The wrongness of (some) parents

Yesterday was a very strange day for me. I visited Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire - a lovely working museum. There were things there I was very interested to see, the working farm , gardens, smithys; and others I wasn't, the grand house. I don't like social inequality at the best of times, and I suppose that the best way to describe my view of money and social status is the true Communist model (or the Robin Hood principle) of take lots from the rich and little from the poor, average everything out and supply people what they need. But the whole experience was largely enjoyable and, with a spot of pig herding excepting, a largely uneventful day.

I did catch myself at several points during the day wishing that working the land and working with animals could be a viable lifestyle for me having as much food as I can eat as well as making a small profit to pay for the luxuries in life as well as the bills and the mortgage, and my regular visits to GW to buy things and obtain those wonderful painting projects I'm so keen on. I even asked the farm manager how I get hold of some Silky chicken eggs to raise some rare breed chickens for a regular supply of fresh eggs. Ah, the wistful wonderings of an idealist.

In the midst of this musing about the rural idyll I caught two phrases that juxtaposed this beauty. Consider that Shugborough is a short drive from Rugeley, Stafford, Birmingham, and Cannock Chase (for those uninitiated those areas have high concentrations of Chavs and parents you usually see on Supernanny.) and the majority of accents I heard were Brummie (ugh!) and most of the kids were so exicted that they ran everywhere and shouted. The two phrases I heard were "If that [frisbee] hits someone, I'll hit you" (mother to her 5 year old son.) and "She [daughter] hit him [son] so I [mother] hit her."

Now, I ask myself the following questions:
1) How did the relationship between parent and child break down to threaten or bestow violence on one you 'love' unconditionally?
2) Do some parents merely tolerate their children rather than love them?
3) Since when has it ever been acceptable to engage in tit-for-tat with a child?
4) What exactly are the parents expecting the children to learn here?

I say nothing and I walk on as the problems involved in raising children this way are bound to become evident as the child grows to later life. I was then witness to another incident where a family (mother, father, daughter, son) were stood in a square in the grounds and the family wanted to go back to the car. The son wanted to run a different way, but the parents and daughter walked the quicker way. The son hung back then 'cried' (the first tentative wail to see if anyone comes) then ran after shouting 'mummy' (trying to convince her her course of action was incorrect) and then, JUST as the child was learning its lesson (you can't always get what you want - Rolling Stones) the mother gave in and went with him. All because the child pestered her saying 'I want...'

Is it any wonder in this day and age that the teenagers as so adamant to do things their own way and can't be reasoned with when the boundaries of acceptable behaviour have not been grounded since the child could speak? More so, when parents act like children, how can the children respect them or follow their advice? And isn't it strange when these parents are the same ones on the TV complaining about their children running rampant or terrorising their neighbourhood?

Still, maybe one day they will learn. Or maybe it will take someone standing up and saying "It's all your own fault so change it or shut up!" to make it happen.