As I write this post this morning, I write it with a sense of frustration. Frustration with our society today. This past Monday was my daughter's very first day of high school. A day that should have been a joyous day. Instead of it being a day filled with positive energy, it was a day that a 15 year old boy took a gun to her best friend's school and shot another child. A day that should have been a good day, it turned into a day of fear.
It seems that every other day now, we are hearing about school shootings. This one though hit me harder than most because it happened right here in my own community. A community that is a good community with good schools. Every school shooting takes a piece of my heart and scares me to death. It makes me scared to send my daughter to school. I should feel that she's safe when she goes there.
Now, I am going to get to the point of this post- The importance of discipline. The importance of active parenting. All over the internet, people talk everday the importance of being against bullying. They blame kids being bullied for kids shooting other children. Yes, I do believe that this is partially true. Let's be realistic though. Bullying has always been around. It's nothing new. It was around when I was younger. It existed when my own parents and grandparents were younger. The difference though is back in those days, kids fought with words. Kids had discipline in their lives. Kids were fearful of their parents. If a kid misbehaved or got in trouble with teachers etc, there were consequences. Yes, they got spanked. They knew they were going to get their butts whipped and there were consequences.
Nowadays, it seems kids are running their parents. If a teacher calls home to say the child was disrespectful or has bad behavior, the parents seem to blame the teacher. Disrespectful and bad behavior is being condoned and justified by parents. I see it everyday. I go to the grocery store and kids are screaming at their parents and throwing temper tantrums and the parents are just buying them something or doing anything to pacify and stop the tantrums. You know the little kids that I am talking about. You see them all in the mall and in restaurants. They are acting up so bad that you just want to jerk them up yourself and take control of the situation. These kids drive me crazy. I have to remind myself though that little kids are not bad at all. It isn't the kid's fault that they are running around the restaurant screaming like a crazy person, it's the parent's fault. Little kids behave exactly the way that they are ALLOWED to behave. They push their limits. They are kids. It's a part of growing up. It is the parent's responsibility to set limits and boundaries for the child to live within, then discipline if they don't. That's not being done in a lot of families nowadays. What is this doing? It is teaching our children that this type of behavior is OK. It's NOT!. What happens next? The children are growing up spoiled and disrespectful. They are growing up with no respect towards another human life.
Don't get me wrong. I am not blaming all parents for their child's adult behavior. I am well aware that you could be a great parent who is strict with your child and they may still take a wrong path in life. I am not talking about everyone in this post. Majority rules though. In most cases, you raise your child with discipline and integrity, your child carries that with them through their own life. I am saying though that some of our youth's problems today stem from parents being too busy with everything else and NOT active parenting. You need to discipline your child from the start of their life. You need to be there for your child. You need to monitor all their activities. You need to monitor their internet use.
You must love your kids enough to discipline them. A lack of discipline is simply a lack of love. I am not saying that you should spank them. Just be consistent in your discipline. If your child acts up, damn it, there needs to be consequences. Children need to know that right choices get rewards. Bad choices get punishment. Don't relent on the punishment either. Follow through on your word. Laptops, IPhones etc are not the greatest gift that you can give to your children. Life lessons are!
Have a great Wednesday.
Inspiration and laughter are so important in life
Check out the home page of the blog here to see my other inspirational quotes.
No comments:
Post a Comment