Parent Abuse!

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!

The calibre of people children hang out with contributes to the level of ways they abuse their parents. When some children see their peers dressed in the latest fashion, play with expensive toys and spend more money, they tend to come home and demand for more without considering their parent's capability. In cases where parents fail to meet up to their expectation, these children become resentful and bitter towards their parents, thus they start wishing someone else's parent was their parent.

In a nutshell, parent abuse occur when children abuse their space, demand for more without appreciation, rebel, disobey, insult or physically harm their parents causing them emotional pain or distress. It is imperative for every child to think well of himself and conciously adopt a positive attitude towards his parents and encourage their friends to do same.

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.