Well it is time for all the kids to head back off to school. I haven't had to deal with that in a few years and boy am I glad I don't. I saw a woman in the grocery store the other day, with 4 school age children. They were acting like kids do from time to time and she looked like the top of her head was going to blow off. Now I know it sounds mean BUT, all I could think was "neener, neener, neener, I don't have to deal with that" lol....
I know kids have moments that make you wanna scream and of course it is usually in public when they act out. I guess maybe I was lucky. My kids only did it once and I can assure you they did not want a repeat performance of mommy dragging their screaming little backsides out to the car for a come to Jesus meeting. According to my parents, my brother and I never did it either. Maybe it is because back then, we knew better. We knew that if Mom said your first AND your middle name, you were in trouble and not a little bit of trouble, ALOT of trouble.
My daddy had that look. You know that look, all daddies have them. That cutting their eyes at you, without blinking. That look that is telling your subconscious to shut the hell up, RIGHT NOW. Or maybe it was the daddy voice. Oh that one can still make me cringe and it doesn't even have to be MY daddy.. A few years back the boyfriend and I were at work and his son called about something, I don't even remember what it was. I just know that he used his "daddy voice", loudly. Now there are 20+ people in our office and probably 9 of us bailed out. We didn't even want to know what it was about but it must be bad if Bill is using the daddy voice. Scared the hell out of most of us lol...
Maybe parents these days just aren't stern enough. Now before you get any ideas, I am not advocating injuring children. I am talking about simple discipline. When we were growing up, if you got in trouble at school, you can bet you got in worse trouble at home. You knew your place. You DID NOT interrupt an adult speaking and you damn sure didn't answer with "whatever". Not if you didn't want to pick your butt up off the floor. You know come to think of it, I don't remember one instance of Columbine type violence either. I don't remember worrying about a deer rifle in someones truck. It would never have entered our collective thought to ever use it for anything but it's intended use.
I know that I don't have all the answers. I don't think any one person does, but I honestly think that we knew better. We knew better because our parents made sure we knew. I know that parents back then had to work just like they do today. We knew that June Cleaver was fiction but we also knew right from wrong and that all actions have consequences.
I actually heard some parents complaining about the amount of homework that their children are required to do. What?? Our education system is a mess, partly because of the disciplinary issues, and your complaining that your child might have to give up their play time to actually learn something? Our education system teaches to the test, not a curriculum anymore. They spend more time teaching for the TAKS and other tests that they aren't teaching beyond that. Damn I remember you worked your ass off for 5 weeks, you had two days of test prep, and then you had 6 weeks tests. Then you had semester tests. Now they want state tests on top of that twice a year. When exactly do they actually get to work, and your complaining that they have to?
As I said, I don't have all the answers but I do know that maybe it is time that some parents looked inside their home for the problem, instead of outside.
No comments:
Post a Comment