Monster Parents

Dori Kim
King George V School
IGCSE First Language English
Coursework #3 – Response to Stimulus Text

Letter to a The English Channel magazine
In response to article “Monster Parents”

8th September 2014

8th September 2014
Dear Mr. Leung,
Recently, I read your article on “Monster Parents” in the January 2013 issue of the English Channel. There are many outstanding points and some that I disagree with.
It has come to my attention that “Monster Parents” cling to their children. Most couples only have one child these days. Therefore it is obvious that they care and give lots of attention about their only child, it is totally understandable. However, they need to let go at some point. As you mentioned in your magazine, ‘While visiting the University canteen recently and seeing that half of the people there seemed like parents instead of students,’ I totally understand why parents would be overprotective of their only child also whilst at university.
As well as parents who go to University with their child, you also mentioned that parents were seen camping over night outside three Kindergartens in Tseung Kwan O. Some of the parents already started queuing up a day earlier to apply for places on Pre-nursery classes. Similarly, eager parents also filled Diocesan Boys School on primary admission. I definitely agree that these parents’ nicknames are called “Monster Parents” by the media. Parents are literally hovering over almost every aspect of their children’s lives. Of course this is understandable because in my perspective I believe that parents want their child to attend a famous and well-educated elite school, in the hopes of giving their precious child and offspring a good head start.
Another excellent point, I would like to point out is, that a new breed of youngsters called “Kong Kids,” or “Hong Kong” spoiled children, has emerged not long ago obviously they were all spoilt. It is obvious that they were definitely unable to look after themselves and they are a total mess, worse still as you said they have low emotional quotients, and even lower adversity quotients. As parents, it is their job to take care and teach their youngsters wisely to become a success later on, and not fail in life, because that’s what parents want.
“Monster Parents” also want their child to have more open opportunities to explore the world and they would think that “Monster Parents” monitor their child’s life, and parents would like their son or daughter to appreciate and understand, that they are doing this for the best. Parents out there need to teach their child how to be confident, responsible and to be an independent adult, so he or she can fulfill their lives independently. “Monster Parents” would do anything for their daughter or son, to be the best that they can, but sometimes this could be too much. These days, it is a serious competition to get into Kindergarten, Primary school, high school and University; everyone is everyone’s rival. But in your article it said that the “Monster Parents” son attended all of the above and is now a university student. His parents would be very proud and blessed that her son is doing so well at the moment.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed reading your article until the part when you said parents continually find faults with how schools treat their children and suggest unreasonable ways in which teachers can do their job better. I have to point out a negative point. I personally, believe that “Monster Parents” should stop continuing to find faults with how school treat their children and suggest unreasonable reasons, parents should ask their child how they think about school, because they’re the ones attending school not the parents. In fact, the teachers know what they’re doing, other wise they wouldn’t be a teacher. I strongly believe that “Monster Parents” should stay out of it and let the students take care of this kind of situation. Moreover, some parents even repeatedly make unreasonable demands to the schools at which their children study, preventing the school from functioning normally.
As far as I’m concerned, another negative point I would like to draw attention to be that according to a recent study undertaken by the City University of Hong Kong, the monster parents of our city are turning out a generation of spoilt brats. The city is at high risk, as it is producing spoilt children who are over confident about themselves. This is why “Monster Parents” should leave children to learn themselves instead of clinging to their son or daughter every time. Another evidence why this is a negative point is that, because the ‘Generation of spoilt brats’ these days teenagers would always think their “Monster Parents” are their slaves and let their parents figure out everything for the “Generation of spoilt brats”. Things would get a lot more serious later on if this continues to happen.
In conclusion, children need more opportunities to explore the world, and of course parents would think they have to be next to him or her until they get married. But then again, I strongly believe that sometimes children have to do things themselves to learn because it’s only for the best. From a different perspective, “Monster Parents” need to teach their son or daughter how to be diligent at all times and to be a self-determining adult so he or she can be successful with their lives in the future. But when these children are being overprotected, they will never really ‘grow up.’
Sincerely,

Dori Kim