Friday, August 21, 2009

WHEN ADULT CHILDREN ABUSE THEIR PARENTS...


NOT AGAIN! Another case of elder abuse was reported in the papers yesterday. An elderly couple in Singapore had given their duplex house to their son as a wedding gift two years ago. They thought they could move in and live with the newly-weds. But the son soon sold off the house and bought a condominium. Citing lack of living space as a reason, he shunted his parents off to his sister. After a year the couple’s daughter had enough of them. She changed all the locks in the house. Her parents could not enter the house and had to make the staircase of a nearby school their home.

Homeless and abandoned by his children?

Reports like this and others make one cringe with horror and disgust. Elder abuse is on the rise, and it is happening everywhere in developed and developing countries. What is the world coming to when children can chase their parents out into the streets, siphon off their savings or isolate them from their friends?
Is this a failure of our education system or a breakdown of the family system, or both?


Related articles:
Keep that roof over your head at all cost.
Elder Abuse - How guilty are we?

1 comment:

AT said...

Indeed this is sad. I have heard cases but not this bad. I think it is the breakdown of family values,and the pressure of this world. Nevertheless we should honour our parents as taught in the Bible. Alwin