Up Too Late

Revoltina and I have just come back from a meal at a pub in the centre of our little town.  We got to the pub at about a quarter to seven. Sat at a nearby table was a family of four, the children being two little boys aged about six and three. They looked like little darlings so it was a surprise when all of a sudden the eldest child began screaming and yelling and hitting his father with his little fists.
The thought came into my mind, 'What that boy needs is a good smack!'
'Gosh, he's got one on him,' Revoltina muttered.
'These days,' I grumbled to Revoltina, 'this sort of appalling behaviour is inevitable, what with the government undermining parental authority. Is it any wonder that children turn out to be little tyrants!'
 And then I thought about it.
The time was nearly seven o'clock. The wee man had probably been up for twelve hours. He was probably worn out. He shouldn't be eating at seven o'clock, but at four or five o'clock. By seven o'clock he should be having a bath, may be a bite of supper and a story, while sat comfortably in Mum or Dad's lap. Then, warm contented and loved he should be tucked up in bed with Teddy.
The fault was with the parents, not the child. It is quite possible that they had been working all day and only picked up the six year old from the day orphanage (school) at six o'clock. Unfortunately keeping children up late is all too common these days. And it is not especially the poor, the feckless, the shiftless, who are abusing their children in this way, but the respectable, the professional and the prosperous, who drag their children around with them when they should be in bed. Parents are all too frequently obsessessed with consumption and careers. But what children need is love and structure and - time!  Time to relax, time to play, time to daydream, time for imagination and wonder.
I would guess that a good many children who are diagnosed with ADHD are just plain tired.