IELTS Writing Task 2: 'parents and children' topic

Many people believe that parents are not as close to their children as they used to be. Suggest some reasons why this could be true.

Here is an example paragraph about the above topic:

Parents and their children seem to be less close nowadays. Perhaps the main reason for this is that both parents often work full-time and therefore spend less time with their children. Whereas women traditionally stayed at home to cook, clean and look after children, many mothers now choose to work or are forced to do so. This means that children may be left alone, or with nannies or babysitters. Busy parents have less contact with their children and less energy to enjoy family activities. Many families no longer eat meals together, and children are given the freedom to go out with friends, watch television or chat on the Internet for hours.

Please note:
A full IELTS question would also ask you to suggest how families could become closer.

Comments

[Jack]

Hi Simon,
I want to talk about the suggestions that can make families become closer.

The best way to tackle this problem would be that one of the parents quits his or her job to look after the children. However,it may not be pratical for every family due to various financial needs. In this case,they should at leat spend more time with their children at weekends.For example, eating meals together, taking them to Disneyland or a family walking alongside the beach could serve to build up a closer relationship between parents and children. Alternatively, mobile phones can play a significant role in helping children and parents stay closer. By using this real-time communication device, parents can have a better idea what their kids are doing when they are left alone. Meanwhile, children would be able to reach their parents whenever they are in need.

This is my idea. Could you please share with us your thoughts on the solutions?

[Simon]

Hi Jack,

Fantastic ideas! I don't really need to add anything because I'd probably say something similar.

Thanks for your contribution.

Simon

[Andre Tresen]

Hi Simon.

How do you answer an essay which asks you "To what extent do you agree or disagree?" with something?

Do we need to argue both sides or can we pick one side only. For instance, say that i strongly disagree with "abc" and give examples to support your point of view.

PS.

Do you know how many questions do you need to answer correctly in Listening component of the IELTS test to get 7 ?

Kind regards,

Andre Tresen

[Simon]

Hi Andre,

Yes, you can just give one side of the argument because the question asks for YOUR opinion. It's a good idea to have a strong opinion and support it.

You need around 30 out of 40 to get a 7. I say "around" because it can vary depending on the difficulty of each particular test.

All the best

Simon

[Ella Martin]

Simon, I think your answer is very culturally biased. In some countries, yes, a woman stays at home in the 1950's version of June Cleaver. Today, however, many parents work out of necessity and not choice. I work full time as a teacher. I commute to work/school with my children and have summers free with them. My sister is a lawyer. She works 8am-2pm at an office and 215pm-4pm at home. She is there when her children arrive. She and I don't miss soccer games, school plays, or cake baking time. Perhaps in countries that have extended families and both parents work this is frowned upon, but move to 2010. If working parents want to make a strong relationship with their children, they will. If they don't, it wouldn't matter if they worked or not. It comes down to priorities; you can be forced to work by financial situations or out of a desire to have a career and still be as good of a parent (mother apparently) who sits at home all day crocheting winter hats and ironing bed sheets.

[Simon]

Hi Ella,

The ideas on this website are in no way representative of my own views or opinions. I'm simply trying to suggest easy ways for my students to answer IELTS exam questions. Examiners are judging students' ability to write a simple argumentative essay in English, and no marks are given for the actual opinions expressed (as long as they are relevant to the question).

Thank you for adding to this discussion. My students will find your ideas really useful when we discuss this issue in greater depth. You've given us some great vocabulary to work with (work out of necessity, extended families, desire to have a career, it comes down to priorities etc).

All the best,

Simon

[Amanda]

Hi Simon,

There has been a topic like this: People in the same family are not as close as before. Some people think we should return to traditional family values, but others think this would lead to many problems. Discuss.

Well, the definition of "traditional family values" confused me a lot. What is a traditional family value? And what should we talk about on this topic? In my opinion, this is another question about should wowen quit working and stay at home looking after their children. Could you please give me some advices on this? Thank you.

Kind regards,

Amanda

[Simon]

Good question Amanda. I agree that "traditional family values" is a confusing phrase. It could mean all kinds of different things for different people and cultures.

On the other hand, this is a nice question because it allows you to choose what family values you discuss. For example, you could use the ideas in my paragraph above to talk about the changing roles of men and women in the family. You could then write about the opposite side of the argument - that it is important to look to the future rather than the past i.e. we shouldn't return to a time when women had to stay at home.

You could even disagree with the idea that families are not as close as they used to be, or you could argue that modern methods of transport and communication have been responsible for putting more distance between families - it is not a problem caused by a change in values.

Hope this helps

Simon

[Richard Ma]

In my opinion, the reasons why currently parents are becoming less close with their children are:
1. The pressure comes from social competences in modern society, people need to work hard to live, so that they have less leisure time than before to stay with their children.
2. With the fast developing of education system, people now have more opportunities than before to enrol into the higher education such as college and university, those institutions need students to study far from their hometown, thus children has less chances to live with their parents. (This reason might not appropriate? Can those colleges students still be called 'children'?)
3. Might due to the modern communication techniques? Such as E-mail, mobiles, and video chatting, children doesn't need to be as close to their parents as before to enable the family links. For example, rather than come to home, lots of teenagers who live in different cities with their parents prefer to keep contact with their parents using internet, such as Skype or MSN.

[Ilker]

Hi Simon,

I hope there is some kind a alert of my comment after 6 years posting this. I thought the best way to learn the tricks is to start from the beginning.

I would like to ask whether we can write a sketch first and then write it properly in the exam. Because I noticed that I quiet oftenly changed what I wrote. I kindly also request you give some comments on my first proper writing task. I only read the question and wrote my essay without knowing what you wrote.

Some people concerns that nowadays parents are not closer as much as the parents from previous generation. There are some reasons that cause this concern.

First of all, in today's world, the work is getting more complex and it takes more time then it used to be. People have lesser time between work and sleep time. Hence, they prefer do spend their limited time for some relaxinf hobbies such as doing sports, watching a movie etc. That limits their time to spend with their childeren.

Moreover, the developpment of technological devices enforce the situation. Rather then communicate face to face with the other family members in the same house, they prefer to follow the world outside the house and chat with other people through these devices.

In conclusion, today, people have less time but more people to communicate at once. This makes parents to be not close as much as their parents were.

[nVm]

Nevertheless, I believe that there are ways that could solve the problem between parents and children’s closeness. One of the possible ways is that one of the parents quits his or her job, in order to have the time to take care the children. Another remedy is to use the advancements of technology. To illustrate, mobile phones these days have quality video-chatting services that can be used for face-to-face conversation, which therefore can help mothers and fathers to have an update on what their child is doing, and it can also be used for the child to immediately ask for help. Finally, parents should allocate an ample amount of time to their sons and daughters in simple ways such as eating together during meal times or taking them into a walk in the community. In these bonding moments, children would certainly be happy, and this can create an unforgettable memory to the child that his or her parents give the needed attention.

[Nurali]

i think that parents are able to spend their more time with heir children rather than work. such as, it depends on them. first of all, if they can commit their timetable between their kids as well as work, it would be excellent. yet, these days, a lot of parents would rather spend their time at office or with friends instead of children. hence, almost all of individuals tell, the reason of parents' spending time with kids is modern technology or being busy with work. no never become this because all the time, people become busy with anything

[Abood]

I think parents and children should both make an effort to be able to spend some time together. Parents should take a week off of work and focus solely on their children and nothing else, while children should have a minimal amount of time each day to spend on their electronics before stopping for a few hours to spend with their parents as well. I also think that the parents should plan a game of family trivia with their kids so they could get to know each other a little bit more, you never know they might find out something new about each other that they didn't know before. This could also bring them closer as family, since it would be fun for both parents and kids.