Problem No 10 - Parents keep telling their teenagers what to do and not what to do

...instead of letting them try to figure it out for themselves.

Here's a quote from the TV series, "In Plain Sight" Season 2 Episode 11 (Jailbait):

Eve walks around the Garden of Eden - happy as can be not even thinking about apples

Then, one day God says
"Oh, by the way, everything here is for you... enjoy, frolic, eat but whatever you do, stay away from the apples."

Next thing you know, all Eve can think about is those juicy red apples.

Problem No 9 - Parents advise their children to treat animals with love

but kill ants and spray pesticides on roaches the next instant they encounter these animals.

Taking a break from Problems - Point to Ponder

What the hell is this discerning of good and evil if it costs so much?

The whole world of knowledge is not worth the tears of a child for the dear kind God.

Tagline: If you can't change your past, change your future!

Problem No 8 - Parents want their children to receive total holistic education in schools...

... but disallow the children to go asking for donations for a charitable cause - such as the construction of a new school building.

These parents think that getting donations makes their children beggars and not students. But by forbidding their children to ask for money, are they not telling their children that they are different (perhaps of a higher status?) than the beggars on the streets?

The schools think it is part and parcel of the holistic education process for the students to go out to ask for money in school uniforms. The schools think that they are not making beggars of the students. But take away the uniforms and replace them with worn-out clothes, don't we have beggars in our midst?

Problem No 7 - Parents lament that their children are not inquisitive enough

and, at the same time, reprimand them for asking too many questions.

To ponder:

"There is no such thing as a dumb question"... The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

"Curiosity does, no less than devotion, pilgrims make."

 - Abraham Cowley, also quoted in the television series: BEING ERICA

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." ~~ Albert Einstein

Problem No 6 - Parents want their children to be creative...

... and yet push them to study in a rote and regimented way for hours upon hours toward examination(s) that even the Education Ministry recognizes "fails to reflect their capabilities".

Xinhua News 6 March 2006

Malaysia considers overhauling exam-oriented educational system
   

Malaysian Education Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Sunday his ministry is looking for best ways to overhaul the heavily examination-oriented system functioning in schools. 

The Education Ministry has realized the current system in primary and secondary schools is impractical, burdensome to students and fails to reflect their capabilities, said Hishammuddin. 

"I don't deny the examination system is burdensome to teachers and students alike, That is why we want to come up with a new system," Hishammuddin said after opening a student course in the Pahang state. 

All parties and personnel involved, including scholars, have been urged to work hard to identify a more relevant approach which does not rely on an examination system so much, said the education minister. 

Hishammuddin made the remarks when asked by a student to comment on the current education system. About 21,000 matriculation students from different parts of Malaysia attended the opening ceremony.

Today our school-going teenagers start a new year.

Feedback No 1 - Something to take us into the New Year (this link takes you to Crystal's Corner)

Taking a break from the listing of "problems with parents". Here is a feedback I received (see link) that I would take into the New Year and beyond.

Parents are humans and will always have their flaws. Author Mitch Albom wrote: 

"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair."  - The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom

But I guess the beauty in the imperfection of parenthood is that ultimately, we, as children, learn to break out from the shadow of our parents and take charge of our own destinies. We learn that ultimately, though we cannot control the circumstances we are in, we control our reactions to them. Ideally, that is. Unfortunately some people still choose to live under that shadow and blame their parents for who they are today. 

And perhaps that is all parents want from their children in the first place - to know that when they leave this earth, their children will be able to take care of themselves.