Reciprocal Obligations of Parents and Their Children
30. Duties of parents to children.—The Ifugao family exists principally for the child members of it. The parents are supposed to love, and do love their children more than the children love them. The parents are under the obligation to provide food and clothing for their children, and to impart to them the tribal knowledge that is necessary to a respectable and well regulated Ifugao life. The child may be forced to assist, according to his ability, in the matter of household tasks, work in the fields, and the like.
Corporal punishment may be, but very rarely is, administered. It is the mothers, strange to say, rather than the fathers, who use this form of punishment. I never saw or heard of a father whipping his child. Such a thing as a right of life and death over a child is as unthought of, as it would be abhorrent, to the Ifugao if mentioned.
The Ifugao child, even at the age of ten or twelve, begins to look upon his parents’ property as his own, or at least that portion of it that will fall to his share. A little later, he becomes independent—he does not obey his parents unless he wants to do so. He is fully as likely to command them as to obey them. And the parent is under the obligation early to allow the children to displace him from his possession. He must turn over all his property to them as soon as they are able to marry or care for themselves. Should there be but a single field, he assigns it to his eldest. From the time that the fields are turned over, the father’s offices are those of priest and counselor; the mother’s offices are those of priestess (sometimes) and of household drudge (always).
31. Obligations of children to parents.—The obligations of children to their parents are:
(a) To provide animals and other things requisite to religious feasts that are thought necessary to keep them in good health and to restore them when sick. This obligation is by far the most burdensome one, usually.
(b) To provide food and clothing for them, and to care for them when sick or helpless.
(c) To provide requisites for a funeral feast in accord with the station of the deceased.
In case the child has not yet obtained possession of his allotment, these obligations do not rest upon the child, but are a charge upon the property allotted him. If the child has obtained possession of his share in the family estate, the obligation rests upon the child himself.