One of the speakers at the awareness walk in tribute to the late Marie Anita Jolita identified child tyranny in many a modern family as being one of the issues our society is facing today.

If some children behave like ?terrorists? within their own family, it is largely the result of a wrong parental attitude, although external factors such as peer pressure, mass media and inappropriate school education may contribute to that kind of behaviour.

One of the reasons behind the ?child king? syndrome is the concept that child and parent must share equal status within the family. Indeed, a child is not a mini adult.

On the one hand, when a child is treated as an adult?s alter ego capable of discerning and taking decisions his childhood is literally hijacked .

On the other hand considering a child like an inferior being incapable of having an opinion of his own is confining him to a childhood prison.

Finding the right balance between the two is vital because ?child kings? are produced when parents consider that kids neither need to be educated nor need to grow up! They have a feeling that using discipline would result in limiting their children?s freedom. As an example, those children claim to have the right to spend the pocket money they obtain from their parents without even feeling the need to inform them how they plan to use it !

Children are very conscious of their rights though the concept of duty is almost obliterated .Yet every game has got its rules. Moral and legal obligations are part of the rules of life children must learn if they want to play in the team of human brotherhood .Parents who refuse themselves to teach the sense of duty to their offspring for fear of being a burden to their freedom and happiness are bringing up inconsiderate individualistic hedonists who will concern themselves with nothing but their own satisfaction.

The art of living together

Parents who do not control what their children watch on television are missing an invaluable opportunity to avoid harmful influence from entering their home. To appeal to their audience film producers often portray a life style where the ultimate end is immediate pleasure at all costs. Glorification of violence and sex are part of the game. How would someone who learns that the objective in life is to do what he wants not behave like a tyrant within his own family?

The very concept of education is often perverted.

Parents often ask their children to work hard at school in order to have a good, well-paid job, in the future. Emphasis is rarely put on human values, all that is taken into account tend to be the marks obtained at school. Yet education goes further than a few marks - it refers to the lifetime training for ?the greatest of all arts, the art of living together?(1).The true test of education therefore is the ability to cooperate with others and here lies the importance of paying the right attention to human values.

In this individualistic world everyone is a king. It is difficult for the child to think of himself differently if we dance to the tune of individualism. Children have to know that they form part of a web, that of global humanity. As charity begins at home, let?s make ours a model of what we would like the world to be. A home where every member of the family feels concerned with the welfare of the other.A home built on the solid grounds of love and ruled by no less loving yet responsible parents. (Responsability = response ? ability)

Those high-tech thinkers who believe the concept of duty, parental control and respect for human values are outdated must realize that old is gold. So behold before our homes are to chaos sold .

<B>A. Jeannot

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