New Flash:: Mothers More Abusive than Fathers

According to a study results published in Times of India, it is revealed that the mothers are more "abusive" than the fathers. Reading the article, I instantly went back in time many many years. Although I have been in the United States for the better part of my adulthood, I grew up in India and our household as fairly liberal in thoughts, values and was full of love. I am the third out of four and the second daughter. Older sister was a few too many years apart from me and my older brother but I remember she used to be the one taking care of us younger siblings most of the time when my mother had to go out of the house to run some errands. And from errands I mean sometimes out of town for several days!! I never felt I was being abused, rather, I felt that my demands were given preferential treatment over my brothers - by the sister as well as my father - and that would leave my mother a bit irritated on her return :-) little things like spending the entire afternoon at the friend's house and not helping in household chores in her absence. And then it would be my turn in the kitchen - by mother's orders - making coffee or tea every time someone visited - it was so normal for friends and acquaintances to just drop by in the evenings and you would end up making tea many times before the night fell. And if the older sister or even my brother wanted to help me out, my mother would not let them, merely because she believed I "needed" to learn these things for one day I would need to do them for "my" family. Anyways, those were beautiful days, and I yearn to have them back. Time once gone, never comes back. My parents did not believe in sparing the rod and spoiling the child adage….. and at times it may have felt bad, but I can see it today that those occasional scoldings and discipline techniques did work and I am sure made us good humans today. I'm sure there is a small percentage of those parents who truly ABUSE their kids- but those people are mentally sick. And that’s not to say that the parents who are strict, don’t love their children - being strict and punishing kids for mistakes doesn’t mean you are abusive. But there has to be a better way to deal with discipline. Especially with young girls, our approach definitely has to be a bit different than with boys. But the article did make me feel very sad for the girls, especially at the number of girls who wished they were boys. Now that really sucks.