ABSTRACT
Parents are lavish in praising a child’s accomplishments and strengths, and are quick to encourage development of what appear to be special strengths- whether in music or art, athletics, or in mathematics or science. A child receives constant praise for his continuing improvement, and parents delight in swapping reports of childrens’ achievements with others in the community. Parents and family will give all the encouragement and support they can, but the child—the individual- is ultimately responsible for what he makes of his opportunities. While the relationship between parent and child is not egalitarian, nor is it authoritarian in the traditional sense. Although there is relatively little explicit control of younger children in the Greek family, implicit control is considerable. Some of the new immigrants feel, much like the second generation Greek-Americans, that female children need closer supervision. Despite Greek school’s low appeal, other activities do attract the community’s younger members.
