How educated are the Romanian parents? I asked Martha Iliescu, the president of the organization "Our Children," while I was looking for material for an editorial about teen mothers. I am told that, according to the survey "Knowledge, skills and parental practices in Romania," commissioned by UNICEF, a sample of 3000 parents have proven that: in Romania, parents don't have parental skills; some do have knowledge, but they don't apply it. The survey shows that even if theoretically the parent knows that s/he is not allowed to use corporal punishment, s/he declares serenely: "Madam, I didn't even realize when I gave him a slap." "Unfortunately, this kind of 'education' is very frequent; the consequences? The worst possible. The moment the parent starts yelling, the child's mind gets blocked, s/he does not understand why s/he is being yelled at. You have to take your time to explain things to a child. When you yell, s/he thinks there is something personal going on and that moment communication breaks down. Slowly, the child will become introverted, or will start to lie, to stop telling what s/he has been doing for fear that 'mother will tell me off and beat me again', and this lack of communication will destroy the parent-child relationship." Dilema veche, 11-17 August 2006
by Stela Giurgeanu
