TOEFL essay:What are the important qualities of a good son or daughter? Have these qualities changed or remained the same over time in your culture? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

The qualities of a good son and daughter---obedience, loyalty, respect---have not changed. Any patent will tell you that, like their ancestors, they expect these qualities from their children. However, they do not always get what they expect from their children.

Parents demand that their sons and daughters, regardless of age, obey them. Even if the children are married and have their own children, they should still do whatever their parents ask of them. At last, that’s the way it was. Now, children tend to obey their parents until the children are of college age. Then they feel they are adult enough and can make their own decisions even if these decisions are against the parent’s wishes.

Parents also expect loyalty from their children. If there was a dispute in the neighborhood or between families, the parents would expect their children to side with their own family. This quality is probably still very common. Most children today will support their family against others.

Parents, of course, demand respect. As people become more mobile, and introduced to non-traditional ways of doing things, this quality may not endure. Parents are sometimes viewed as old-fashioned. Children don’t think their parents can appreciate the way life really is. They think their parents are too old to understand. They lose respect for their parents.

Obedience, loyalty, and respect are virtues that are being challenged today. We may not obey our parents, give them the loyalty or respect they wish or deserve, but I hope my children obey me, are loyal to me, and respect me.