Does this dream phone mean so much to this boy? Does he understand how his act has hurt his parents? What about the permanent scar that he has to bear throughout his life when he grows up? He will then realise the price he paid for idolising the brand ‘Apple’ is so foolish.
Materialism is so powerful in our society that parents are under immense pressure to give in to their kids. Hardship experience is hard to come by for our children barring unforeseen events happened to the families. So it is not surprise that my children are not interested to know my rubber plantation life when I was young. In Singapore, you have to create `hardship experience’ like school camp in Pulau Ubin or Outward Bound. But even then, they only ‘suffered’ for a few days, unless we can send them to Laos or Cambodia for volunteering work.
A friend recently shared with me how her relative’s teenage children talked to their mother. They conversed with her as though they know things better than her. It’s ironical that the mother, being a CEO of a big corporation, to get her been interviewed is hard to come by, and here we have un-appreciating children who do not give their mother due honour. What a sad thing. So it is a myth that better educated mothers will be able to close the generation gap with their children.
It is not surprising that at a young age school children resort to stealing nowadays. Materialism has become a disease that infects the young in our society. After all, the government encourages in whenever it speaks about economic growth and how to promote it further. With regards to the CEO mother, my view is that education does not train a woman to a good mother. Motherhood is demanding as it requires patience, understanding and most of all time. An educated woman may have all the paper qualifications and the ability to run the organisation under her leadership. But if she does not have time for her children, she will not make any impact on their lives. The CEO mother who spends probably 8-10hrs at work will not be able to spend time at home to nurture her children and develop a closer relationship with them. It's a dilemma modern educated women face, children or work. Thus it's not a question of myth, it's a question of choice.For this reason, working mothers have little or not control over their children's behaviour if they put work above family.
ReplyDelete