There were times when I happen to see kids in their younger years that I can’t help but reminisced the days when I was at their ages. I could recall how I had grown keeping in me the values and advices my parents had taught me and how I had also many times took for granted their teachings. But in the end, I am very much thankful to them for what I have now become.
Certainly, managing the growing kids especially in the Philippine setting is quite hard and challenging. I’d like to present some comparisons based on my own points of view on how kids of the past and the kids of today are and are behaving based on what I have experienced and on what I have witnessed.
I started one year preschool when I was six and eventually entered elementary grade one at seven. Today, most children begin nursery school at the age of four, preschool kinder I at age five and kinder II at age six, then at seven entered the elementary level. There are others who are much earlier and are advanced in their learning. I had spent much of my preschool days with my parents while today’s children are spending much of theirs in the company of their teachers. Although the good thing is children of today are taught at a very early age the value of social mingling with others, the time they should spend with their families are shortened.
In my elementary days, I could not remember my teacher raising her voice to its highest level when she wanted to call our attention. Even I myself was not used to being scolded. I had regarded my teacher as an authority to respect and to obey and until now I have that discipline in me.
Today’s situation was quite different. Just recently, I visited my nephew in his class to check from his teacher his performance in school as well as pay for some of his class dues. I was asked to do that because his mother at that time was not available due to work. As I peeked into the room, I was surprised to see the teacher with her frowned forehead and on top of her voice yelling to the children to get their attention. The room was at some kind in social chaos. Though shocked, I was amused to see the situation.
On class breaks especially lunch breaks, together with my classmates we would ran to the school gym and play all sorts of ‘larong pinoy’ that we could think of. Today, even if it’s not break time, groups of children would cut off classes and you would later find them in Internet cafes playing video games or sometimes they would escape from their classes and go swimming on nearby resorts.
At home, when I got scolded for wrong doings, I dared not to look into my parents straight in the eyes because if I do that, it would mean that I no longer respect them and I am fighting back. Instead, I kept my head low absorbing all the sermons. Because I was just a kid, there came many times when what goes in the left ear goes out of the right. But never did I again spoke back to them in rough tone. I did it once or twice and I ended up massaging my ached lips.
The kids now are different. Although I am saying not all, there are kids who have bigger mouth than their parents. Some new generation parents are letting their kids boldly answer them back while they are disciplining them. Other kids are turning their backs on their parents even though the parents are not yet through with their talking. I had asked one mother why she is letting her kid do that, she told me she could not control his son but she doesn't want to punish him by beating or whipping him either.
But anyways, everything has really changed and is still changing. Some changes for the betterment and some for bad and even the worst. Maybe, it is because of the fast-pacing world we are living in or due to the swiftly evolving technologically-influenced environment. In any case, parents must be ready to defend their kids against bad influences even it means using an iron hand to keep them in good discipline. All in all, approaches should be done positively.
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