Watch the children

In a development that should catch the eyes of any concerned parent or teacher, a school student in Thimphu assaulted his teacher viciously for only being asked to behave himself.

There are increasing reports of increasingly rotten behavior from kids that would have been unthinkable only a decade ago.

Bhutan’s comparatively rapid economic development has seen the overnight rise of a new upper middle and middle class.

The common feature in a significant number of these families is that the parents who are chasing their careers, businesses or simply making a living do not seem to be able to give enough time for their children.

If this was not bad enough, the children of today are increasingly being exposed to a wide array of influences, both good and bad through an array of avenues which include the huge amounts of time spent on social media and the internet.

On additional common feature is that since a lot of the parents may have experienced deprivations in their youth they are overcompensating with their children by saying yes to everything.

It is no longer uncommon to buy the most expensive gadgets and say yes to constant junk food requests, so only to buy the parents some peace.

Parenting is not easy, and it never was meant to be easy, but that does not mean that parents should just show their love through material objects while ignoring the emotional needs and life skills guidance that their children need.

However, it is not fair to just blame parents as today’s youth especially teenagers should also be more careful, circumspect and critical in the ideas they cultivate and the company they keep.

Ultimately the life choices that a youth makes from their academics to other habits are what they will have to live with the rest of their lives.

“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.” 

Robert A. Heinlein