How Much Freedom Should Children Have?

It is often said that we live in a (1) age, one in which people are allowed to do almost any­thing they like. Is this good for children? They are going through their (2), which is a very (3) stage of their development since their final adult characters are beginning to take shape. Some par­ents think it is good for children to be allowed to (4), without control or supervision. They say that this enables children's personalities to devel­op naturally and that they will learn to be respon­sible by the mistakes they make. However, this might lead to (5), with the children ending

up in the courts, or it might simply make children self-centred, without any consideration for others.

Other parents believe in being strict, but taken to extremes this can produce a too (6) atmosphere in the home, with the children being domi­nated and ruled by their parents. Parents can also be very (7) and try to keep their children dependent on them. These last two attitudes can encourage (8) (against parents, school, au­thority) in a child, or conversely, (9) a child's natural sense of adventure and curiosity. A strict (10) by overcaring parents can make a child so timid and inhibited that he or she is unable to express freely his or her emotions and form ma­ture relationships. To bring up children to be nor­mal, well-adjusted human beings requires great wisdom, and perhaps a bit of luck.

 

VI. Put each of the following words or phrases in its place in the passage below.

craving packet chain smoke stained put out

harmful addiction antisocial fatal ashtrays

 

Teens and Smoking.

To many teens smoking is not just a pleasure, it is an (1). They need it, depend on it, can't stop it. If they haven't smoked for some hours, they feel a (2) for a cigarette. They often (3), which means they light another cigarette immedi­ately they have (4) the other one before. Smoking is often considered (5), since many

people don't like the smell of cigarettes or the sight of the smoker's (6) fingers or (7) full of cigarette ends. Above all, smoking is (8) to health and in many countries a warning is print­ed on every (9) of cigarettes. Scientists have proved that there is a link between smoking and a disease which can be (10), cancer and differ­
ent diseases of future teenagers' babies.

 

VII. Fill in the blanks using a suitable derivative of the words given in the box.

(1) funny (4) difficulty (7) pass (10) much (13) twenty

(2) freedom (5) hard (8) good (11) Britain (14) live

(3) teenager (6) little (9) little (12) good (15) read

In Work and out of Work

Life used to be (1) for teenagers. They used to have money to spend, and (2) time to spend it in. They used to wear (3) clothes, and meet in coffee bars and discos. Some of them still do. But for many young people, life is harder now. Jobs are (4) to find. There's not so much money around. Teachers say that students work (5) than they used to. They are (6) interested in politics, and more interested in (7) exams. They know that good exams may get them (8) jobs.

Most young people worry more about money than their parents did twenty years ago. They try to spend (9) and save (10). They want to be able to get homes of their own one day. Three quarters of (11) young people do more or less what their parents did. They did their (12) at school, find some kind of work in the end, and get married in their early (13). They get on well with their parents, and enjoy family (14). They eat fish and chips, watch football on TV, go to the pub and like (15). After all, if they didn't, they wouldn't be British, would they?

 

VIII. Fill in the blanks using a suitable derivative of the words given in the box.

(1) depend (4) greed (7) behave (10) proud (13) respect

(2) importance (5) manner (8) effect (11) conceit (14) important

(3) spoil (6) politeness (9) help (12) tolerate (15) imitate

As your children move towards (1), it is (2) to make sure that they understand what decent values are. To prevent children from becom­ing (3) and (4) you should not indulge them too much. To make sure that they grow up well- (5) they should be taught to be (6) from an early age. Children should be scolded for bad (7), which will be an(8) way of (9) them to distinguish right from wrong. You need to
reward your children when they do things well to give them a sense of (10) but you must be care­ful not to overdo it or they may become (11).

You should try to make your children (12) and (13) of other peoples beliefs by exposing them to different races and cultures. Parents should try to place great (14) on setting a good example to their children, because children's behaviour is often an (15) of that of their parents.

 

IX. Fill in the blanks using a suitable derivative of the words given in the box.

(1) educate (3) powerful (5) cook (7) assurance

(2) noisy (4) difference (6) conform (8) bully

Understanding Boys.

The (1) of children starts as soon as they are born. Boys are allowed to make more (2), to play with guns and cause more trouble. Such education prepares boys for (3) in the world but for little else. But all boys are (4). Some boys are good at (5) and poetry whereas oth­ers are good at football or maths. Boys aren't just (6) and rebels, "machos" and "wimps". If we can (7) them that all these types are okay, it may help to reduce the (8) of those boys who are the least macho.

 

X. In some lines of this text there is one word that does not fit grammatically. Fill in the blanks below with these un­wanted words. If a line is correct, put a tick (•).

(1) You're an average teen; just like the many

(2) people at your age. What's the easiest way to

(3) feel cool and to prove to other teens that you're

(4) cool? What proves you've made an another step

(5) toward being an adult? If something is to go­-

(6) ing wrong - just buy a bottle of beer and you're

(7)OK! If you ask an ordinary beer fan, the first

(8) thing you'll hear about its wonderful taste. But

(9) even if it's a tasty, even if it's the only happi-

­(10) ness of your unhappy life - beer still contains

(11) alcohol! One can to say about non-alcohol beer.

(12) It seems to be a good joke: who will be drink

(13) beer just to slake their thirst when we have

(14) mineral water or juice? But if you ask a teen:

(15) "Are you drinking an alcohol?" - the answer

(16) should be: "Of course, not. You're probably

(17) blind - it's just a beer." But alcohol, especially

(18) as beer is drunk by teens - is a serious prob-

­(19) lem. The facts are that it's really very easy to

(20) get addicted to on an alcoholic drink, and beer

(21) is known as the one of the most addicting alco­-

(22) holic drinks. There're the millions of beer al­-

(23) coholism cases. Isn't it anyone's stupid fash-

(24) ion? Isn't it time now, before you lose your

brains forever, to think about it?

(1) (6)(11)(16) (21)

(2) (7)(12)(17) (22)

(3) (8)(13)(18) (23)

(4) (9)(14)(19) (24)

(5) (10)(15)(20) (25)

 

 

XI. Write down the paragraph arranging the sentences in a lo­gical order, use connectives if necessary. The first sentence is given. Sum up the text to bring out its content.

'Children react to loss of love or attention quite unconsciously. If he has just learnt to feed himself he will insist on being fed, for example. The elder child feels deprived of his mother's love. The mother inevitably gives a lot of attention to the new-born baby. This can be seen in the case of an only child when a sec­ond child is born in the same family. His bad behaviour might continue till it became part of the adult person's character. He will often seek quite unconsciously to be the new baby in order to get the same attention.'

 

 

XII. Finish up the letter giving a possible reason.

'A New Approach.'

'I am an adopted child and I welcome the new law that permits children to trace their natural parents. But, after years of wondering about my own (I'm 32),

I have decided not to trace them. I thought…'

Mrs. W.T. Dorset

 

XIII. Continue this either as a discussion or a composition.

'A Point of View.'

Rosalind Miles, the author of the book 'The Children We Deserve' believes: 'There is evidence of the failure of Western society to rear its children properly, to help them become the kind of people society, wants, needs and can value. Adults are doing a worse job of parenting than other generations and cultures. In the past a lot of punishments, for instance, that were visited on children, were cruel and would count as child abuse. But in those days everybody agreed that you should produce a child who was well behaved and obedient to its adults and that's the conviction that is lost these days. But the situ­ation can be improved.'

XIV. Explain the meaning of the saying 'Spare the rod and spoil the child,' give a situation or a story to illustrate its truth.

 

XV. Discuss the following

James Baldwin:

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

Clarence Darrow:

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.

Franklin P. Jones:

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for

lnstance.

Jacqueline Kennedy onassis:

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.

Dorothy Parker:

The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant -- and let the air out of the tires.

Harry s Truman:

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out

what they want and then advise them to do it.

Colette:

It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.

African proverb:

It takes a village to raise a child.

 

MINI TEXTS FOR TRANSLATION

 

1.

Трудные дети это не просто дети, с которыми нам, взрослым трудно, это дети которым трудно. Им очень трудно жить среди нас, т.к. их душа «обкрадена» любовью и добром со стороны взрослых, чаще всего родителей. Лишенная отцовской и материнской ласки, родительской поддержки и любви, детская душа не может развиваться нормально, она ослабевает, болеет, озлобляется и деформируется. Трудный ребенок- это, как правило, ребенок, в душе которого затаилось сиротство и отверженность родителей. Ощущение своей беззащитности и брошенности формирует в сознании такого ребенка болезненный комплекс неполноценности, который требует выработки компенсации, защитные психологические реакции, направленные на самоутверждение. В свою очередь стремление, стремление к самоутверждению разрушает гармоничность общения с окружающим миром: ребенок становится вынужденным эгоцентристом, у него развивается повышенная чувствительность к мнению окружающих людей, болезненная ранимость, склонность к обидчивости, амбициозности, упрямству и демонстративности, корысти и лукавству. В этом состоянии человеческой душе свойственна ярко выраженная раздвоенность.

2.

Тинейджеры Возраст, когда желание свободы превышает все дозволенные "нормативы". В этом возрасте дети еще ориентируются на взрослых. Но им нужна теперь не столько защита, сколько признание себя, как самостоятельной личности, со своими желаниями, позицией, мнением. В семьях, где существуют доверительные отношения между членами семьи, этот период проходит относительно спокойно. Конечно, бывают нестандартные ситуации, но взаимоотношения родителей и детей позволяют им совместно "обсудить проблему" и найти ей правильное решение. Другое дело - авторитарные семьи и семьи, в которых больше всего внимания уделяется внешней стороне жизни ребенка (опрятный вид. сыт, послушен и т.п.). В подобных системах отношений стремление к свободе становится для ребенка самоцелью, т.е. - свобода ради возможности продемонстрировать свою свободу. Вот и возникает в семье своеобразный "Бунт на корабле" - о нем читай в материале Юли Александровой.

3. 50$ на карманные расходы

Родители в Соединенных Штатах давно уже не дискутируют на тему, давать ли подросткам деньги на карманные расходы. Как показало новое исследование, прове­денное сотрудниками Универси­тета штата Огайо, в конце XX столетия вопрос решается просто: если есть возможность - дают, а нет - что ж, значит, не судьба.

Так вот, почти 50 про­центов подростков вообще не получают денег от роди­телей на кино, попкорн, пиццу и так далее. Зато среди осталь­ных оказалось довольно много тех, кто при­знался, что имеет до 175 долларов в неделю и больше. Согласно иссле­дованию такими суммами располагают подростки, проживающие в семьях с годовым доходом от 100 тысяч долларов. В семьях, где доход не превышает 20 тысяч долларов, дети могут рассчитывать примерно на 14 долларов в неделю. Выяс­нилось также, что суммы, получаемые подростками на личные расходы, варьируются в разных штатах. К при­меру, на Северо-западе, особенно в районе Великих озер, родители еженедельно выдают своим чадам примерно 75 долларов, а на (Юге - 30-38 долларов. В среднем по стране, по оценкам экспер­тов, американский подрос­ток имеет 50 долларов в не­делю на карманные расхо­ды. Совокупный еженедельный капитал всех подростков превышает. 1 миллиард долларов.

В России эта пробле­ма решается аналогич­ным путем: есть - дают, нет - не дают. Второе - чаще. Естественно, у нас эти суммы идут в рублях, не 5 долларов, а 5 руб­лей и так далее. Но и это не все. Хуже всего школьникам младших классов (у которых по­рой старшеклассники отнимают деньги) и сту­дентам, которым прихо­дится тратиться не толь­ко на еду, но и на книги, ксерокопирование, тетра­ди, ручки, папки, степлеры и т.д.

Александр Пахомов

 

4.

Childhood is considered a very important time by psychologists. They believe that most of the faults of adulthood — warped characters, meanness, aggressiveness, sourness, criminal tendencies — are created by bad upbringing. And the worst sort of upbringing, they believe, is one lacking in human warmth and love. The feeling in childhood of being deprived of love, especially the love of parents, can be very damaging indeed. Few children are aware of the cause, but the effects on them are often serious and sometimes last well into adulthood. Some adults never recover from it, and take it out on other people as a result. Their unpleasant behaviour could be traced back to an unhappy or deprived childhood.

 

5.

Whatever the deeper, subconscious reasons for the war between adults and teenagers, the overt hostilities usual­ly break out over rather superficial externals such as hair and clothes. Hair has been a symbol of power since Biblical times when Delilah managed sneakily to emascu­late Samson by shearing his locks. It is an undeniable flash point in modern family life.(Sunday Times)

 

6.

Childhood is a period of wide ranging experiences and emotions. Childhood is about gamboling around the parks, riding bicycles, playing with friends and having a great time. Childhood is about leading a carefree life and discovering the simple joys it has to offer everyday. Childhood is a time when children observe the world around them and involuntarily shape their opinions and ideas based on their observations. Childhood is a malleable age and hence every child needs to be handled with utmost care and love – be it the parents, family members, teachers or any other people around the child.

 

7.

Parenting can be synonymous with sending your child to an art class - The various values and virtues are the colors required to create the perfect painting on the canvass of life. As parents it is up to you to choose which brand of colors, brushes and canvass you want to provide your child. The teacher might provide some help by introducing the child to the nuances of painting. But as far as the painting is concerned - it is the child who is in complete control of every stroke and every splash of color...