Youths, constantly judged by their parents for their grades, recently got to turn the tables and rate them. KIMBERLY SHEN explores the issue that has caused many a local child to whoop in delight, and parents to frown.

Your exasperated mother tells you that you, as her child, have caused her enough distress to halve her lifespan. You’re reminded the umpteenth time of a Chinese saying that the elderly have consumed more ‘salt’ than the young have rice, meaning the older you are, the wiser you’ll be, effectively losing you any argument you may have with her.

Perhaps being a youth is harder than most parents think it is. In Singapore, especially, youths often feel like their school grades, from an A to a F, determine just what ‘quality’ a child they really are.

Finally, gleeful youths in Asia could grade their parents instead in a Reader’s Digest survey: report book style. The issue certainly raised some eyebrows when it was published in July, and surprised many Singaporean parents, who were ranked third last out of eight Asian countries, topped by Thai parents.

While Singapore didn’t come out at the very bottom, unlike Taiwanese parents, the results have caused alarm bells to ring, especially for a developed country that prides itself on many firsts.