How much freedom should children have?

It is often said that we live in a permissive age, one in which people are allowed to do almost anything they like. Is this good for children? They are going through their adolescence, which is a very formative 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 run wild, 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 juvenile delinquency, with the children ending up in the courts, or it might simply make children self-centered, without any consideration for others.

Other parents believe in being strict, but taken to extremes this can produce a too authoritarian atmosphere in the home, with the children being dominated and ruled by their parents. Parents can also be very possessive and try to keep their children dependent on them. These last two attitudes can encourage rebelliousness (against parents, school, and authority) in a child, or conversely, suppress a child’s natural sense of adventure and curiosity. A strict upbringing by overcaring parents can make a child so timid 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.

Words

Adolescence - юность

formative  -относящийся к воспитанию, формированию ( личности, характера )

supervision - наблюдение

juvenile delinquency - подростковая преступность

self-centered -эгоцентричный

possessive - собственнический; относящийся к собственности 

conversely - oбратно, вспять, назад, наоборот

timid - робкий; застенчивый