Guidelines set the framework for a child's independence

A CHILD, PROBABLY NOT MORE than two years old, runs from the doors of the Central Post Office towards a road where cars are speeding by. His desperate mother rushes after him. But when she reaches him, instead of a loving hug in relief and explaining to him what he has done wrong, she slaps him hard across the face to punish him for being so 'naughty'.

Many parents would do the same in that moment of terror and, indeed, every day on Hong Kong's streets some can be seen scolding their children for innocent misdemeanours.

Yip Kwok-hung, a research fellow at the social sciences department of the Hong Kong Baptist University, believes such reactions have a negative effect on the development of a child. Explanation beat punishment, he said.

Dr Yip has spent 10 years helping young children build mental stamina and older students improve their learning abilities, which he says are often weakened by poor parenting. And he has now developed a guide for parents. His 'Multiple Quotients' consists of indices showing how well a child fares in seven domains, taking on the theory of multiple intelligence developed by Howard Gardner.

Dr Yip's seven include the ability to face up to adversity (the adversity quotient); their relationship with parents (bonding quotient), creativity (creative quotient), their development in languages and mathematics, physical fitness and the ability to reflect on mistakes (development quotient), the ability to exert self-control (emotional quotient), intelligence (intelligence quotient) and the soundness of their moral values (moral quotient).

He said his theory complemented Gardner's but he believed that the Harvard-based psychologist had glossed over the importance of developing the ability to cope with adversity: 'Young people nowadays cannot bite the bullet which may cripple their future development.'