Posted by What has happened to parents disciplining their kids?
I see it all the time, kids screaming at their parents, kids wanting this and that at the store, being told no, and then the kid gets it anyway because mom is tired of telling them no, or the kid is telling their dad to shut up and not touch the stroller. So, instead of disciplining their child they give them what they want or let them do what they want. Let me elaborate.
Sunday afternoon in April, we went to the zoo. As we were walking, there was a 4 or 5 year old girl pushing an empty stroller. She was not pushing it very well. She was all over the path, ran into someone’s leg – an aunt or friend, and when dad would correct her steering and tell her she needs to watch where she’s going, she would scream and tell him to shut up, this was her stroller and she was going to push it. What do you think her parents did? Nothing but threats, well at least dad threatened to take the stroller from her if she didn’t watch where she was going and he did take it once, but she just started screaming and screaming. Mom, his wife, told him to just let her have it. There is no way that was the first time that little girl acted that way. No discipline. That little girl needed to have that stroller taken away and then bent over dad’s knee and swatted. If she started yelling and screaming at him again, then she immediately gets bent over the knee and swatted again and told she will not speak that way to him or any other adult. Boils down to discipline.
Now don’t get me wrong. Not every behavior deserves a spanking. When kids won’t share their toys, then the one that won’t share has the toy taken away and given to the other kid and let that kid play with it. Let the other kid cry about it, but do not let them have it. If the kid keeps trying to get their toy back, place them in timeout in the corner.
Student’s behavior
I see it all the time while I am at work. Students eloping from the classroom. Kids refusing to do the work given by the teacher – sit there and talk, causing a distraction to others. Kids up out of their seat wandering around the room. students telling the teacher I am not doing that (work). Throwing things in the classroom. Destroying property. I will elaborate again.
When I was a substitute, I was subbing for a week in a classroom in a small town. During math time, a student did not want to do the math assignment, so he took a pen and jabbed it through the desk. I say desk. It was a plastic end table used for a desk. I took him to the office and the vice-principal’s response was, “Do you think that the teacher deserves that, for you to be disrespectful?” The student said no and apologized. The student even told the vice-principal that he would have his parents pay for it, but was told it was ok and they had several more in storage. I just shook my head and walked back to class with the student. He still refused to do the work. Where was the discipline? Non-existent.
Lack of punishment
The school I teach at currently during the 2022-2023 school year has a 3rd grader that got mad because he did not want to do his work and when his classmates finished, they were allowed free time, but he was not, and so he decided to storm out of the classroom, turn back around, and break a window next to the door. No discipline, other than to take his work to the principal’s office and finish it there. Parent’s didn’t even bother to try to pay for the window. More worried about whether their son was hurt and wanted to know why their son was so mad to break a window. If he acts that way at school, he acts that way at home and everywhere else. Don’t even try to tell me different. He needed a few good spankings long before this.
No discipline in schools
Our hands are tied as teachers. We can not discipline students anymore. When I was in school and acted up, we were made to write sentences. I had to write a sentence 50 times and bring it back to the teacher the next day with it signed by one of my parents. That was not the end of being punished. I was grounded for a week to my room unless I was doing chores and I had better not take my time my dad told me or there would be hell to pay, go to school, and use the restroom. I was not allowed to eat at the table. I had to eat in my room. I learned my lesson quick. I never had to write sentences again.