| Level | Topic | Speakers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very Difficult | Children | Man – Woman | 07:13 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
What are the greatest challenges in raising children in the world we live in today? What types of conflict occur within families (between siblings, and between children and parents)? What are three things parents and children can do to improve family relationships?
- Children should have regular chores at home.
- Teenagers need more freedom to learn from their mistakes.
- Parents should check their children’s phones and social media accounts.
- Giving children too many choices makes parenting harder.
- Teenagers should have part-time jobs during the school year.
- Discipline should be the same for all children in a family.
- Too much praise can make children feel entitled.
- It’s better to be a strict parent than a relaxed one.
- Teenagers today face more pressure than past generations.
- Parents should be their children’s friends, not just their teachers.
Idioms
“drive someone nuts/crazy” = make someone feel angry
“My kids sometimes drive me nuts when they leave the house a mess.”
“leave the nest” = leave your parents home and start living independently
“Many kids aren’t financially ready to leave the nest when they turn 18 years old.”
Listening Exercise
Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)
Vocabulary and Sample Sentences
Here are some words and expressions that appear in the recording:
-
inspired (adjective): influenced or encouraged
– She felt inspired to seek professional help in raising her kids. -
credentials (noun): someone’s ability to do something based on education or experience
– We’re looking for a family therapist with good credentials and can relate well to our kids. -
rear (verb): bring up, raise
– It isn’t easy to rear children in today’s society. -
dull (adjective): uninteresting
– Life can be really dull if families don’t do fun things together. -
depressed (adjective): low in spirits, down
– People often feel depressed when nothing seems to be going right in their relationships with a spouse or a child. -
cope with (verb): manage, deal with
– Sometimes, I have a hard time coping with the stresses of rearing children, and I don’t know if I’m helping them to succeed emotionally and spiritually. -
contemplate (verb): consider carefully
– When I contemplate on the many challenges I have had in life so far, I would have to say that learning to listen without making judgments is one of the hardest skills to learn. -
peers (noun): people of about the same age
– Teenagers are often influenced by their peers, either in a positive or negative way. -
implement (verb): put into practice or use
– We have learned a lot of new parenting skills that we want to implement in our family. -
latitude (noun): a certain range of freedom to say and do things
– We allow our children a certain amount of latitude when it comes to their curfews. If they follow all the family rules and show a great deal of responsibility, then we sometimes let them stay out longer on the weekends. -
lavish (verb): give a lot, or too much, of something
– Instead of lavishing our kids with gifts for Christmas, we ought to teach them to serve others who are in need. -
missteps (noun): mistakes
– A misstep in correcting our children without compassion and understanding can create a problem in our relationship.
Post-Listening Exercise
Discuss what it was like to grow up in your family in terms of how your parents raised you? What kinds of rules did your family have? Did you think they were fair at the time? Has your opinion on these rules changed as you have gotten older? Do you think that children are harder or easier to raise in today’s world as compared to life when your parents or grandparents were growing up? Explain.