir is his own person. Just because he is not like his father, does not make that a bad thing. We learn that Amir is very similar to his mom in the fact that he enjoys reading. Although Amir is not into the same things as his father and is strong willed does not mean that he can not accomplish great things in his future. Amir should not have to be like his father for his father to appreciate him. His talent in writing stories can bring him a prosperous future. This is why you can not treat children like they are coloring books. They are who they are.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Rahim Khan. Reason being is because it is true that parents to not always like their kids for how they are, but they do love them no matter what. My stepmother expects me to be this great person and have no trouble getting a job. Though the economy today is very bad and you have to have great work experience. She doesn't understand the matter that I don't have enough work experience because of how young I am.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan, because you shouldn't treat your kids like coloring books. Cause with coloring books people just color a page than they go ahead and throw it out. I know whats going on because my dad wants me to be an all state wrestler, and I don't know if iam able to do so. Just like Amir my dad wants me to be better than him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan because what he says is true. No one can make anyone do anything, regardless of them being your parent. If a child is not meant to do something than you cannot change that, if Amir is not strong and cannot fight than his father cannot do much. This is like my family wanting me to be a lawyer but it is not what I am interested in.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Rahim Khan. Parents need to realize not all the time they are going to be what they want them to be. My mom wants me to go for a higher degree in dental assisting but I don’t know if I want to go to college. Being a dental hygienist would be a nice job, but a dental assistant is also nice. My mom just wants to make sure I am happy with what I plan on doing with my life and don’t have to depend on someone when I get older. I can tell in the story that Baba wants Amir to be like him, and in some ways he is, but Amir has his own personality. Amir is a leader like his father, but likes to write stories and tell them to Hassan. Baba should take the time to see Amir’s strength in writing and help him and not act like it doesn’t matter because Baba doesn’t want Amir to be a writer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim, I think that children should make their own friends it shouldnt matter how their life is like and how different their race is. Some parents today is like Rahim father thye dont want you to be friends with kids who is different from you when I think thats a very good idea because it gives you a chance to learn how other people live and how their lifes are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan, because you can't go around treating kids like coloring books. Cause you can't just color the page, than threw it out. In Amir's situation Baba wants him to be just like him, but Amir is very different. Amir wants to be a writer, but Baba doesn't that for his son. I can relate because my dad wants me to be better than him by becoming an all stae wrestler but I don't want that.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with what Rahim Khan. I strongly agree because if parents are no there to support their children in what they want to do then why are they there? Children want their parents to be proud of them for everything they do. They look for their parent’s approval in everything they do because they want to make them proud. When parents disapprove of something their child has done, the child’s feelings for the parents begin to change. Slowly and slowly, they begin to dislike their parents because they can never be happy with what they do. Their parents scold them and tell them that what they did was wrong and they need to do it a certain way. When parents try to make their children pursue a future that they do not like, they are taking away their freedom. Their taking away their right to choose their own future and do what they want to do with their lives. That is why I agree with Rahim Khan.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan. I don’t exactly have a personal experience from my own life, but I do have an experience from the life of one of my best friends. Baba wants Amir to be an amazing soccer player and to be tougher. These are not things Amir is though, he is more calm, cowardly, and isn’t a soccer player. Amir would rather read his mothers’ novels or poetry. The only thing that Amir and his father have in common is the kite tournament. Amir is his own person; he does not, and will not be a clone of his father. As hard as he tries to win his father’s approval, it is not going to work. This is the same situation my friend and her mother are going through. Her mother wants her to be the “perfect child” but my friend isn’t. She doesn’t want to be a sports person and doesn’t want to be this amazing chef. My friend would rather spend time with her friends, and be a pastry chef, but her mother is pushing her to do the things she wants her to do. I have never experienced this first hand, but I have been there. I have sat through the arguments between them. I have heard the fights about the future and their opposing viewpoints about what to do. I don’t think it’s fair. I believe every child should be able to do what they want to do with their life, within reason of course. If they have different dreams for themselves, their parents should accept that and just be happy. Baba should accept that his child is a different person then he is and just move on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim Khan. I agree with him because with my mother I have felt this way about being pressured to be what she wants me to be. For example, my mother wants me to be a RN but Im really not sure thats what I want to be in my life. Like in the book Baba wants Amir to be the best kite runner out there and its hard on Amir because he was has to constantly worry about impressing his father about anything.Like Baba really doesnt pay any attention to Amirs love of writing and the stories that he creates.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rahim. Lots of parents feels though they failed in life or could have done better and unknowingly live there lives through there children. That’s why Rahim says what he says, because he needs to let Amir live his own life whether its what he wants or not.
ReplyDeletei agree with Rahim children are'nt coloring books. let them be themselves so they can learn wat they are interested in. some parents try to plan the child's future and not let them be theor own person. i think if kids could make their own decisions about how they future is going to be they would be more happier and less pressure. children didnt come with a manual so therefore every child is different and have their own unique thing about them.. Baba should accept Amir's differences and let him do his own thing.
ReplyDeleteI believe with Rahim Kahim because it makes so much since and Amir’s father shows it in a lot of the things that he does. It is obviously having an effect on Amir. Amir sometimes fells that he is not loved by his father, that underneath a lot of the things that Baba says he actually hates Amir. Amir is longing for the love and acceptance of his father, but he is not getting it and it doesn’t look good for his future. Just like Rahim Kahim had said that he shall grow up feeling they aren’t really worthy of their parents love and respect. For example, Amir is very jealous of the fact that Baba shows more affection to Hassan than him. Amir admires his father for everything that he does and looks up to him and wants him all to himself because he wants to feel accepted by him. Baba had one took Amir to play soccer, trying to push his soccer-playing-childhood onto him, but Amir wasn’t any good. Once Baba had saw that he tried to get him to just be able to watch and attend games. Amir faked it for a while, him liking the soccer games, but soon Baba found out and it all stopped. That kind of thing makes Amir feels like he isn’t worthy to be Baba’s son, he will always want to prove himself to Baba.
ReplyDeleteI too believe in what Rahim Kahim says, that you do not get to fill your child with what you want to. In the book Kite Runner, it is said that “Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.” Kahim is saying that the parent of the child should not make the child follow the path the parent wants, but let the child create their own path. Baba wanted Amir to be like him in every way. Baba expected Amir to be strong and stand up for himself, to be a man; however Amir was none of these. He wanted to do his own thing. My life is similar to this, my father wanted me to follow in his path as an engineer. However I blazed my own trail and joined the military.
ReplyDelete