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Beyza Eskalen
Mrs. Damalos
Pre-IB Inquiry Skills
09 March 2016

Relationships Between Parents and Children

In different households, you will find that parents and children share a different type of
bond. Some have a very friendly relationship, in which they support one another and treat each
other with respect. Whereas some dads and mothers have a strict and imposing relationship with
their children. These are just a few of the types of connections, there are a plethora of different
kinds. There is not a clear winner. In fact, parents might disagree on what the best type is.
Nevertheless, relationships between parents and their kids have direct impacts on the kids lives.
The author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, would be the one to most agree on
this statement. In his book, he conveys how the bonds between the characters and their parents
had a role to play in the development of their lives.
Mariams relationship with her parents completely changed the course of her life. Her
relationship with her mother was very rigid and mandatory. Nana would be very aggressive and
was dominant over their relationship. This made Mariam shift to her father, Jalil, quite a bit. In
the beginning, Mariam thought her relationship with her father to be very genuine, easy, and
loving. This made her want to give up her forceful relationship with her mother to be with her
father. However, little did she knew that her bond with her father was fake, and that her father
would break their bond in the blink of an eye. By the time she realized she had made a mistake

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by going to her father, it was too late. For, her mother was gone, and her life was going to take a
turn for the worse, in the path that follows an ill-tempered, ungrateful means life.
Unlike Mariams dreadful association with both her parents, Lailas connection with her
own were a little bit better. Her father, Babi, cared greatly for her. After school, he would help
her with her homework and even aid her in advanced topics so she could be at a higher level than
the kids her age. Babi wants Laila to reach her highest potential. Her relationship with her dad
ran smoothly and it revolves on caring. Her supportive relationship with her father was on the
verge of changing her life. As Babi would always tell her, Afghanistan will eventually need the
support and help of their woman, and Laila, fully educated, would be able to help her country.
However, a crisis occurred and Laila lost both of her parents and had to go and live with Mariam
and Rasheed.
Lailas bond with her mother was not like this. Laila and Faribas relationship was barely
existent. Fariba was too focused on morning for her sons, that she forgot about the daughter she
had. Therefore, this made Faribas life difficult. Fabira didnt perform her responsibilities as a
parent, such as, picking Mariam up from school, which led her to walking home, which in turn
led to Khadim spraying her with pee. Her inconsistent relationship with her mother and her
mothers relationship with her father, made Mariam look up to Tariqs family. Lailas relationship
with Tariqs parents were better than her relationship with her own parents. Tariqs parents
showed care to her, showed her that she was loved, and took her into their conversations.
Moreover, if Lailas relationship with her mother had been better, her life would be
completely different. If Fariba started to care for her daughter sooner, than they would have left
for Pakistan a long time ago. This would have meant that their family would still be together in

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Pakistan, along with Tariqs family. However, ideally because Fariba condoned her relationship
with Laila, she ended up with Rasheed and Mariam.
Although Khaled Hosseini doesnt talk about Jalils relationship with his other kids a lot,
we can infer. Since his two sons, Muhsin and Ramin, follow his orders and bring rations to
Mariam and Nana, its safe to assume that they had a pretty well relationship. Either they got
along well or Jalil inforced them to those duties. Nonetheless, it became apart of Muhsin and
Ramins lives to deliver rations to the Kolba, no matter the assault, rock throwing, and bad names
they received from Nana.
The bond between parents and kids vary from each family. The bond Mariam shared
with her parents were different from the ones Laila and Tariq shared with their. Although each
type of relationship is different, they all play a role in the kids lives. Mariams relationship with
her parents ended up making life for her miserable, and although Lailas relationship wasnt as
bad, her life didnt turn out any better. Our relationship with our parents impact more areas of our
lives than we may think. Sometimes, it might just affect a small portion. However, in the case of
Mariam and Laila, it ended up affecting a big chunk of their lives.