Parent abuse revisited!

Jen: You don't train children you train seals, dolphins and/or Shamu. Apparently you are not living the life of an abused parent; I am, by a 13 year old boy, physically, verbally and emotionally. Why does he hit me do you ask, usually because I tell him to get off the play station or I tell him to get off the computer, believe it or not as simple as that. I have not failed to live up to my responsibility and it has nothing to do with maintaining a good parent-child relationship. It has to do with being a bully and trying to control someone. Parents have nothing to protect themselves and there are no laws for parents to stop their children from abusing them.- Blondie posted on this blog.

The re-visit:

The campaign is set higher. More voices are raised against child abuse. A very important issue organisations like UNICEF hold close to heart. Although so much is being said and done about child abuse, no one dare claim that the issue is overflogged because obviously our society is yet to understand that no child deserves to be abused.How about Parent abuse? Silence. Nobody is talking about parent abuse. Does it really exist? In everyone's lifetime (maybe not everyone?), there have been one or two occassions when we concoiusly or unconciously abuse our parents. Example: when we disrespect our parents or delibrately disobey instructions they give us, this is parent abuse! There are cases where children insult and talk back rudely to their parents. Even worse, older children fight or physically maltreat their parents. Also, expecting parents to always buy the best gifts for us during our birthdays, christmas etc. and never returning such gestures is equal to parent abuse!

Parents who fail to live up to their responsibility to train their children well and maintain a good parent-child relationship risk being abuse in future. Therefore, it is crucial that the 21st century parents rise above the norms, put their feet down and not spare the rod. Parents do not have to get violent or brutal when treating a child who they think is a rebel. I am not a parent yet, but I have a mother with whom I am in good terms with, do not get me wrong, we still have mother-daughter disagreement every now and then but a manageable one! Perhaps, this can be attributed to the fact that when I was growing up as a kid, the rod was not spared.

Blondie is right, so many parents are being abused by their children not because they fail to leave up to their responsibility but perhaps because the relationship they have with their children has been compromised in more ways than one. There are no laws to protect parents from being abused by their children and I doubt if there will be any soon, thus parents need to revisit the kind of relationship they have with their children and mend any fallout. Parents should train-up their children in the way of the Lord and the lines will fall into pleasant places!