Some people believe that today’s children have much freedom.
• To what extent do you agree or disagree to this.
• Give reasons and examples.

When it comes to the freedom children enjoy today, it is rather true that they are much freer compared to their counterparts in the past. But there are a few areas where today’s children are under a few controls. There are reasons for this.

Today, nuclear family is the order, and they are known for greater freedom. This freedom quotient is getting shared more by children than by anyone else in such families. For example, nuclear parents are very much conscious of the welfare of their children, whose number is, ironically, either one or two, and this sense of welfare is getting reflected in the form of greater freedom quotient.

Let me cite an example. Today, children are free to enjoy any media they like. This may range from films, computers, cell phones and even the latest communication possibilities are in the hands of children. So is the case with the freedom they share with their parents. They are rather friends than anything else.
If we juxtapose this with the children of the past, things were different. They did not get this much freedom: freedom for movement, freedom to express, enjoy and even participate in family decision making.

All there greater freedom quotient notwithstanding, there are a few areas where today’s children are not as free as those of the past. In the past children had great fun doing outdoor activities; they had been given enough freedom to study whatever that wanted, and there were cases in which children they were allowed to skip regular academic programme and pursue any area of theirs interest. These things, unfortunately, are unimaginable for children these days.

So, it is right to conclude that there is great substance in the view that today’s children are freer, but this freedom is at the cost of some other precious things associated with childhood. Such things were the privileges of the children of the past.

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