Using Film to Unite Parents and Younger Generation

Producing films to show what is happening in the home with parents and children is an important remedy to bring certain realities out in the open.

Sketching a simple script, I entered the home of a friend. The father was yelling at his 18-year old son because he had just learned that the boy was dating a classmate ! The son stood completely oblivous of his father's remarks. He just continued to pick up his books and walk out of the house.

The scene shows the father watching his son disappear at the turn of the street ... into the world. He turned to the camera, mumbling under his breath: " He says he is going to the library to study. I don't believe him for one moment ! He is going to meet the girl."


A voice from the camera replies: "Well, he has the right to go and study in the library. Also, he is 18 and a young adult. You should allow him his youthful independence to date a girl. Would you prefer that he sneaked around because he knew your attitude and refused to tell you about himself. He is a young healthy man with a head on his shoulders. Let him explore what his peers at school have been doing ... dating since 13 and 14."

"Yes, you are right. He has been an A-grade student because I insisted that he should not think of dating until he is 18. And he listened. He understood the reasons, because most of his friends dated and had got girls into trouble, and had to marry or refuse to marry them. He saw what they were going through ... " the father replied.

"He sensed your personal concern about his own life ... in what you had been telling him fo rso many years," the voice in the camera reminded the father.

Parents should be aware of the kind of social peer pressures the young lad confronted watching everyone at school dating ... he must have taken alot of "bull" from his buddies at school.

To conclude, the camera voice advised the father not to insist too much on demanding his son to listen to him. At 18, the boy knew what he wanted and needed. It was more important for the father to guide his son with compassion and trust. The father should listen more ... understand why and what his son's remarks mean. Let him share his feelings of dating when he returns, if he was willing to talk. Become a friend to his son as most fathers.

The father nodded his head. He realized his son was growing up into an adult and had to let him think for himself. His yellings will have no consequences any more on the question of dating. He had to let go of the boy and accept the young man his son had become.

For most parents this is a bothersome reality, which can turn family living into a disasterous track and drive children to yearn to run away from home. It is happening everywhere in the world.