Phenomenon
Children of clergy often experience pressure due to the expectations placed on them, and may develop feelings of isolation and inner conflict as a result. Parental workload (which, by definition, includes working on the weekend) may also be a source of stress.
Some writers suggest that there is a "preacher's kid syndrome", in which children of clergy reject religion and the church. Such rebellious children of the clergy are a stock figure in the Southern literature of the United States, and this view is seen as a stereotype.
Other writers note that children of the clergy (both Protestant and Jewish) may often become clergy themselves. Martin Luther King, Jr. (son of Martin Luther King, Sr.) and Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) are examples.
Children of clergy may be more exposed than their peers to the defining events of life. Former UK prime minister Gordon Brown recalled that he learned much about life, death, poverty, injustice and unemployment as a minister's son.
The "preacher's kid" phenomenon has been connected with the related one of "military brats" (children of active-duty military personnel). Children of preachers who are missionaries (Missionary Kids) may also be third culture kids.
Read more about this topic: Preacher's Kid
Famous quotes containing the word phenomenon:
“When the ice is covered with snow, I do not suspect the wealth under my feet; that there is as good as a mine under me wherever I go. How many pickerel are poised on easy fin fathoms below the loaded wain! The revolution of the seasons must be a curious phenomenon to them. At length the sun and wind brush aside their curtain, and they see the heavens again.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes.... It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment.”
—Claude Lévi-Strauss (b. 1908)
“If you could choose your parents,... we would rather have a mother who felt a sense of guilt—at any rate who felt responsible, and felt that if things went wrong it was probably her fault—we’d rather have that than a mother who immediately turned to an outside thing to explain everything, and said it was due to the thunderstorm last night or some quite outside phenomenon and didn’t take responsibility for anything.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)