Why do children Misbehave and become Disrespectful?

I am working at a place where 98% of people I see every day are women. They come to relax and possibly to have someone to talk to about their matters. One of my regular customers was telling me how upset she was when her son tried to call her by her first name. Another customer’s son will just yell at her and even hit her when she asked him to share toys with his brother. My boss’ seven years old son threw a chair at him when he got yelled at for devastating something. This boy also constantly said he is not going to listen unless they let him have the TV for the whole day or buy him something that he wants such as a DVD.  The topic that kept coming up frequently is “my children are misbehave and very disrespectful.” Five out of ten women I have talked to who have children would say the exact same thing (not to mention some mother try to hide it because it’s an embarrassing thing to say).

Before saying these things about their children, why don’t the parents think back on why those children behave like that? It seemed most of those children who misbehave are either the only child or the ones who have been very spoiled since they were little. It’s what they called the “little emperor/empress symptom” where parents will accept any kind of favors their children have. It has gotten to the point where children think it’s the parent’s duty to provide them whatever they want.

                  

                 An example that I see clearly everyday is my brother. Being a Vietnamese means boys are more precious than girls. So my mother did everything she could to spoiled him. Every time we fight, I would be the one at fault. I work for my own expend, and he doesn’t. Every time he needs money, he came to my mother. He never washes any of his own dishes after he eat although the food was prepared for him already. Although he is twenty, he doesn’t even do his own laundry. My mom washed, folded, put his clothes in to the basket and he doesn’t even bother to bring it to his own room.

                

                As a result, he is now a very self-centered, selfish person who doesn’t care about anyone else but himself. He doesn’t listen to what my parents have to say anymore. He has no intention to help anyone in the family if needed. He can spend hours on Facebook goofing around but it would be extremely difficult to ask him to go to the doctor with my dad for thirty minutes. Not only Vietnamese spoil their son, parents now a day try to provide way too many things that children want but don’t need. That lead them to think they are the center of the world and they can get whatever they want. So, parents, before complaining about how selfish or disrespectful your children are, think of a way to teach them properly first; not to spoil them, give them the “little emperor/empress symptom” and then regret it later.  

By Quyen Nguyen