"Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain"

John Locke’s sentence, "Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain", conveys a profound observation about the responsibilities of parents in shaping their children’s character and the subsequent consequences. The metaphor of a fountain and its streams represents the origins and outcomes of human behavior, parents being the fountain, and children, or the next generation, are the streams that flow from it.

The phrase exposes the irony and lack of self-awareness often present when adults, especially parents, lament the faults in the younger generation yet neglect to consider their own influence. If the source is corrupted or tainted, then what springs from it will inevitably carry the same imperfections. Locke subtly criticizes the tendency to externalize blame and avoid accountability. Parents might complain about their children’s behavior, attitudes, or failings without realizing how their own actions, words, or attitudes have shaped those very outcomes.

Locke’s statement addresses not only obvious faults but also subtle habits, how children mimic the moral, emotional, and intellectual climate provided by their caregivers. If parents display hypocrisy, anger, prejudice, or neglect, children typically absorb and reflect these patterns. Conversely, virtues like patience, honesty, respect, and curiosity can only flourish in young people when nurtured consistently at home. The responsibility does not solely rest on explicit teaching but on living examples, as children absorb lessons from everything parents do or don’t do.

The observation ultimately serves as a call to self-reflection and responsibility. Social problems in a generation often stem from accumulated habits and failures of the previous one. Rather than merely condemning the visible results, the “bitter streams”, adults must tend to the purity of the source. Personal and communal improvement begins with the recognition that the environment created for children is decisive in determining their character and fate.