TOW #6 - Children Don't Always Live

In Children Don’t Always Live by Jayson Greene, the author tells about the heart wrenching story of his daughter’s death and how it changed the way he parented his new son.  The author of this article is Jayson Greene, the father of Greta Greene, who tragically died in 2015.  His credibility on this topic is immediately established because he is telling his own story.  Greene’s audience in his article is towards parents who have lost a child or who haven’t.  This is evident because he addresses parenting when it’s new and after losing his daughter.  He says, “becoming a parent is already a terrifying process” (Greene 7) and “When I am on the playground years from now, watching my son take a fall from the monkey bars, I might not panic. But some part of me will remember: A heartbeat can stop” (Greene 13).  He relates to parents who have just had children and are realizing how tough it is, and he is also mentioning the fears that parents who lost children face every day.  Greene wrote this article after his second child was born, and after Greta, his first child, died.  Greene effectively uses anecdotes to show how life can change in the blink of an eye and also how precious it is.  Greene recounts the time his first daughter was born and how he “leaned into the crook of my wife’s neck while she pushed,” (Greene 18).  And when she was born and she had to be examined by doctors he realized “All I am is a spectator: her body is not mine to protect, not mine to save” (Greene 19).  By telling these stories, he is showing how he cannot control whether or not his child dies.  He cannot trust that they will live past 2 or 3, he just has to watch while life happens.  In addition, by including the part about being with his wife while she delivered, he is emphasizing how important life is, and that it should be cherished with the people you love.