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.