Alexander addressing Worf as "Sir"

[maneth]

Respect has to be earned. Lots of parents do an awful job of parenting and don't deserve their children's respect. But in general, though, I agree with you. Growing up, my parents always had the last word, and my sister and I knew it. But because they were and are decent people, it just gave us a sense of security. My husband and I are trying to do the same for our son, and so far it seems to be working.

I'm from Finland, and I've grown up in a culture where children call their teachers by their first name, or even a nickname. The only time I've called anyone sir or miss was when we lived in the UK for a year when I was in my early teens. In all my years of going to school in Finland I've never seen teachers have as many problems keeping order in class as I did during that year in the UK. So the expected form of address doesn't necessarily correlate with genuine authority.

When I went to college, one of the exchange students I used to hang out with was a member of the French aristocracy, and he told me that he addressed his parents with the formal 'vous' rather than the informal 'tu' and I thought that was really strange.

Alexander was fairly old when he first met Worf. I'm not sure if he ever learned to relate to him emotionally as a father, although he accepted him as an authority figure.

 

[fireproof78]

Alexander was fairly old when he first met Worf. I'm not sure if he ever learned to relate to him emotionally as a father, although he accepted him as an authority figure.

Probably not. One of the biggest things that surprises parents when I am working with them is that emotional relationship begins extremely early, in infancy, with a child. It is difficult to build but not impossible as a child gets older. After all, a child only knows what is modeled or taught, but they also learn what emotions are OK or not OK.

Alexander and Worf probably had a lot of struggles, and the use of "Sir" is potentially indicative of that.