Respect Is a Two Way Street

I have always wondered why adults feel that they deserve respect from children, merely because of a couple years age difference. There is no such thing as deserving respect without actions. You must earn respect from your peers and from those below and above you in social hierarchy. Sure, in the bible we are commanded to respect those in authority and this passage is quoted to me all the time. But let me quote a verse right back at you, “Love your neighbor as yourself, but only those who are older then the age of eighteen.” Wait, that last part has nothing to do with the most important commandment in the bible. And it is a given that there is no such thing as love without respect, so it must be understood that adults are also commanded to love and respect kids.

How about us being taught by those in authority, to not let anyone look down on us; there is a Sunday school song about that! It is in 1st Timothy: Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young..." Jesus Christ was merely twelve years old himself when he preached in the temple, so don’t ever let me hear you say that adults have all the answers because they are older than us and have more experience. Back to my original point, how can adults possibly expect us to respect them when they don’t respect us? We “deserve” respect just as much as they do.

The drunken abusive alcoholic father or the kleptomaniac mom deserves more respect than the honor role student and the basketball star because… Complete that sentence and I would happily quit writing articles altogether. Our society seems to have devolved into an anarchy of social hierarchy, in which the law is; what the biggest person says is what we do. As funny as it may sound, children, the same as adults, have feelings, human nature, self respect and dignity. How can you possibly justify taking that away from us merely because you lived during the time of the black and white television.

"Ironically, adults often try to teach children to be respectful by treating them disrespectfully. Children learn respect or disrespect from how we treat them and how we treat each other. When children live with disrespect, they learn disrespect. We can teach respect only by modeling treating each other with respect and by giving children the same respect we expect." Excerpt from Pam Leo's article on children psychology and parenting techniques.