Thanks to android phones, I wake up every morning to meet new quotes from an application I installed. I’m not so used to ruminating on the quotes but this morning’s quote caught my usually divided attention which owes more or less to its author – Michael Jackson. The quote says “All of us are products of our childhood”.
I wouldn’t know the inspiration behind this quote; whether it came due to regrets or appreciation of his childhood. Either way I decided to share my thoughts on it.
I’ve heard some parents make statements such as these to their children “In my days I trekked 4 Kilometres to school. I carried 25 Kilograms of load for 30 Miles. I wore 1 pair of shoe throughout my university. I never had Christmas Clothes … “.
It continues on and on. These stories are very important and should be told to children to make them embrace the realities of life BUT most go beyond that by adding “… Since I passed through these, so MUST you”.
Such parents deny their children anything they couldn’t get as kids even when they have the ability to do so and feel uncomfortable when their children participate in activities deemed as being social. Such activities are classified as being over-indulgent of their children.
Every of their Children’s request is rebuffed and met with an already default response of NO. The children are forced to look for positive responses elsewhere which is always not hard to find.
Little wonder why most grow up to be beasts when they leave the umbrella of their parents. Their parents find it difficult to search-out where such traits were gotten.
I have never been an apostle of the “ask and you shall receive” lifestyle by some parents to their children. It not only spoils the child but cuts him/her from the realities of life which include having the patience to wait when certain things don’t come their way. Such actions, in trying to prove your love to the children, will destroy them.
But, there’s got to be a big balance and this is where most parents miss it. Trying to deny children their wants is like trying to stop water from flowing. You could only succeed temporarily in doing so but wake up to see an aperture you never bargained for.
Children who are denied certain things by their parents try as much as possible to get such privileges as soon as they leave the boundaries of their homes. That’s why most campaign to have their university education far away from home or if they school at home make sure they stay in hostels where they could get whatever they want.
Child upbringing must move up a notch with the rapid advancement in technology. No longer will it be so easy for parents to be made heros by their children by sharing their perceived “sufferings” with their kids and expect the line to be towed automatically. Such tactics need a complete overhaul.
New rules have to be taken-up by parents in order to make their children into the angels they all dream about.
I’ll like to scream it out to parents by revamping Michael Jackson’s quote that “All of us are products of our privileges during Childhood”.
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