Intergenerational Conflicts in Immigrant Families

Intergenerational Conflicts in Immigrant Families

Personal Experience

Being part of the American society and culture has been an enthralling journey of my life. From the humble beginnings of our family to the life in the United States, life has taught us many lessons. The idea behind our immigration to the United States was to pursue the dream that we had. The dream of making it large in life. To be able to have all that we desired. To fulfill our need to become known and respected. Life in the United States has provided us with all that. When my family first came to the United States, life was difficult. The biggest hurdle was the language since my father was the only one who could speak English fluently. My mother, though educated, was hesitant initially. I, on the other hand was only 6 years old and had not started school. With the passage of time, my mother and father began to settle and adjust to the “American” way of life. They went out together to do groceries and other shopping leaving me with a babysitter.

Being of an open and liberal mind, my father allowed my mother to even dress as the Americans do. In out native country, women were seen with little respect if they chose to wear Western apparel. In the United States, there were no such restrictions. Another important experience was that the people in the United States were hospitable and welcomed us warmly by helping us settle down in our home. Our next door neighbor, Mrs. Hess was of particular help to us. She would take us around before we bought our own car and show us around to make us know about the neighborhood.

The tradition and culture in our native land was entirely different from America. There was no oppression here and when my sister came into this world, she had a life my mother did not in her childhood. The quality of care, access to basic necessities and education were only for the privileged in our native country. In America, everyone was treated equally. My father found a job that we could only dream of back there. We began to provide for the family with rather ease and we were also able to save money for times of need.

Similar to what Firoozeh experienced, my first day at school was marked with the ...