An article in the newspaper today has disturbed me very much. A mother of 8 children has been left abandoned on the streets by the very children she single-handedly brought up.
She is now 82 years old, frail & not in very good health. The report says that she's not even able to remember all her 8 children's names, how sad is that!! She could only name 3 of her 8 kids, but when the police called them up, none of them was willing to accept her in their homes.
It just makes me wonder, what is this world coming to? What is happening to filial piety, or is there such a thing as filial piety today? What are our kids being taught in school?? Is it just English, Maths & Science that is important? What about civic consciousness, what about teaching kids manners & how to respect their elders? Are our kids turning into brats? I guess the answer is YES!
Come on! Let's just face reality! The kids of today are very materialistic and have lost all other sense of how to behave. Who is the cause of all this? I guess it's the parents. If you ask the parents, there is always one very common excuse, it's always "The kids of today are not like us, they are different!" What rubbish are you talking? Weren't we ruled by the cane? As the old saying goes, SPARE THE ROD & SPOIL THE CHILD! I guess to a very large extent, it's a very true saying. Those old grey hair are not there for nothing. Old people don't just pull phrases from the air & say it, they are speaking from experience.
When I look at the Indian kids here today, (I can only comment on these kids as I'm not back home in Singapore!) I really feel sorry for the future of India. As it is, India is already you know what I'm trying to say, but with brats like these running around, I'm not very hopeful of a bright future for this country.
Being born & raised in Singapore as an only child, my parents never treated me like a brat! They were always very strict with me & never wanted a spoilt brat on their hands. I remember that when I was a kid, I used to be very mischievous (like tell me which kid is not naughty?) & my mum used to get so angry with my mischief that she would literally tie my legs to the legs of the chair (so that I can't run around) as punishment. She would never spare me the cane whenever it was warranted. She would not even bother if my friends & neighbours would laugh at the cane slashes on my legs & she would always cane me where it would be visible to people so that I would never commit the same mistake again for fear of being embarrassed in front of other people.
That psychology worked! I would always think twice before getting up to my mischief. My parents also always taught me to respect my elders no matter who they were. Until today, I still maintain this teaching. I was always taught not to argue with my elders also, although I would sometimes argue with my mum. But these are good teachings which kids are not taught today. I once saw a kid not more than 4 years old literally whacking his dad & mum just because they didn't buy him a toy. He was pulling his parents hair & was just hanging from his mum's long hair!! It was a hilarious sight, but a sorry one too! The parents finally relented and bought the toy for him. If I was the parent, I would just leave him there to throw his tantrum and walk away. He would quietly follow behind you after he sees that you are not acceding to his request. I remember my parents used to do that with me too! I used to roll on the floor crying for something I wanted, but my parents used to ignore me & walk away, after seeing that they are walking away without bothering about my tantrum, I would get up & start walking behind them. That is how I learnt over time that my tantrums will not work with them & I would have to behave myself if I wanted an outing.
Can you imagine our parents throwing us out on the streets to fend for ourselves when we were born? If they had done that to us, what would have become of us? Instead they picked us up everytime we cried in the middle of the night disturbing their sleep and feeding us, changing us or just simply cuddling us & rocking us back to sleep, and in return what do we do to them in their old age? We abandon them on the streets, we disrespect them, we leave them all alone when they are helpless or we leave them all alone because we are TOO BUSY! Is it right? I don't think so.
I'm truly blessed today because I looked after both my parents when they were in their last days. I was always taught by my parents about filial piety. There was once when both dad & mum were warded in the same hospital and luckily on the same floor & I used to wheel either dad to mum or mum to dad. Looking back on those days, it's funny how I managed looking after 2 sick parents all by myself. By the grace of God, I somehow did it.
It really makes me wonder what will happen to us in our twilight years? Will we be able to depend on our kids to look after us or will we end up in an Old Folks Home??
She is now 82 years old, frail & not in very good health. The report says that she's not even able to remember all her 8 children's names, how sad is that!! She could only name 3 of her 8 kids, but when the police called them up, none of them was willing to accept her in their homes.
It just makes me wonder, what is this world coming to? What is happening to filial piety, or is there such a thing as filial piety today? What are our kids being taught in school?? Is it just English, Maths & Science that is important? What about civic consciousness, what about teaching kids manners & how to respect their elders? Are our kids turning into brats? I guess the answer is YES!
Come on! Let's just face reality! The kids of today are very materialistic and have lost all other sense of how to behave. Who is the cause of all this? I guess it's the parents. If you ask the parents, there is always one very common excuse, it's always "The kids of today are not like us, they are different!" What rubbish are you talking? Weren't we ruled by the cane? As the old saying goes, SPARE THE ROD & SPOIL THE CHILD! I guess to a very large extent, it's a very true saying. Those old grey hair are not there for nothing. Old people don't just pull phrases from the air & say it, they are speaking from experience.
When I look at the Indian kids here today, (I can only comment on these kids as I'm not back home in Singapore!) I really feel sorry for the future of India. As it is, India is already you know what I'm trying to say, but with brats like these running around, I'm not very hopeful of a bright future for this country.
Being born & raised in Singapore as an only child, my parents never treated me like a brat! They were always very strict with me & never wanted a spoilt brat on their hands. I remember that when I was a kid, I used to be very mischievous (like tell me which kid is not naughty?) & my mum used to get so angry with my mischief that she would literally tie my legs to the legs of the chair (so that I can't run around) as punishment. She would never spare me the cane whenever it was warranted. She would not even bother if my friends & neighbours would laugh at the cane slashes on my legs & she would always cane me where it would be visible to people so that I would never commit the same mistake again for fear of being embarrassed in front of other people.
That psychology worked! I would always think twice before getting up to my mischief. My parents also always taught me to respect my elders no matter who they were. Until today, I still maintain this teaching. I was always taught not to argue with my elders also, although I would sometimes argue with my mum. But these are good teachings which kids are not taught today. I once saw a kid not more than 4 years old literally whacking his dad & mum just because they didn't buy him a toy. He was pulling his parents hair & was just hanging from his mum's long hair!! It was a hilarious sight, but a sorry one too! The parents finally relented and bought the toy for him. If I was the parent, I would just leave him there to throw his tantrum and walk away. He would quietly follow behind you after he sees that you are not acceding to his request. I remember my parents used to do that with me too! I used to roll on the floor crying for something I wanted, but my parents used to ignore me & walk away, after seeing that they are walking away without bothering about my tantrum, I would get up & start walking behind them. That is how I learnt over time that my tantrums will not work with them & I would have to behave myself if I wanted an outing.
Can you imagine our parents throwing us out on the streets to fend for ourselves when we were born? If they had done that to us, what would have become of us? Instead they picked us up everytime we cried in the middle of the night disturbing their sleep and feeding us, changing us or just simply cuddling us & rocking us back to sleep, and in return what do we do to them in their old age? We abandon them on the streets, we disrespect them, we leave them all alone when they are helpless or we leave them all alone because we are TOO BUSY! Is it right? I don't think so.
I'm truly blessed today because I looked after both my parents when they were in their last days. I was always taught by my parents about filial piety. There was once when both dad & mum were warded in the same hospital and luckily on the same floor & I used to wheel either dad to mum or mum to dad. Looking back on those days, it's funny how I managed looking after 2 sick parents all by myself. By the grace of God, I somehow did it.
It really makes me wonder what will happen to us in our twilight years? Will we be able to depend on our kids to look after us or will we end up in an Old Folks Home??
this truly is sad :( you are right that no matter what shall not abandon our parents when they need us the most and keep on helping them always. we will be parents one day too, so i doubt that we would like our children to treat us bad and show disrespect. world has become obsessed with other things like money and power, all that posh and glamour style, but lost spirituality.
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