Where have all the parents gone? It’s true that with each new generation, the child becomes more and more independent until eventually the parent is a merely a person they have to cope with and get on with life. The parental control over children is losing its grip fast and if nothing is done to prevent it, parents would lose their children who then have to live and learn on their own. I remember being scared to death of my father when he would take his belt out and punish me. Now, I see my little brother causing mischief and my dad is nowhere to be found. My dad has left the responsibility of controlling and teaching a child the proper way to someone else. Now the question is to whom did these parents leave this enormous responsibility to?
This quote gives us a theory on what’s happening with the parents and their control over their children. There is a shocking end to this quote. It states, “As a result, we ignore rather than address one of the most important changes in American life: The decline in the power and standing of the nation’s parents.” While reading this quote I thought to myself, “How could this be?” Further on, the quote tells us how, “Increasingly, kids are portrayed as standing alone out there somewhere, cosmically parent-free.” These two quotes summarize the whole quote in a simple way. They are saying that around a dozen years ago, the power of America’s parents declined which caused their kids to be seen as alone, almost parent-free. I agree with this statement because it is true in my personal life.
My personal life experiences are quite comparable to this theory. For example, I used to do everything my dad ever told me when I was younger. Now that I’m older, I watch as my little brother has a hard time listening to what my dad tells him to do. My dad is slowly losing his control over my brother because he neglected to raise him like he raised me and my older brother back in Ukraine. Living in Ukraine was tough and we worked hard as a family to get to the next day. My dad made us do plenty of chores around the farm. Now, here in America, my little brother never does any chores. He sometimes has trouble doing something as simple as taking something to the garbage. My father promises to punish him nearly every day but he would usually forget. This is why I think that it’s the true that as the generation becomes newer, the less control the parents are having.
My personal life experiences somewhat support this theory. This is true because in a span of 10 years of my life, my parents went from 100 percent control to about 75 percent. This is not good, but it does back the theory that parents are declining in power and standing. My parents went from having little kids doing what their parents told them to do, to little kids causing mischief, half-knowing that they will probably get away with it, punishment free. This is not good for the parents and their children because the children will be drawn to the evils of this world and by then it might be too late for the parents to fix their mistakes.
I have also heard of many experiences that show the consistent decline in the parent’s power. There have been many times where my cousin would come over to my house really mad. I would ask him what happened and each time he said he got in a really big fight with one or both of his parents. I know I get in a lot of fights with my parents but they usually end when they threaten to take my phone or one of my privileges away. My cousin on the other hand apparently has bigger fights with his parents. They have lost the control and power in his life because he currently has his own life and his parents don’t affect his life in a major way anymore.
This theory certainly doesn’t have a happy ending to it. If this theory were to be true, then the children of these powerless parents would be forced to find a different role model. This is not the way any parent would want their child beginning the transition into this world. This role model most likely won’t be very involved or positive for this child. I know this for a fact because my little brother looks up to me. He would always want to do what I was doing. I even got him interested in sports as much as me. I would have liked it better if my little brother looked up to both me and my father. This way he gets to choose whether he wants to grow up like his father, a reliable and responsible man.
In my opinion, a different way to help the parents help their children is to support the parents. This way the parents can use this support on their children and if a child is supported by their parents in all aspects of their life, then the parents have become powerful role models. A supporting quote says, “The best way to help our children tomorrow is to support parents today.” The problem is that the society does not support the parents because they draw the children away from them. For example, a child would rather stay inside and watch some cartoon than go outside and play. The society needs to change the way they communicate to the children. They need to find a way to show the children that they need their parents. The parents, of course, need to know the right way to raise their children also.
I think that there is a way for parents to start getting some control over their children’s lives. They will need to start at the beginning, the younger the child, the better. They also need to find a way of always incorporating their ideas and ways, so that the child may see a responsible and correct way to handle or do something. Also, parents need not to argue with their kids on a daily basis. It is hard to start making something positive out of a parent to child relationship when you are constantly in a fight. Start with these first couple of ideas and the rest will be history.
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