Lessvn 11

d for the first time in my life, I shouted at grown-ups, telling them that I would give them the same if they bothered me. I finally found my grocery list and the money, and went to the store.
    On my way back, I kept my stick poised for instant use, but there was not a single boy in sight.
    That night, I won the right to the streets of Memphis.

         2. Parents Are Too Permissive with Their Children Nowadays

    Few people would defend the Victorian attitude to children, but if you were a parent in those days, at least you knew where you stood: children were to be seen and not heard. Freud and Company did away with all that and parents have been bewildered ever since. The child's happiness is all-important, the psychologists say, but what about' the parents' happiness? Parents suffer constantly from fear and guilt while their children gaily romp about pulling the place apart. A good old-fashioned
spanking is out of the question: no modern childrearing manual would permit such barbarity.

The trouble is you are not allowed even to shout. Who knows what deep psychological wounds you might inflict? The poor child may never recover from the dreadful traumatic experience. So it is that parents bend over backwards to avoid giving their children complexes which a hundred years ago hadn't even been heard of. Certainly a child needs love, and a lot of it. But the excessive permissiveness of modern parents is surely doing more harm than good.

    Psychologists have succeeded in undermining parents' confidence in their own authority. And it hasn't taken children long to get wind of the fact. In addition to the great modern classics on child care, there are countless articles in magazines and newspapers. With so much unsolicited advice flying about, mum and dad just don't know what to do ariy more. In the end, they do nothing at all. So, from early childhood, the kids are in charge and parent.s, lives are regulated according to the needs of their offspring. When the little dears develop into teenagers, they take complete control. Lax authority over the years makes adolescent rebellion against parents all the more violent. If the young people are going to have a party, for instance, parents are asked to leave the house. Their presence merely spoils the fun. What else can the poor parents do but obey?

    Children are hardy creatures (far hardier than the psychologists would have us believe) and most of them survive the harmful influence of extreme permissiveness, which is the normal condition in the modern household. But a great many do not. The spread of juvenile delinquency in our own age is largely due to.parental laxity. Mother, believing that little Johnny can look after himself, is not at home when he returns from school, so little Johnny roams the streets. The dividing-line between permissiveness and sheer negligence is very fine indeed.

    The psychologists have much to answer for. They should keep their mouths shut and let parents get on with the job. And if children are knocked about a little bit in the process, it may not really matter too much. At least this wilt help them to develop vigorous views of their own and give them something positive to react against. Perhaps there's some truth in the idea that children who've had a surfeit of happiness in their childhood emerge like stodgy puddings and fail to make a success of life.

                  3. Parental Piety Is Taken to Extremes

    The dictionary defines "filial piety" as "a son's or daughter's obedience to and respect for parents". It is a pity that in reality the implication of this expression has changed in China, a nation so proud of this virtue.
    It so happened in a department store that an old couple, after careful
selection and much hesitation, fumhled 600 yuan from their pockets for a quality down quilt, smiling wi.t.h content when. the package was handed over the counter.
    "It's so good to see the elderly spend their savings for their own sake. There aren't many old people who buy expensi.ve commodities for themselves these days," commented a. middle-aged paaer-by.

    "We really should be a bit hedonistic, shouldn't. we?"
    The old couple's smile froze on hearing the words. "It's actually for my youngest son. He's getting married soon," sighed the old man.
    The passer-by nodded understandingly, "Show filial piety to your son, eh?" she said half jokingly. Her words were greeted by a fit of hollow laughter.
    This role reversal-piety to one' s children-is not uncommon, in rural areas and cities

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