On Monday morning, Sally, a twelve-year-old American girl, is woken up by her father. As she gets ready for school, her mother hands her a backpack and lunch with a quick kiss goodbye. Meanwhile, Zarina, a twelve-year-old girl from Sierra Leone, wakes up to get ready for work. His aunt says good morning as they both head from home to the cassava fields. Both of these girls have a traditional family background. In America, children in a traditional family grow up with both biological parents and any siblings they have. In Sierra Leone, the setting of both The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone, children from traditional families live with aunts and uncles, as well as many children of different parents. These different views of what is traditional create unique children in many ways. Children growing up in Sierra Leone are more self-sufficient than American children. In American homes, a traditional family consists of a mother, a father, and some children, who are all siblings. In these families, parents try to guide their children on the "right" path and every child is equal in the eyes of their parents. In Sierra Leonean homes, the traditional family is very different. He will have only one biological parent, an uncle, an aunt or a member of the community as head of the house. There will be many children, but most will not be siblings. Even though these guardians will be caring, they will not have the time to help every child with every little problem. Aunts or uncles may choose a favorite to focus their time on, often one who is their own child. These two types of families make for interesting children, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Children in traditional American families will have obvious strengths. They were… middle of paper… alive. These differences are a direct consequence of the countries in which children live. One group lives in a world of peace, the other group at war. Each group will grow up with the skills they need to survive in their surroundings, but if they were thrown into the other realm they would not be able to. Works Cited Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. Print.Cutright, Marc. “From Helicopter Parent to Valuable Partner: Shaping the Parental Relationship for Student Success.” New Directions for Higher Education Winter 2008: 39-48. Collection of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences. Network. November 11, 2013. "Helicopter parenting can be a good thing." USA Today Magazine May 2010: 8-9. Reference center Points of view. Network. November 11, 2013. Kamara, Mariatu, and Susan McClelland. The bite of the mango. [Toronto]: Annick, 2008. Print.