My local forum has been talking about the fact that School Buses in our area are going to have video recorders monitoring the children from now on.
This is because of the escalating problem with violence between the children. I personally blame this on:
A- Parents being told that Spanking Damages the children. Hence, children grow up with ZERO respect for adults or authority. Children know darned well that the bus driver (or any other adult) cannot do anything to make them behave. The driver (or store clerk or person on the street) is not allowed to touch them or even to raise their voices to the children. Any adult who has NO reward or punishment system in place and get ZERO respect.
B- Violent cartoons that teach "Might is Right". I'm not saying that all violence should be cut out of children's programing. (They tried that in the 70's and even chopped out images of Willie Coyote going 'poof' at the bottom of the cliff. That does not work!) However, we are now dealing with entire generations of children who have cut their teeth on Power Rangers, Poke'mon and Yu-Gi-Oh! type shows that show the only way to end conflict is through physical violence. Even the older He-Man, Transformers and ThunderCats would TRY to find a peaceful resolution before beating the crap out of the 'bad guy'. Today, forget negotiations, just whip out your all powerful weapon of destruction (Zord, Pet or Card) and beat them into submission. No wonder kids don't know any better!
People constantly looked at my 16 year old son and told me "He's a space alien. He's a pod person. He's just not normal." And I would blink - Why? Because he is SMART, polite, well behaved and respectful of adults? Amazing. That USED to be the norm. Now people EXPECT kids to be running all over the place, loud, stupid, rude and just plain horrid. That's because no one ever swatted their back sides for being rude to an adult when they were 2 or 3 years old. You can't teach a child respet after they are grown.
I hope the American Tax Payers enjoy building prisons. Because that's the only thing most teens fear. They are only afraid of turning 18 and having to go to REAL jail instead of just Juvie hall. But then, they belive that THEY will never get caught because all teens are just SO much smarter than anyone over 30. Word!
Gees. I didn't start out the morning in the mood to rant and rave.
If your small child is reaching for the hot stove or picks up a sharp knife, which is more appropriate? A slap on the hand and "NO! That will hurt you very badly!" or "Sit on the naughty mat until you understand that stoves are hot and knives are sharp."
