Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing?
Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together
and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with
his parents when he was a teenager.
"I would never have said to my mom, 'Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like
it?' " says Ballmer. "There was just a complete gap in taste."
Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier
generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families.
Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now
they are comfortable and common. And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling
of trust and friendship that can continue int0 adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, "To my mother, my best friend."
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents. "There's still a
lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening," says
Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. "In the middle of that change, there is a lot of
confusion among parents."
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the
1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic
process that encourages everyone to have a say.
"My parents were on the 'before' side of that change, but today's parents, the 40-year-olds, were on
the 'after' side," explains Mr. Ballmer. "It's not something easily accomplished by parents these days,
because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be
a parent now."
1. The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _________.
A. interest
B. distance
C. difference
D. separation
2. Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?
A. Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.
B. Parents put more trust in their children's abilities.
C. Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.
D. Parents share more interests with their children.
3. By saying "today's parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the 'after' side." the author means that today's
parents _________.
A. follow the trend of the change
B. can set a limit to the change
C. fail to take the change seriously
D. have little difficulty adjusting to the change
4. The purpose of the passage is to _________.
A. describe the difficulties today's parents have met with
B. discuss the development of the parent-child relationship
C. suggest the ways to handle the parent-child relationship
D. compare today's parent-child relationship with that in the past
