Maybe we were all just hard headed youngins but I don't recall learning the "Why's" (or why not's) till about 12, just before the hormones kicked in and it was time to relearn everything and my brain was just about to divided, and baser motivations were coming into play..
I don't think I know anybody who got whippins after 12ish anyway.. After that point, other motivators were much more effective.. I think that still holds true for kids today. (Bearing in mind that if a guy has all girls and was never a hard headed kid, himself, none of this makes ANY sense..)
Usually, as with adulthood, the threat was more than adequate to bring the temper tantrum into perspective.. (I don't like getting hurt, therefore I don't start trouble. If I were the type to push the envelope on a pressurized situation, I would have NO business carrying..) My daddy would move his hand toward his belt buckle when we started getting out of hand. That was almost always enough, and taught us that "You may go to the mat over something, but make sure it's worth it because it may cost you to stand for something that authority frowns on"..
With the grandkids, (because 3 of the 4 of my wife's kids were already grown when I married their mother, and the fourth was 14 and beyond using something like that to change hearts and minds) I had to use the flyswatter hanging on the wall exactly three times in 17 years, two of which were in the same swat..
The thing I liked about that metal handled fly swatter was that it hurt so much to get hit with it, that I didn't have to work too hard to get the message across.. I hate violence, but kids need to be corrected when they quit listening, or else they won't be equipped when they hit the teen years and their brain and ears shut down.... A sharp pain has a remarkable ability to focus the mind.. It's the same principle as with National Defense. The more ready we are to use overwhelming/controling force, the less likely we are to have to use it... I'm afraid we have had a whole government full of examples of folks who don't have the memory of "a price to pay" or "Consider the cost", when balls or temper tantrum want to take over public policy debates, aka, old hippies who never got a whippin when they were kids...
I'm rambling now... Anyway.. I can't help but laugh remembering the corrective measures applied, and the emotions in play on both ends of the "rod", and the hardware used to deliver the message.. Much more instruction going on at that moment than may be intended.. Attitude in the face of adversity or attitude that brings adversity.. Related lessons that are best learned as a child, or many more will suffer if forced to learn those lessons later in life..
There's a big social push in schools over "bullying". Nobody likes a bully, but it seems that nobody was ever taught how to put a stop to it in the first place.. It's wrong to punish the parent for a bully kid, but toss the parent in jail for correcting the kid in the first place. Can't have it both ways.. A collective "Shame on you" is rarely enough to change the conduct of a bully kid.. A public humiliation followed by an open door back to the social circle (with an adjusted attitude) tends to work well enough on a kid, and makes for better adults, with alot fewer in jail, in the long run, too..
It ain't easy...
Great ad, though...
PS.. Sorry about the pussy comment. I was just playing around.. I wasn't trying to be mean...
Joe
MBTV
Forum Index
Help
Calendar
Contact Info
Register as a member
