Just My Opinion
4/20/99
I have spent the afternoon today watching TV about the shooting at the high school in Littleton, CO. At the moment, I am so angry I could bite nails in half!
When is this going to stop? It won't even begin to stop until parents get control back over their children. Until our government keeps their noses out of parenting our own children, we are going to continue to have tragedies like this today and in years past. I'm not sure when parents lost control but they have. Sadly, a lot of new parents today were raised under this same crazy set of rules. I can't blame the parents totally because if they attempt to do anything to correct their children, the kids stand up and flat tell them "I'll call the cops if you hit me!"
To me all this started when "time outs" took the place of paddling. When acting up and mouthing off is just "expressing themselves" instead of being called what it is really is and that is just plain rudeness! I do not, never will and won't ever tolerate beating a child but a spanking/paddling on the bottom never hurt anybody except maybe the parents hand. It's not teaching a child "to hit" or that corporal punishment is the way. It is just plain ole punishment that has been done for centuries. I find it odd that I was spanked....most of my generation and my parents generation and their parents generation were too...and yet we didn't have all these drive-by shootings and shootings in schools.
I am sick to death of hearing 5 and 6 year olds saying the "f" or "s" word just as we once said "gosh". "Darn" was about as rank as it got when I was that age. I am also sick to death of children misbehaving, saying something to them because their parents are nowhere in sight and having them give me a look of "drop dead" and going on about their business. When I was a child and an adult corrected me, I straightened my act up on the spot and with an apology to the adult!
What happened to respect?? Is the child an adult?? Is it easier to let a kid do what he wants than to correct them?? Family needs to become just that .... family. A family with morals, a belief in a higher power and together time. Do you think our parents or grandparents were any less tired or had more time on their hands than we do today with our modern conveniences??
Don't blame gun owners either. Yes, I'm from the South and guns are a part of most of our lives. I was raised with guns in the house but I was also made a believer when I was told not to touch them. It wasn't beaten into me, I wasn't threatened with bodily harm. My parents simply gave me a house rule and it was followed without question. The same went with my son when he was little. Of course accidents are going to happen but they happen a lot less in households where guns aren't hidden away only to be found and experimented with because no one took the time to explain the danger of them. Also, do you think a person, whether a child or an adult, is going to go out and spend $500 for a brand new gun to "off" somebody?? I don't think so. All you have to do is put the word out and you can get any kind of gun you want off the streets. That's where most guns used to kill people come from.....not brand new one's from a gun shop.
Do your child a favor and be a parent. He or she has best friends but they've only got you to be their parent. Be responsible for your actions as a parent. Teach your children manners, don't tolerate a child being unruly in a restaurant disturbing other diners. If you can't or won't control your child, go to the drive through at McDonald's! Parents.....take control of your children's lives. You don't have to put up with anything your child decides to dish out....YOU ARE THE PARENT. It may be easier to give in and let them have purple hair, black lipstick, body piercing, studying the occult and so on but so long as you do, we are going to continue having incidents like what happened in Colorado today.
I'm a firm believer in tough love. You know your child better than anyone on this planet and when you start seeing odd behavior....intervene before it's too late. How would you like to think about the people your child may murder because it was just too much trouble to step in and stop it? I hardly think that is a pleasant thought. They won't always be 6, 12, 18....so make something of them while you can form their young minds and hearts to be caring, loving youngsters and adults.
This is Just My Opinion, like it or not!
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