Critical Analysis -2

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Greene 1 Seneh Greene Professor Mary Bogdan ENGL15S: Rhetoric and Comp 12 December 2022 Parentification In Children Whose Parents Have Substance Abuse Issues Most individuals can comfortably state that their parents provided for them in all aspects of life as children. Sometimes there is a rare relationship that takes place between a child and a parent, where there is a major role reversal. This is referred to as parentification. Parentification is when a child is required to act as an emotional or practical caregiver for their own parents and/or siblings. In the television series Shameless , it portrays a perfect example of parentification and parental neglect in children. In the show the father, Frank Gallagher has major alcohol abuse issues causing him to constantly ignore his children’s well being and duties as a father. As well as an alcoholic father, the children are also cursed with an absent mother who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In an article in the Journal of Family Therapy it stated, “Several serious or chronic family stressors have been found to increase the risk for dysfunctional parentification in families, including alcoholism, mental disorders, divorce, employment problems and incarceration (Winton, 2002).” Throughout Shameless , a result of parentification is accurately portrayed through the way that Frank Gallagher neglects his responsibilities as a father, ultimately causing his children to parent themselves. In short terms, parentification is when a parent relies on their child to provide for them. Instead of the usual circumstances where a parent provides for their child, they take from them instead. A parentified child can be stripped of all things physical, emotional, and even mental.

Greene 2 There are two main types of parentification, emotional and instrumental. WebMD states that, “Emotional parentification occurs when parents impose their emotional needs on their children and seek emotional and mental support from them (Felton, 2022).” Usually, With emotional parentification there are more lasting and challenging effects on the child. Not only is the child expected to tend to the parents emotional needs, but also their siblings if necessary. In a typical parent-child relationship, it is the parents responsibility to be concerned about their child's emotional well-being. There is also instrumental parentification, which oftentimes goes hand in hand with emotional parentification. The main difference being that “..instead of children strictly tending to their parent’s emotional needs, children engaged in instrumental parentification are tasked with chores and responsibilities that aren’t appropriate for their age group (Felton, 2022).” Instrumental parentification generally includes a multitude of tasks such as paying bills, cooking, shopping for the home, caring for siblings etc. Tasks that are usually completed by parents are now being done by children. Both types of parentification are effectively demonstrated in the tv series Shameless. In a typical household it is normal for a child to have some household duties in order to teach responsibility. However, when the parent requires the child to do everything in the home, including their own responsibilities it becomes instrumental parentification. This form of parentification was seen in Shameless in many instances when they had to pay bills, cook for themselves, and even have their siblings attend parent-teacher conferences in place of their parents. In one particular episode of season 6, the Gallagher family is being evicted from their home that they previously thought was owned by a cousin they were renting from. However, there was a loan taken out of the house ultimately resulting in a foreclosure. Fiona, the eldest of Frank’s children, feels responsible for getting their house back so that she and her siblings do not

Greene 3 end up homeless. Frank is aware that the house is being foreclosed on but does not do anything to help the kids pay back the loan or find new living arrangements. Instead, he asks his younger son Carl for money when he knows the dire situation that they are in. The instrumental parentification demonstrated in this episode shows how Frank does not feel any responsibility for the welfare of his children, and expects them to figure out everything that is thrown at them. When many think of addiction, they think of how it affects the person directly but not how it also affects the people that are closest to them, especially their children. Addiction directly correlates to the result of Parentification. In Shameless the people that were most affected by Frank's drinking addiction were his kids. Because their mother left them with their father as the primary guardian, they once looked to him to provide. He falls short in his parenting everytime, leaving his children to fend for themselves. His eldest, Fiona, of the six demonstrates the effects of the children-parent role reversal the most because of her age. While technically, now she is an adult, at a young age it became her responsibility to take care of her siblings, her father, and the household. Her younger siblings are aware of her stress and do the best that they can to help her out. This is not normal behavior in a child, and ultimately causes issues for them in the long run.. In a book edited by Nancy Chase, it writes “ Parentification, the parental child, role reversal, and generational boundary dissolution are concepts directly mentioned or implicated in literature on children of alcoholics and familial alcoholism,...single-parent families,... marital conflict, divorce, addictive relationships,...identity development and adolescent separation, hyperactivity/attention-deficit, depression, and anxiety (Chase, 3).” In Shameless , the father Frank puts money and funding his drinking problems above everything. In season 5 of the show Frank encourages his young teenage son Carl to continue to sell drugs in order to gain from the profits he makes. He aids him in doing such illegal activities because he

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Greene 4 knows he can get something out of it. This shows how Frank does not look out for the best interest of his children, and only has the capability of thinking about himself. His children, especially the older ones, are forced to take on the role of the parent in order to keep things in their home running smoothly. Even though Frank lacks in the fatherly aspect of things, his kids still feel that it is their responsibility to look after him due to the role reversal between them. A line from a journal article reads “Parentification is a parent–child dynamic in which children assume caregiving responsibilities while parents fail to support and reciprocate children’s roles (Nutall, 276).” In season 1, episode 2 of Shameless Frank ends up missing in Canada after binge drinking the night before, which caused his children to go crazy looking for him since he never came home the night prior (“ Frank the Plank ”). His kids are very aware of his drinking problem, and when he does not return home they become worried because they feel a sense of responsibility for him. Because of his constant carelessness, his children felt obligated to search and worry about him more than a normal child would. In season 3, episode 6 Frank calls Child Protective Services on his own kids to have them separated as a way to get revenge on his eldest daughter, Fiona (“ Cascading Failures.” ) Just the fact alone that he would call CPS on his own children shows how incapable he is of being a fit father for them. On the other hand, his daughter Fiona was the one that fought day in and out in order to get all of her siblings out of the system after he put them in there. In the show there were also many instances where the kids kicked Frank out of the home because they were fed up with all the problems that he has caused them. He would do things such as eat all of the groceries that were put in the house by them as well as steal money from them whenever he felt it was necessary. Frank's actions are what most would say is very immature, which would explain how there is such major role reversal between him and his

Greene 5 children. If both he and his children had immature tendencies, their home would be utter chaos, leaving them to be a ward of the state which none of them wanted. Parentification sometimes creates problems in a child such as anxiety, depression, attachment issues, mental health or substance abuse disorders, and many other things.. In season 5, episode 6 of Shameless, one of Frank's children Ian gets diagnosed with Bipolar, acute mania with psychotic features (“ Crazy in Love”). When he receives his diagnoses he and his siblings take it particularly hard because of everything they have had to deal with growing up. Because their mother was also diagnosed with the same thing, they recall times where they had to take care of her when she would be going through one of her episodes. Also in this time of Ian’s manic state, Frank sees this as an opportunity to profit off of him, instead of doing the right thing and convincing him to get help. Frank only saw Ian’s manic episode as an opportunity to make money, showing his disregard for his children. It is very hard for Ian to come to terms with being diagnosed with a mental illness because of the self-blame and guilt he puts onto himself, which is common for parentified children. Mental illness is one of the things that can result from being a parentified child. Parentification does not only have negative effects on children, at times it could result in positive outcomes as well. In some instances, both the parentified child and the family of the child can benefit from parentification. In some extreme cases, parentification of a child is necessary in order for the family to strive. A statement published on Eggshell Therapy and Coaching reads “ For example, it was with parentification that the child has kept the depressed parent alive. Or, it was with parentification that the younger siblings were protected from the violence of the alcoholic parent. Parentification trauma comes with a huge cost to the parentified child, but it might have been the only way the family as a whole could be protected (Lo).” If the

Greene 6 good outweighs the bad in a situation with a parentified child, this would be considered a beneficial outcome. There are also instances where parentification can aid in building independence in a child when done correctly and in moderation. “Parentification might have also been developmental in some ways. Unless it is excessive, when a child performs chores or occasionally supports their parents, they could experience their own strengths and abilities, and grow and learn from that (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark, 1973).” The type of parentification used also plays a part in whether or not it would be beneficial to the parentified child. If only Instrumental parentification took place, instead of severe emotional parentification, it is possible that a child could accomplish a sense of accomplishment and sense of agency through taking care of affairs at home (Aldridge, 2006). However, these positive instances are not seen in the Gallagher household because the parentification seen throughout the series is unnecessary on Frank's end. Throughout the series Shameless , the father Frank’s drinking problem leads him to do many things that display his neglect for his children which leads to a parent child role reversal. From encouraging illegal activities, borrowing and stealing money from them, abandoning his house, as well as a multitude of other things. Parentification can arise from many things such as a divorce, immaturity from parents, death, mental illness, chronic diseases, alcoholism etc. In the Gallagher families case the parentification stemmed from alcoholism, mental illness, and parent immaturity. Frank’s interactions with his children essentially resulted in the parentification of them. Although there are occurrences where parentification could benefit a child, this was not seen with the characters of Shameless. The many responsibilities that the Gallagher kids had no choice but to take on caused many issues for them. The mental, emotional, and at times physical absence of their father forced them to be responsible for things that a normal child would not.

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Greene 7 Works Cited Abbott, Paul, et al.. Shameless , Showtime, 9 Jan. 2011. Felton, Amber. “What Is Parentification?” Edited by Poonam Sachdev, WebMD , WebMD, www.webmd.com/parenting/what-is-parentification. Lo, Imi. “Parentification: Your Trauma as a Sensitive and Intense Person.” Eggshell Therapy and Coaching , eggshelltherapy.com/parentification/. Jankowski, Peter J., et al. "Parentification and Mental Health Symptoms: Mediator Effects of Perceived Unfairness and Differentiation of Self: Parentification and Mental Health Symptoms." Journal of Family Therapy , vol. 35, no. 1, 2013, pp. 43-65. Lewis, Rhona. “Parentification: What Is a Parentified Child?” Healthline , Healthline Media, 23 Sept. 2021, www.healthline.com/health/parentification. Macfie, Jenny, et al."Parent–child Role-Confusion: A Critical Review of an Emerging Concept." Developmental Review , vol. 36, 2015, pp. 34-57. Nuttall, Amy K., et al. "Contextualizing Children's Caregiving Responses to Interparental Conflict: Advancing Assessment of Parentification." Journal of Family Psychology , vol. 35, no. 3, 2021, pp. 276-287. "Parentification: An Overview of Theory, Research, and Societal Issues." Burdened Children: Theory, Research, and Treatment of Parentification. Edited by Nancy Chase. SAGE Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, 1999.

Critical Analysis -2

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