Sunday, October 16, 2005

Layeth The Smackdown

Don Marquis said,~Many a man spanks his children for the things his own father should have spanked out of him.~ In this day and age, punishing a child by way of the physical means is deemed wrong and if caught doing it in public you could be sentenced to several years in jail or even in prision, which in my opinion certain parents don't deserve. For its the new school way of parenting that some, most or all kids behaving in a ways that is not only embarassing to the parent(s) its also embarassing to others as well. Let me ask you this question, how many of you grew up with the old school way of parenting and are you the respectful, well adjusted man or woman you are today?

Working with all types of kids from ages 6-17, you primarily witness firsthand kids who have been raised new school and those who have been raised old school. For those kids who are/were raised new school tend to be the proverbail wild stallions in which nobody, not even their own parent(s) can try to settle/tame him or her down. Its a truly amazing situation indeed when you witness a child mouth off to one's parent and whn you think that a beat down is about to happen on him or her, the parent does nothing. However, for those that are/were raised old school their parent(s) broke them down early and even though there may be a few moments of wildness, once something is said or "the look" is given you know its time to straighten up and fly right.

The time out vs. the knock out, its two styles of parenting that have every person debating which is more effective to use. In a sense, what you get with the time out is a child who doesn't really get the point from what one did wrong. What it actually does, it gives him or her time to figure out what mischevious acts he or she can think up next. Speaking from experience, I've put plenty of kids in time out and it doesn't do anything but get them hyped up. BUT what you get from the knock out is a well trained child who is well behaved, well mannered, polite, respectful, courteous, not a brat will say Yes Sir/Yes Ma'am, No Sir/No Ma'am, which people will compliment you about and it put a smile on your face.

Personally speaking, I wasn't considered a bad due to the fact that I was a quiet child who sat in front of the television quietly watching cartoons while eating my favorite breakfast cereal Froot Loops. However, I did have my fair share of hyperactivity and stupidity growing up where punishment was given. Its unclear if other parents do this but for a filipino, particularly moms, will uses something other than a belt or hand to pass down judgement, so to speak. Let me tell you something, there's nothing like being punished with certain household objects such as a fly swatter, shoe, slipper, ruler, stick broom, wooden spatula, back scratcher, and basically anything not bolted down would be or has been used and you know what I'm a well adjusted child because of it.

In retrospect, every person remembers the worst punishment handed down by their parents geowing up and if you can't then you've probably blocked it out of your memory. For the question can be asked, if one is able to remember will it cause you to become somewhat or majorly emotional to the point of tearing up? In any case, on the bright side when you did suffer that punishment the rest that you got afterwards was absolutely the best you have ever had because you had built up tension, combined with trying to stay calm, added with that worrying if you might or might not wake up from it for days or weeks. Ultimately, every parent back in the day layeth the smackdown on their kid(s) and in the end they all the same thing when its over which every person knows by heart, so say it with me kids, You know I did it because I love you.

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