Dear Mrs. Clinton,

My name is Elizabeth Duchow and I am writing to you in response to your book, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” While your book is astute and advocates for interesting ideas and points, I must say that I disagree.

You are correct in that the child is influenced by outside situations and people, however to make the statement, “it takes a village to raise a child,” solicits the idea that parents don’t have to try as hard, and that it is not their fault if their child messes up. If a vexatious child is loath to do what their parent or other authority figures ask of them it is because of how they were raised at home.

If you scrutinize behavior patterns and parenting styles and how they compare and correlate, you will see that parents who raised their child from a very young age with authority and guidelines that would keep them in line, the child is more likely to grow into a well behaved, amicable adult.

You will also find that some parenting styles prove ineffectual. If a parent is too strict with a child all their life it will be as if the child develops a malady where they are more likely to practice nefarious behavior and become what could be characterized as a “wild child.” A parent allowing their child to grow up with no guidelines at all could also lead to this type of behavior.

Children do enjoy having a role model to look up to but in the end they choose to attempt to model the person they love and who has influenced them the most, their parents. Because of this fact, the way a parent behaves, i.e. if they are a heavy drug user as opposed to an avid family man, is directly related to the way a child will behave when they are older.
The way an individual behaves stems from a place much deeper than outside influences. While these can be powerful and effect “spur of the moment” behavior the morals and how one deciphers between right and wrong is based off of how the person was brought up and taught by his parents at a young age. To make the statement “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child,” is correct in the context that a village is a family. Perhaps you would do better to say “It takes a Family to Raise a Child.”

Thank you for your time,
Liz