People often hear the term Strawberry generation being thrown around freely especially by adults on young children. Well, the term strawberry generation comes from the Taiwanese people, labelling those that are born after the 1980s as being weak willed and not being able to withstand the pressure from society and thus “bruising” like a strawberry.
Part of the reason why this happens is because parents from the previous generation have grown up under harsh conditions and in turn adopt a softer approach when it comes to parenting. This not only causes their children to be over-indulged and overprotected, it fails to expose them to the harsh realities of the world around them, resulting in a generation of “strawberries”.
Now tough love on the other hand is a parenting style or a style of teaching when one treats another person sternly with the intention of aiding them and preparing them for the future. This is entirely different from forms of abuse or harsh treatments without the intent of love behind it because genuine tough love ultimately wishes for a positive outcome at the end of the training or learning phase.
As the quote goes, “tough times don’t last, tough men do”, it isn’t always necessary that we have to undergo tough love in order to come out on top with all the desirable traits thought possible. With all the challenges in life, it is only inevitable that one would encounters tough times in their lives. Tough love would merely expedite this process, forcing it upon the desired target to nurture him/her into growing. The important takeaway from this is that we learn to grow from such tough times and absorb life lessons from such episodes of challenge and resistance. Regardless of the situation, there are a variety of lessons that we can learn from such situations although a select few remain consistent with each challenge we encounter.
Well, it’s been an established fact that kids are getting more spoilt in today’s age, especially since the huge growth of wealth in a developed country like Singapore. The advancement of social media shows how blatantly kids throw their parents’ hard earned money away at entertainment establishments such as night clubs or pubs, indulging in the hedonistic lifestyle of which they deserve none of.
Thankfully, there are many parents today who have since become more sensible with their upbringing techniques and do in fact practice tough love when it comes to parenting. This has resulted in a minority of kids that do seem to understand the importance of proper values in life and the meaning of hard work.