Spare Your Rod, Spoil the Child

It is not unusual today for old people to spoil their grandchildren with toys and sweets and to yield to their aggressive demands. It is natural that old people adore their grandchildren, but it is not normal that this adoration should go so far as to create little emperors and empresses. Such adoration has a negative effect on the children's personalities and moral standards.

A survey of 152 such families found that 88 percent of grandparents admitted that they tended to yield to their grandchildren's every request, especially if the children had resorted to tears.

It seems that when children are told off by their parents and their teachers, their elder relatives interfere, protecting and comforting the children. When the children are required to do some family chores, 59 percent of the old people said they would invariably do it for them. Some grandparents would even go to school to sweep floors and wash windows for their grandchildren.

It has become usual that when little boys and girls get good marks in examinations, their grandparents reward them. As a result, the children have come to take these favors for granted and have become less considerate towards others.

Parents and teachers have all appealed to old people to be sensible for the sake of future generations.

The problem of these spoiled children can be solved. First, parents and grandparents should understand that their task is to train the children to become both self-controlled and self-reliant. Second, young parents should cooperate with the old instead of leaving the grandparents entirely responsible to raise the children. And third, they should allow the children to be more independent.