The only constant thing in the world is change, and more and more changes in these days are challenging the teaching profession and the society as a whole. An article in the book Successful Family (by Tumangday, 2015) presented facts supporting the claim that today, we are raising an “ANGRY GENERATION”. Sadly, the researches found out that it is the lack of parental discipline that is to be blamed for this aggressive and antisocial behavior of children. Throughout more than 20 years in this field, I have observed and personally encountered children who lash out in the classroom; and their population is growing!
It is commendable that our region is producing a growing number of parents who are professional. However, most of them fall in the pit of lavishing their children with material possessions but are distant and barely involved in their upbringing. Moms and Dads would just let their children watch all night because the busy schedule for ‘official business’ steals the time and energy that is supposed to be for family practices such as sharing bedtime stories, singing and chatting with children. Moreover, less educated mothers are more likely to resort to negative parenting. Marital conflicts and mothers suffering depression are also linked to poor supervision of children’s activities which lead to their bad behavior.
May this not be taken for granted because, while it is true that parents are busy working for their children, they are missing out a more important thing. Anti-social children are at risk of underperforming at school and even turning to crime and drug or alcohol abuse.
All of these, I believe, point us to the need of educating not only the children but the parents too, urgently and importantly. There is still chance to improve our children’s life chances if we intervene through programs that would effectively turn faulty parenting styles to positive ways of rearing up.
If our government believes that the family should be the strongest unit in the society then it must be reasonable to fund parenting lessons to teach mothers and fathers across all sections of society how to nurture their children. If we were to build a better generation than ours, we should teach our fellow parents well.
By Mrs. Janet G. Coria-en
