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Your Child Was Out Of Line

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While I don't love the idea of someone else disciplining my dear daughter, I think it would be hard to object if she were doing something cruel or dangerous. When I say "discipline," of course, I don't mean belting the next kid you see running around in a restaurant. I don't think any adult should ever hit any kid. Yelling isn't acceptable, either, unless someone is about to run into the street.

But it might be good for my kid to hear from another adult. Maybe if I had said something to that boy in the ice-cream line he would have considered—if only for 10 seconds—that his comments might have been hurtful. Or maybe not. When I asked my daughter if other mothers ever chastised her at the playground, she said, "All the time." What does she do? "Ignore them," she answered confidently. So before I get around to correcting your kids, it seems like I still have a little work to do at home.

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Posted By: William.Demuth @ 11/05/2007 3:30:57 PM

Let me make one position quite clear. Be the person liberal or conservative, Christian or Jew, ANY individual who raises a hand to my child will be beaten within an inch of their lives. No one EVER has the right to use force against another for speaking their mind, especially against a child.
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Posted By: vf98 @ 10/31/2007 1:36:12 AM

You are sadly mistaken if you think that being a stay-at-home parent is the quick fix answer to what ails our children. I am a mother of two elementary schoolers, and both my husband and I work full time, but both of our children have been raised to know the correct way to act. They are aware that courtesy and respect for others is expected, and that being attuned to the feelings of those around them is essential to being happy themselves. And yet, they spend every afternoon, Monday to Friday, at after school care! How is that possible? We teach by example, and make sure that we are as quick to praise as we are to scold. We are involved with their activities, and at the same time we involve them in discussions about serious topics such as homelessness, poverty, and race/gender issues. The result is two kids who are enthusiastic in their pursuits and genuinely care about their peers and those less fortunate than they are. At the same time, many of their peers have moms who do not work and stay home full time, but are the brattiest, most self-centered monsters you can imagine. I argue that it is quality, not quantity, that makes the difference.
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Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/30/2007 12:19:09 AM

Very good comments, PsiCop, and so very much too the point. I opt for getting back to parenting the way I was raised: less government interference, and more parental influence! From the local police, the school board, the county office of child protection, to the Supreme Court, enough is enough.

Parental abuse does exist, and it should be quelled in the strongest way possible. But to blanket a whole society and/or a whole culture based on those bad examples has left our parental fabric badly worn, torn, and forlorn