A society is made functional through a set of cultural traditions and established values and norms that define the behavioural standards and thinking patterns of its constituents. But as the world keeps on progressing and mankind is able to discover himself and his surroundings, these set of socially acceptable values inevitably transform and redefine their originality to suit the changing circumstances. The instantaneous global advancements after emerging, allows a particular custom to evolve differently, disturbing the origin, and altering its structural arrangement. This process, further, interferes with the social edifice and compels people to reorganize their "way of life" and "criteria of living". It might be suitable for the young generation to adopt these amendments willingly in their lives, making its acceptance an exceedingly daunting task for the older one. Owing to the rigid adherence to their customs, the old members of the society, especially the parents, show resistance to acceptance and prefer to continue their lives as per their previous norms. This uncompromising comportment creates a "generation gap" that eventually contributes to the detriment of family to family linkages, particularly, parent-child relationship and the cordial terms on which it is profoundly erected.
There might be some exception to the foregoing scenario in which the parents readily adjust themselves to these changing circumstances, and considerably show empathy towards their children, encouraging themselves to perceive their modern perspectives and choices of life. However, contrarily, in most of the households, parents assess their children based on their own primitive mindset and culturally defined values without giving a chance to their child to express himself openly and unhesitatingly. This makes a child frustrated. Because his mind has already synchronised with his era of evolution, he foresees things accordingly and struggles to resist against his parents whom he considers as an impediment to his exercising "free will." This utter defiance results in an imaginary tussle that continues to persist between both the stakeholders, isolating the child, thereby affecting his mental and emotional state.
The social phenomenon mentioned ut supra is explained at length by Emile Durkheim, a renowned French sociologist, in his book "Suicide: A Study in Sociology". In his famous "Theory of Suicide", he mentions various reasons due to which a person commits suicide and deliberately takes his life. According to him, an individual undergoes a drastic change in his mental state due to weak integration with his social groups and increasing detachment from the bonds that previously were tied to him. This changing behaviour makes him hurt, rejected and isolated which gradually worsens over time and eventually results in a suicide. The reason that some parents compel their child to live by their "definition of life" and not of his own, takes him to the verge of mental collapse and breaks him emotionally, forcing him to end himself in order to escape the mental torture and social pressure being inflicted upon him.
It goes without saying that parents can never choose something that proves to be detrimental to their child and always pray for his success. Nevertheless, in a bid to accomplish their inherent parental desires, they forget that their child is a human being too and he might be willing to spend his life as per his own likes and dislikes, exercising his self-will. Realistically explaining, it is quite uncompromising and unappreciated attitude on their part, when they oppose the arguments coming from their child which are against their expectations and thrust him in the darkness of an outdated world, where he is bound to live forever.
Alternatively, both parties can reach on reconciliation terms if a child is given at least a free choice to oppose a certain idea that his parents put forth if it sounds unreasonable to him (obviously backed by a justifiable stance and conveyed in a respectable manner) and the latter should consider it thoroughly before issuing their verdict on any subject. If, suppose, they find him wrong somewhere, a peaceful dialogue between the two parties should solve the issue amicably. Pour finir, there is no other solution to lessen the effects of "generation gap" except a reasonable compromise from both sides.