Child discipline these days is full of beaurocracy and weakness. I don’t agree with hitting children necessarily but I don’t agree that a smack on the bottom or a smack on the hand is abuse.
There are so many stories nowadays where parents who are trying to discipline their children are unjustly being taken to court and prosecuted for trying to correct a child’s bad behaviour. There are cases where parents have overstepped the mark and have gone overboard in physical punishment but more and more parents are being left with no power over their children.
Child protection agencies have gone after two mothers who disciplined their children with a smack with a wooden spoon. One mother cautioned the other taken is facing charges because the spoon left a red mark on her son’s arm. Meanwhile these very same child protection agencies IGNORED the plight of 21 children living (several suffering illnesses) in Adelaide, despite having reports of abuse. They took the sweet time to even act upon these concerns, another case where a little girl was found starving to death, another case where children had been living in a cage for 2 years, child protection agencies FAILED to act in a timely manner.
But a parent who was trying to discipline their child who was bullying his younger siblings and misbehaving in a public place over his parents not buying him an Xbox simply because he wanted it was charged. Now this child is laughing his head off throwing this charge in his parents face and the parents are no longer able to discipline in any form. They cannot do timeout, they cannot take away toys or preclude him from activities as a form of punishment. This child believes he is free, that he can do whatever he wants because the law is on his side. This is the wrong lesson that this child is learning. This child will grow up without learning; about consequences for his actions, to treat others respectfully, treat elders respectfully, that money doesn’t grow on trees, that throwing tantrums wont get you everything you want. One day this child will no longer have the protection of the child protection agencies and the government and when they feel that they can blatantly flaunt laws of any kind they will probably grow up and break into homes steal, commit assault on another person and think that its fine because THEY are untouchable. When that day comes the general public opinion will be “oh those parents did a very bad job with him” and the government will say “parents need to take more responsibility for their children” however THEY TOOK THIS AWAY FROM PARENTS. How can a parent be a parent if they are not allowed to??
Are we protecting children or creating generations of undisciplined, ill-equipped human beings who will not be able to cope with the real world out there?
One article that made me laugh was the report that the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) changed the lyrics, moral of the story and other meanings for nursery rhymes. This is truly a sign of the times.
In order to protect the children from being upset the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty was changed.
Original:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldnt put humpty together again
Now I am not old, im in my mid twenties and clearly remember learning this rhyme when I was little. I do not recall having night terrors or nightmares because Humpty Dumpty couldn’t be put together again. I don’t recall any of my friends then and friends now who don’t recall being upset by this.
But apparently the BBC programming heads decided that it was too traumatic for children and changed it to
BBC Version:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Put humpty together again and made him happy again
GIVE ME A BREAK!
What bunch of tossers!
Oh little miss muffet no longer runs away from the spider she becomes friends with her too.
This sugar coating of every aspect of a child’s life and growing up in a society where they are told that they do nothing wrong, never get properly disciplined (cause if they do they can charge their parents with assault), they are wrapped up in cotton wool so that nothing can hurt them. WAKE UP PEOPLE these children will NEVER survive in the real world.
The world is not made up of eternal happy endings and a world of perpetual happiness. Children need to learn that yes there may be times of unhappiness, that there may be times of great tribulation personally etc but that with the right attitude and hard work any problems can be overcome and success can flourish.
Governments you are bringing more generational problems on to yourselves by taking parents rights away. When will you be supportive of parents and other caregivers right’s? The pendulum has swung too far. Children do need protection I agree but they cannot be in charge. Will you protect teachers and parents from children who assault school teachers and their own parents for not getting their way? Where is this society heading?