Read the passage, and then decide whether the statements are true or false. The concept of parental authority has changed. Today, no parent can take their children’s respect for granted: authority has to be earned. Several studies have shown the following problems.Trust: A lot of young people say their parents don’t trust them. Some of them have no privacy: their parents read all their emails, and enter their rooms without knocking. All of these actions demonstrate lack of respect. Consequently, ...

Read the passage, and then decide whether the statements are true or false. The concept of parental authority has changed. Today, no parent can take their children’s respect for granted: authority has to be earned. Several studies have shown the following problems.Trust: A lot of young people say their parents don’t trust them. Some of them have no privacy: their parents read all their emails, and enter their rooms without knocking. All of these actions demonstrate lack of respect. Consequently, these teenagers have little respect for their parents. Communication: Hardly any teens discuss their problems with their parents. That’s because very few teens feel their parents really listen to them. Instead, most parents tend to fire off an immediate response to their kids’ first sentence.Freedom: Interestingly, most rebels come from very authoritarian homes where kids have very little freedom. Teens need fewer rules but they have to be clear and unchangeable. Also, if the mother and father don’t agree about discipline, teens have less respect for both parents. They also need a lot of support and a little freedom to take their own decisions. None of them enjoy just listening to adults.Role models: Teens don’t have much respect for their parents if neither of them actually does things that they expect their children to do. Like everybody, teens appreciate people who practise what they preach.

Parents have to earn much money in order to have parental authority.