Children lack discipline, grandparents say

London: Children are ill-disciplined, bad-mannered, disrespectful and treated too leniently, according to their grandparents.

Changing attitudes mean most parents no longer reprimand their offspring with the age-old methods of a smack or sending them to bed without dinner because they fear upsetting them.

But their grandparents believe this is to the detriment of the children's manners and moral values, research has revealed.

Instead of traditional punishments, modern parents tend to favour softer options, such as stopping their children from watching television or confiscating their mobile phones.

As a result, two-thirds of grandparents believe their grandchildren are not as firmly disciplined as their own children were.

Three in ten said their grandchildren lacked any discipline at all, and one in six grandparents think their offspring have failed as parents and don't set clear behavioural boundaries. A quarter said their children were too lenient as parents and 40 per cent said their younger family members would shy away from imposing discipline for fear of appearing "too harsh".

Jane Silk, from the Mature Times, which commissioned the study, said: "It's clear that there is a perceived drop in standards of discipline over the last generation."

Too lenient

"The majority of grandparents think their children are far too lenient and do not set clear behavioural boundaries for their kids."

"Their perception is that this has resulted in a lack of respect for authority and clear values."

The publication quizzed 500 grandparents on the quality of their children's parenting compared to their own.

Nearly half said they were stricter with their youngsters during their childhood than their children are with their own offspring.

— Daily Mail