The more I watch these kids growing up, the more I realize that society has made certain we are ill-equipped to handle our children. Society has convinced us that our children should automatically behave as perfect little angels. We have been told that a spanking is the worst thing we can do to discipline our children. Then, when our children do not behave, when they throw a kicking and screaming temper tantrum in the middle of a store, we are looked upon as horrible parents.
What has happened to this new generation of children? They swear and they wcream at anybody that does not do as they want. The children run the streets from the time they get off the school bus until eight or nine at night, sometimes even later. They refuse to listen to their parents and how are the parents told to combat this? Time outs and grounding are the suggested punishments. Is time out really going to stop a 14 year old from doing something? What about a 16 year old? The problem is not just restricted to the teenagers either.
The schools have started telling their preschool and kindergarten students that their parents are not allowed to spank them at all. Now, when your school age child needs discipline, if you even mention a spanking, the children will tell you that you can not spank them because the cops will arrest you for it. So then you go back to time outs and grounding. While a six year old understands that he is in time out for hitting his sister, the time out alone will usually not stop him from doing it again.
The only other advice we are given is to "lead by example". While that might work for hygiene and eating, I fail to see how it works otherwise. The children I babysit, my brother and sister, have certainly never seen our mother hit her sister, or anyone else, and yet they are always fighting about something, which inevitably leads to one of them striking the other. Our mother is at a loss, and so am I. Time outs are not working, groundings are not working, and talking instead of yelling is just ignored. If we spank them, we run the risk of the school accusing us of being abusive.
We have to find something that will work for these kids. My brother is six now and my sister is five. We estimate that by the time he is twelve, my brother will be taller and stronger than both of us. If we can't find a way to keep him behaving now, what hope do we have of it once he is bigger than we are?
Why has society decided that we should not be allowed to spank our kids when they need it? Now, I'm not talking about excessive abusive, I am talking about 1 to 5 swats on the butt depending on the severity of the issue, just like I got when I was little. Why has society decided not to give us the guidance we so desperately need? Society has created a power shift. The children have the power now, all they have to do is cry wolf, and the parents will be guilty until proven innocent. Is it any wonder then that we have kids running the streets, doing what they please? All our abilities to control our children have been called into question and some of the made illegal. Now, the children are out of control and the parents are being blamed, but what else can they really do?
