What your child wants?

Being a language teacher/lecturer, I have the privilege to learn about the teenagers thoughts and feelings. As they are asked to write journals and essays, they tend to be more vocal with their feelings. I realise that many parents do not know what their children want and sadly, many children are neglected.
So, what do children want? Very simple, they just want someone to talk with; someone who will listen to them instead of being talked to. Yes, they want toys, they want branded goods and lots of money to spend. But, more importantly, they want the parents attention. Most of my students' parents work out-station and hardly have time for their kids. Thus, the kids end up spending most of their time in front of the idiot box from day to night. Ironically, parents often complain that their children do not speak to them. Some of my students wish to own dogs because they are lonely and need something to talk with. How sad. Why is this happening?
I have seen parents who lavish their kids with the latest gadgets from PS2 to iphones to ipads. Apparently, ipads are educational. It may be if it is used wisely. You do not just throw a gadget to your kid and allow her to spend hours with it without any human communication. To me, it's an excuse for the parent to be left alone.
A recent part-time Indonesian maid told me that she has been here for 6 years. I asked her why hasn't she gone home. Her reason was she wants to save for her daughter. How old is the daughter? I was expecting a teenage girl but No... she is only 7, which means that the mother has left the daughter back home soon after her 1st birthday. To me, it's very sad that the mother thinks that money can replace her when the child needs her most. I was very direct with her (though it was only our 1st encounter) that although money is important but the mother's presence is more important and she cant earn all the money in the world.
In another case, a mother was showing her teenage girl news about how run-away teenagers made their parents sad. The mother was hoping that her daughter would understand her mother's point of view. In response, the daughter said "If a child runs away, it's the parents' doing." When the mother told everyone in her family, they pitied her and thinks that the daughter is wrong. On the other hand, I agree with the child. [You should see my husband's response when I agreed.] Just because the girl said that doesn't mean she is bad. Some parents cannot accept the fact that they have done wrong or they are the ones who pushed their children away. This particular mother has always been authoritarian and harsh on her kids. She often complains about her children to relatives IN FRONT of the kid. To me, it's wrong because kids nowadays have very thin skin. They want respect and be treated like an adult. As the saying goes, 'do not wash your dirty linen in public.' Recently, she has transferred her teenage daughter to another school because a guy in school has been sms-ing her day and night. The mother could not stop the sms-ing thus she transferred her. I was shocked upon hearing this. How many schools can you jump to? This is running away - running away from facing the problem. I wish I know about this earlier so that I can talk to the mother. When the opportunity comes, I hope I can enlighten her before another kid runs away from home.

Updates

At 2y5m old, these are the issues to highlight about Jesslyn:

• Recently, she has more interest in writing and I took this opportunity to teach her. She could write 'H', 'E' and 'J'. She claims that she can write 'A' and 'N' but you won't be able to recognise the letters. :)
  
• She can trace dotted lines very well.
  
• She can recognise number 1-10 now (finally).
• Talking is still her favourite activity. You give her a book with pictures, she can relate a story based on the picture. At the same time, she asks "Why?" You give her a book with words, she tells you a story as if she is really reading.
• she has good memory. One morning, she learnt to write 'E' and I nonchalantly asked her after work what had she learnt to write that morning. She could tell me almost instantly 'E'.
• She has no interest in reading yet in the sense that she cannot recognise a single word. Occasionally, she strikes the word 'cat' and 'dog'.
  

What can a 4y4m old achieve? Jerilyn

• can read and write in English pretty well.
  
• knows less than 20 chinese characters.
  
• has interest in learning Bahasa Malaysia. As her English is strong, she has no problem learning pronunciation and recognising BM words.
  
• able to do very basic calculations involving numbers below 5.
  

Other than achievements, here are some of the negative traits Jerilyn has.

1. She lies when she has done something wrong. She puts the blame on Jesslyn most of the time.
   
2. She has the habit of putting things into her mouth and nibbling them.
3. She is stubborn as a mule; a rebel esp when I am tough on her.

Frankly, not that I am bias but Jesslyn does not have bad habits like Jerilyn. Jesslyn is more of a people person. Before you can get tough with her, she grins and make adorable faces that just melts your heart. She loves to get close to us (but not to Jie2), sitting with us and hugging us. This morning, I held her hand as she learned to write 'S'. Upon completion, she was so overwhelmed that she came to me and whispered 'I love you, Mummy' while wrapping her arms around me. When I scold the elder, the younger is quiet and mind her own business. On the other hand, when I scold the younger, the elder will become protective and start scolding me, saying that I am naughty for scolding her sister. I do appreciate Jerilyn's protectiveness over her sister. I hope she will do the same in school.

New semester

My new semester has commenced last week and my dad is ready to call it quits. I come home everyday to sighing and numerous complaints from my dad. Below are some of the things he complained about:

• They play hang-man using the skipping rope from the stairs.
• They squeezed half a packet of sweetened drink onto the floor.
• Although being told to stop taking too much M&Ms, the kids turned a deaf ear on him and in less than a week, they finished almost 200g of it.
• They threw stuff into the toilet bowl ie broken crayons and paper stars. Nadi, sorry to say this but Jerilyn broke the glittering crayons.
  
• Jerilyn played with water for more than 10minutes. She claimed to be washing the bottle.
  
• They open the fridge for countless times every day.
  

All these do not happen with me around. He complains that they esp Jerilyn won't listen to him.
Dad is loud... but he is not firm. How to tell him that?