Read the text below, think and write down the questions in the interview. Compare with your partner

Match the phrasal verbs in bold with the definitions below.

a. My brother was always in trouble but he was too honest. If I was in trouble I always denied doing anything wrong and I usually got awav with it!

b. When I look back on my childhood, I realise my parents treated me really very fairly.

c. If I ran out of money, I would sometimes 'borrow' some from my mother's purse.

d. Sometimes I wished my dad would just give me a smack. It would have been better than listening to him going on about 'responsibility'.

e. I can remember the first time I stood up to my dad. He wanted to punish me for coming back after midnight when I was 15 but I just told him I wasn't a child any longer and he couldn't tell me what to do.

f. I don't exactly look down on parents who smack their children, but I do think that they could find other ways of disciplining their children if they really thought about it.

g. I was really badly behaved when I was a teenager but I seemed to grow out of it when I reached my early twenties.

h. I didn't get into much trouble at school - except for once when I was caught fooling around with some chemicals in a science laboratory.

a. to not run away from, to resist

b. to escape without punishment

c. to consider inferior

d. to think about something in the past

e. to become too old to do something

f. to not have any left

g. to behave irresponsibly

h. to talk about something for a long time and in a boring way

6) Work in pairs. Look at the sentences again. Are any of them true for you? Do any of them remind you of people you know or knew?

7) Discuss the questions:

Which, if any, of the punishments below do you think are unsuitable for children above the age of three?

a. a quick smack on the hand

b. a quick smack on the back of the head

c. a smack on the bottom

d. a smack on the bare bottom

e. a blow from a slipper on the bare bottom

f. a blow from a belt on the hand

g. a blow from a cane on the bottom

Would it make any difference if the child was a boy or a girl?

What other factors might determine whether a particular punishment was reasonable or not?

Which, if any, of these punishments do you think is acceptable?

a. sending a child to their bedroom for an hour

b. not allowing the child to play with their friends for a week

c. stopping the child's pocket money

d. not allowing the child to watch TV for a week

e. making the child stay behind at school to do extra work

f. giving the child extra jobs around the house

At what age do you think it is no longer necessary or appropriate to discipline children?

Parent Trouble?

Fact: Parents and their children have the most arguments and problems when the children are teenagers.

In England recently there has been a large increase in the number of parents who have decided to go on 'parenting courses'. These are courses for parents who hope to 'manage' their teenage children better. We spoke to David, a father of three teenagers who had done one of these courses with his wife.

1.

David: We wanted to help our teenage daughter. She was unenthusiastic about things in her life and was not enjoying things she was doing. We wanted to encourage her to talk to us more.

2.

David: Well, firstly, we talked to several other parents about their situations. Then we acted out common problems and put ourselves in the positions of our children. We tried to explore ways in which both the parents and the children would co-operate more.

3.

David: A lot of what we learnt was common sense such as listening to our children more. We also I learnt to praise our children more. Sometimes parents find it easy to criticize and forget to praise the good things. We also learnt to talk about things in advance before a problem became too large. This way, the argument is finished before the problem is too big. We also learnt the importance of rules and nominating time for doing things to be done. Before, we felt uncomfortable doing this because we had been teenagers ourselves in the liberal 60's.

4.

David: They did not mind at all. They were pleased. Now they say they can notice a difference in our attitude. Sometimes they laugh and say, "We know what you're doing, you're trying to praise constructively, aren't you?" But praise is a very powerful thing. No one can resist it. It always works.

5.

David: Yes absolutely! How could we have been such stupid parents before?

2) Translate the following into English: «курсы для родителей», управлять, пассивный, незаинтересованный, поощрять, разыгрывать, изображать, сотрудничать, здравый смысл, хвалить конструктивно, заранее, возражать, сопротивляться.

3) Discuss the following questions:

Why did David and his wife decide to go on ‘parenting courses’?

To your mind, is it useful for parents to put themselves in the positions of their children? Why?

What did David and his wife learn at these courses?

How did the children react to a difference in attitude?

What do you think of the idea? Would you go on the courses yourself?

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