“After having been standing by the gate of the garden for a long time, Siddhartha realized that his desire was foolish, which had made him go up to this place, that he could not help his son, that he was not allowed to cling him.”
– Siddhartha, Chapter 10
Most of us are blessed with parents, guardians, teachers, and adult role models that hold our hands during the time of development and growth. Regardless of the bond between the adolescent and guardian, there will always be knowledge and lessons that can only be taught through independence and self-experience. However, many guardians and parents hold the illusion of overbearing control of their children. Of course, it is natural for parents to build walls and barriers to protect their children from harm’s way. However, these barriers should never tower and block the adolescent’s path to identity and independence. The route of self-discovery is both thrilling and terrifying, but the facade of control will only delay or destroy the journey.
I believe Disney Pixar’s short film Bao is the best artistic representation that expresses my insight. The short film is about a mother raising her child baozi (Chinese steamed dumpling). The mother is extremely cautious of her child’s delicate form and prohibits the child from certain activities such as playing with other children. Due to her restrictions, the child grows up rebelliously and seeks independence. This establishes communication issues between the son and mother’s relationship. Eventually, the son decides to move out of his childhood home and start a new life with his fiancé. The mother, who was completely unaware of her son’s lover, objects to his decision. This causes the mother and son to dispute, and both individuals are hurt. Fortunately, the short film concludes with the mother and son reconciling and coming to accept terms. The storyline of Bao perfectly showcases how a parent’s overprotection and control strains the parent-child relationship and leads to conflict.
Quaranteen 
I liked how you formatted the Siddhartha Quote in the beginning of your writing, and an animated film near the end! It felt as if there was a theme to your writing since both pieces are from the parents point of view. I also agree with the idea of barriers. The more you restrict someone from doing something, they just want to do it more. It is just human nature. As kids, it is important to let them go beyond the barriers so they can learn for themselves, rather than be told to without ever experiencing it.
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I completely agree with you and your standpoint on overbearing parents. We all look up to our parental figures, whether it be our mom, grandparents, or siblings. As children, we follow every step they do, dreaming of being them as we grow up. However, as we begin to grow up, we realize that we don’t want to follow in the footsteps of our parents. Instead, we want to pave your own path. However, it’s difficult to follow a new route independently when they build roadblocks to protect us from danger. Although they block us from danger, they are also blocking us from discovering ourselves.
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I love how you incorporated an easily relatable short Disney film to a philosophical quote. I completely agree with you in that sometimes a parent could actually be the one preventing their children from growing and maturing into their own person. Many parents try to force their children to follow their footsteps, whether it be a job, religion, or even sport. It is important to remember that kids need to grow on their own sometimes, and parents should be there to support them through that journey.
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I completely agree with your statement in this article – the quote from the book and the short film linked both make such a strong stance. I think that this is extremely important now since a lot of parents are becoming warier of their children on social media and their social lives. I’ve even seen this happen with some of my friends, and their parents force a lot of things on their kids (like sports, out of school activities, etc) In conclusion, I just hope to see that parents can be more lenient towards their children and allow them to grow on their own.
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I admire how you connected the quote from Siddhartha and connected to something such as a Disney short film. This piece of writing really resonated with me since my parents are extremely controlling. I understand that it’s for my own good and it’s for my protection, but it’s not giving me any room to grow as a person myself. Growing up, we look up to our parents greatly and want to follow in their footsteps. However, as time flies by, that changes and instead, we start looking for our own story, our own path. We stray away from our parents and that alarms them and causes them to build more barriers around us which don’t benefit us at all. Some parents need to understand that they need to let go of their children at some point in life.
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