Children today have a variety of needs, often surrounded by ideas of freedom and security. While some people seek complete freedom from society's rules, others seek the comfort of security that a normal life offers. Children's preferences for freedom and security are reflected in the parenting style of mom and dad. In The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the characters Brian, Lori, and Jeannette show that as they grow up they prefer to have security rather than freedom because they repeatedly find themselves in a state of danger due to their parents' lack of security. For example, if Jeannette's parents had been responsible while Jeanette was near the fire, she would not have been traumatized and severely burned. Another reason why children want security is that Rex is a heavy drinker and is very dangerous to be around while under the influence of hard liquor, they would prefer a father who handles alcohol responsibly. Rex's surplus spending on alcohol drove the family into poverty because instead of using the family's rare profit to pay bills, Rex uses it to purchase alcohol and items that were not necessary for their survival. Therefore, their parents struggled to give them even the simplest things, such as food and clothing. The Wall family's children have faced many fire dilemmas that could have easily been prevented if they had their parents' safety. The author begins the story with a flashback to when Jeannette was a three-year-old girl. The scene begins with little Jeannette standing on a chair cooking herself a hot dog on the stove without parental guidance. Then she leans too far over the stove and her clothes catch fire and cause severe burns that ... middle of paper ... like mom's set of Indian jewelry, the precious ring and the large reserve in Texas for oil drilling worth one million dollars. Children have been driven into danger and poverty because of mom and dad's poor decisions and execution. Ultimately, the children lacked security throughout their childhood and were still able to rise out of poverty and succeed for once in their lives. This story is a perfect example that people who grew up in poverty can go out and live a healthy lifestyle. Safety would protect the children from traumatizing events such as Jeannette being raped by Billy Deel and Brian being molested by Erma. Mom and Dad mismanaged their financial situation because they could have started their lives from scratch with a million dollars, but instead they chose to live off the land and the streets.