Next Generation

It was a bright and sunny day as I strolled my way to Guyatt Park Ferry Terminal at St Lucia, Brisbane. I plonked myself on the bench waiting for CityCat to turn downstream. Took out my book to read but I was attracted to what seemed to be a mothers support group and a group of little kids. It was an appealing sight to me. The kids were playing wildly, running up and down the ramp. The mothers just sat around, chatting and laughing. [so cool, I was thinking].

Suddenly, there was a loud sound and the girl has fallen on her butt, while climbing up and down the railing along the ramp. I thought "that's it... her mother is going to scold her." Nope, the mother just coolly swept the dust off the little girl's bum asked her "What you did was dangerous. What do you think would have happened?" The girl stared at her mother and replied "I could have fallen over into the water." "Now, run along and play but please be careful."

Growing up in Singapore, an Asian country, I often see grandmothers and mothers fussing over their little ones. It's either "You see you see!!!! It's all your fault that this has happened! See if you dare do it again!" OR "Aiyo... son ah! (or daughter ah!) Are you all right or not? Are you hurt?"

I do not have children of my own. I do, however, have 19 kids under my care ranging from 1 - 16 years old who I believe, is training me to be one in time to come. Their parents are generally around my age or a few years older. Some are even younger than me! Through my job, I figured that parenting is a life-art. Kids are placed in a Home for various reasons, generally abused, neglect or orphaned.

I often wonder what would lead to a child being abused? Are their parents really 'crazy'? Have they experienced a terrible childhood that they had to torture their kid? Are the kids really very trying? Is it all the kids' fault? Or is it all the parents' fault?

It always take 2 hands to make a noise. Likewise, it's never entirely the fault on one party. When I talk to the kids, it's often parents not making time for them or them being too fierce or them not understanding them. In general, it's always not 'my fault' but 'their fault'. When I talk to the parents, it's often their kids not listening to them, they are asking for too many things, they are not understanding their situation. Again, it's always not 'my fault' but 'their fault'.

I had a chat some time back with a friend and we were talking about the Generation X & the Generation Y. Gen X people are born approximately from 1965 - 1981, late 50s or 60s or 1968 - 1979. Gen Y are the 'products' of Gen X, from 1982 to the millennial years.

Looking into the demographic and the sociological perspective of the matter, using my own personal life, I am able to see a difference in how the economy has evolved and developed. In my time, mobile phones, internet, computers are HUGE luxury items. To begin with, technology is not advance in my era. Back then, things seemed simpler. I work hard in my studies to gain an outing to the zoo. These days, I have kids telling me that they want to work hard in their studies so that they can have a PSP (handheld game).

A psychologist passed a comment "These days, before we can be a parent, we ought to be licensed first." As the world is evolving, media playing an important role, technology improving by leaps and bounds, I really am not too sure how the next generation of the world would be like.