"The Child is Father of the Man," wrote the English poet
William Wordsworth. 111. Adults today are as aware as Wordsworth of the
importance of childhood experiences that a cherished and well-behaved child has
a better chance of growing into a balanced, loving and law-abiding adult than an
unloved one. The Children Act of 1989, created to give children much-needed
protection against abuse, in the process legalized the ideology: the child comes
first. 112. But while the nurturing of self-esteem in
children is now accepted as a requisite of their development, the social and
economic demands on over-worked, harassed parents often prevent them from
putting this theory into practice where it matters most in the home. Indeed,
much of the time it seems that parents themselves are suffering a crisis of
self-esteem. Reports show that teenagers are increasingly obese
and slothful. They watch on average between four and six hours of television a
day. 113. No longer subject to the discipline of the evening family meal-the
cradle of manners and civil behavior-one in three people eats his or her dinner
in front of the television. The fashion industry is increasingly targeting
guilty parents and their demanding children; it is not uncommon to see children
wearing designer jeans and the latest trainers that they will soon grow out
of. 114. Pre-Christmas toy advertising is designed to strike
terror into the hearts of parents and make their children even more demanding
and greedy. Every office in the land harbors parents who are exasperated
especially by boys who are arrogant, rude, boastful and undisciplined. 115.
Many parents are too guilt-ridden or too bewildered by conflicting child
rearing advice to do anything other than wring their hands with worry. The
language of civil rights has entered childhood. Children as young as six are now
so keenly aware of their "rights" that they freely complain of "unfair"
treatment by their elders.