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Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
1 Too many parents these days can’t say no. As a result, they find themselves raising `children’ who respond greedily to the advertisements aimed right at them. Even getting what they want doesn’t satisfy some kids; they only want more. Now a growing number of psychologists, educators and parents think it’s time to stop the madness and start the madness and teaching kids about what’s really important: Values like hard work, contentment, honesty and compassion. The struggle to set limits has never been tougher and the stakes have never been higher. One recent study of adults who were overindulged as children paint a discouraging picture of their future: when given too much too soon, they grow up to be adults who have difficulty coping with life’s disappointments. They also have a distorted sense of entitlement that gets in the way of success in the workplace and in a relationship.
2. Psychologists say that parents who overindulge their kids set them up to be more vulnerable to future anxiety and depression. Today’s parents themselves raised on values of thrift and self-sacrifice, grew up in a culture where no was a household word. Today’s kids want much more partly because there is so much more to want. The oldest members of this generation were born in the last 1980s, just as PCs and video games were making their assault on the on the family room. They think of MP3 players and flat-screen TV as essential utilities, and they have developed strategies to get them. One survey of teenagers found that when they crave for something new, most expect to ask nine times before their parents give in. By every measure, parents are shelling out record amounts. In the heat of this buying blitz, even parents who desperately need to say no find themselves reaching for their credit cards.
3. Today’s parents aren’t equipped to deal with the problem. Many of them, raised in the 1960s and ’70s, swore they’d act differently from their parents and have closer relationships with their own children. Many even wear the same designer clothes as their kids and listen to the same music. And they work more hours; at the end of a long week, it’s tempting to buy peace with ‘yes’ and not mar precious family time with conflict. Anxiety about the future is another factor. How do well-intentioned parents say no to all the sports gear and arts and language lessons they believe will help their kids thrive in an increasingly competitive world? Experts agree: too much love won’t spoil a child. Too few limits will.
4. What parents need to find, is a balance between the advantages of an affluent society and the critical life lessons that come from waiting, saving and working hard to achieve goals. That search for balance has to start early. Children need limits on their behaviour because they feel better and more secure when they live within a secured structure. Older learn self-control by watching how others, especially parents act. Learning how to overcome challenges is essential to becoming a successful adult Few parents ask kids to do chores. They think their kids are already overburdened by social and academic pressures. Every individual can be served to others, and life has meaning beyond one’s own immediate happiness. That means parents eager to teach values have to take a long, hard look at their own.
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage answer each of the questions given below with the help of options that follow:
(a) According to the writer, children respond greedily to advertisements because
(i) they have got used to getting more than they want
(ii) they are used to the limits set by their parents
(iii) they are not used to their parents disagreeing with them
(iv) they do not have values like hard work, honesty and compassion
(b) In the writer’s opinion, parents keep reaching for their credit cards as
(i) they want to buy the latest gadget in the market
(ii) they feel happy buying presents for their children
(iii) they cannot see their children worried and depressed
(iv) they are unable to say ‘no’ to their children’s demands
(c) Today parents are keen to have a close relationship with their wards because
(i) they want to wear the same kind of clothes as worn by their children
(ii) they want to keep them in good humour so that they take care of them in their old age
(iii) they are unable to set boundaries and rules for their children
(iv) they want to act differently from the way their parents had treated them
(d) the writer feels that in order to teach values to their children, parents should
(i) find a balance in their own lives
(ii) feel more secure in their relationship with their children
(iii) think more about their own needs and less about what their children want
(iv) introspect about their own value systems
Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
(e) Why do the children mentioned in the passage find it difficult to succeed in their lives and workplaces?
(f) Why do these children want more than they really need in life?
(g) Mention one important difference between the lives of the parents and their children’
(h) What are the critical lessons one has to learn in life?
(i) Why is it important for parents to encourage their children to do chores at home?
(j) How can a parent actually teach values to their children?
(k) Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:
(i) having the right to lay claim to something (para 1)
(ii) twisted out of shape deformed (para 1)
ANSWERS:-
(a) (i); (b) (iv);
(c) (iv); (d) (iv)
(e) The children mentioned in the passage are so used to getting what they want that they become entitled, and cannot cope with disappointments and setbacks in life. They do not have the values of hard work, contentment and honesty that would have helped them succeed at work or in life.
(f)They want more than they need, first of all, because there are more things to want now than ever before. For example, video games and MP3 players are seen as essential. Secondly, they are constantly targeted by advertisements for more new things.
(g) Most of today’s parents grew up in the 60s and 70s, with strict values of thrift and self-sacrifice, whereas the generation that has grown after the late 80s are more likely to be overindulged and used to getting what they want.
(h) The critical lessons one must learn are patience, saving and working hard to achieve one’s goals.
(i) It is important for parents to encourage their children to do chores at home because it teaches them to be of service to others, and reminds them to think beyond their own wants and their immediate happiness.
(j) To teach values to their children, the parents should first carefully look at their own values, since children learn values like self-control by watching how their parents act.
(k) (i) entitlement (ii) distorted
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