Monday morning, Sally, a twelve-year-old American girl, is woken up by her father. As she prepares for school, her mother hands her a backpack and lunch with a quick goodbye kiss. Meanwhile, Zarina, a twelve-year-old Sierra Leonean, wakes up to get ready for work. His aunt says hello to him as they both leave their house to go to the cassava fields. These two girls live in a traditional family setting. In America, children in a traditional family grow up with their biological parents and siblings. In Sierra Leone, the filming location of The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone, children from traditional families live with uncles and aunts as well as many children of different parents. These different views of what is traditional create children who are unique 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 a few children, all brothers and sisters. In these families, parents try to guide their children on the “right” path and each child is equal in the eyes of their parents. In Sierra Leonean homes, the traditional family is very different. There will be a single biological parent, uncle, aunt or community member as head of house. There will be many children, but most will not be siblings. Although these tutors will be equally caring, they will not have the time to help every child with every little problem. Aunts or uncles can choose a favorite to devote their time to, often one that is their own child. Both types of families create interesting children, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Children from traditional American families will have obvious strengths. They were in the middle of paper......ives. These differences are a direct consequence of the countries in which the children live. One group lives in a world of peace, the other in a world of war. Each group will grow up with the skills they need to survive their environment, but if they were thrown into the other world, they would not succeed. Works Cited Beah, Ishmael. A Long Road Traveled: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print. Cutright, Marc. “From helicopter parent to valued partner: shaping the parental relationship for student success.” » New directions for higher education winter 2008: 39-48. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Internet. November 11, 2013. “Helicopter parenting can be a good thing. » USA Today Magazine, May 2010: 8-9. Reference center for viewpoints. Internet. November 11, 2013. Kamara, Mariatu and Susan McClelland. The bite of the mango. [Toronto]: Annick, 2008. Printed.