Nature or Nurture?

I confess to being confused.    If you happened to be walking along the street and needed to know the time, would you approach a stranger and say, with aggression,  ”Hey you!   Tell me the f***ing time?”   The response would presumably be negative.

Why on earth would a previously well-mannered and mostly considerate daughter, turn into the teenager from hell?

Because she can???

Her mother makes excuses for her.   ‘Hormones’.  And, ”She only talks to me this way” as though this makes it perfectly acceptable.    And mother continues to cluck, and pacify, and generally indulge this thoroughly ill mannered and unpleasant person.

Half the problem may be that by law you may not smack your children.   Ever, under any circumstances.   They are instructed from an early age at school that if their parents so much as lift a hand, they can lay charges.    The-powers that-be should take a good look at nature.   Ever seen a lioness deliver a well deserved clout?   And the cub learns quickly that unacceptable behaviour has unpleasant repercussions.

It never for an instant occurred to me to insult my parents.   Apart from the prospect of instant death, I needed their good will.   They were the ones who worked their buns off to keep food on the table and a roof over my head.  They weren’t perfect but they did their best.    I loved them and they loved me and it would have hurt them terribly.

They say that grandchildren are a parent’s revenge.   I’m relieved that I probably won’t be around to enjoy

 

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