Social Commentary 2

Where is the love? Today’s society is one where people help others as a result of mutual benefits. This change in societal opinion has even affected the way children treat their parents in the latter’s old age. Children who feel that their parents have not ‘cared’ for them are thus, more likely not to provide for their parents’ when these parents are in their old age. However, whose fault is it actually? I believe that even though both parties, parents and children, are at fault, it is the changing society that is to blame. I will explore the faults of parents, children and society’s contribution to this worrying trend.

Parents work hard trying to make ends meet or even save up extra money to lead a better life for both themselves and their children. However, even though their main aim was actually to provide the children, they have neglected the emotional requirements of a child in the process. This leads to children feeling emotionally detached to their parents and feeling “that the only things they shared with their parents were the same roof and surname.” An average worker in Singapore alone works eight hours a day, starts work early in the morning and returns home at around six in the evening. Counting that the average primary school child sleeps at around ten at night, there would only be four hours of time for interaction between the parents and their children. I myself see my father for barely minutes on weekdays. Parents work hard to earn money for their children’s education and leisure but in so doing, neglected the time needed to build emotional ties with the children. This contributes to the increasing trend of children refusing to take care of their parents because they do not feel that their parents have taken of them when they were younger.

However, children also exclude adults from their activities. In a research done by MTV and Microsoft, teens spend 34 hours a week on the internet. Another survey done in 2005 showed that teenage boys and girls spent an average of over two hours a day watching television. Also, American teens spend an average of four hours doing homework each week. The problem with all these activities is that they rarely include their parents. Children are busy keeping up with their social life and their own entertainment that they do not allow time for interaction with their parents and this has also caused the decline in relationship between the two parties. Working adults would have even less time with their parents as they are likely to not stay in the same house as their parents. The children themselves have excluded parents from their activities and contributed to the declining relationship with their parents as well.

Despite both parties’ fault in the matter, the responsibility has not been fully shared yet. There is a bigger factor behind this rift in relationship that had caused the trend of children abandoning their parents in the later stages. The society. Modern society is a fast paced one where competition is rife. This contributes to the parents having to work so hard just to make a living and even harder to support their children. The average living expenses in Singapore would amount to $2600 at the very least. Also, it is the same society that causes teenagers to spend their time online. Peer pressure is one of the strongest forces and teenagers stay online to keep connected and up to date with their peers. Society itself, has contributed much to the mindset of both parents and children and caused the rift between the two.

The fault of the divide between parents and their children is shared between both parties. However, the circumstances of society have forced it this way. Society is the motivating factor causing a chain reaction and has the most responsibility in causing the trend where children feel detached and thus treat their parents badly.