digitalBush

Several months back, I fired off a blog post on the spur of the moment that drew quite a bit of attention.  5 months after the post was originally published, the post is still drawing a stray comment and quite a few page views.  I am truly amazed at the power the Internet can wield for a single person.  It was so controversial that I just had to follow this up in some official capacity.  My buddy Brandon has been the voice of reason in the comments.  He actually understood my humor and got the real message behind the post.

I had to go back and re-read my post just to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Nope, it's written just the way I intended it.  If you read the comments however, you start to get a grim picture of who I apparently am.  Apparently I'm some sick twisted individual that runs around whooping the shit out of everything thing that moves.  If it's smaller than me and alive, then I take pleasure in abusing it.  When I'm not busy bringing the thunder to innocent creatures, I like to rape people.  Oh, one more thing, I will burn in hell. 

Of course, it's all bullshit.  People who disagree with you tend to try and bring you down to their level.  Only one commenter disagreed and did so in a respectful manner.  Amazingly, some people agreed with me too.  I think that those people understood that I wasn't talking about abusing your children.  I was talking about disciplining your children.  There is a difference.  Abusing your children is wrong.  Spanking them to provide negative reinforcement is not abuse. 

The line between abuse and discipline differs by the intent of the person doing the discipline.  Are you punishing your child because you want them to be aware that what they are doing is dangerous or socially unacceptable?  If you said yes, then that is discipline.  Your discipline is a reactive measure for a proactive purpose.   On the flip side, are you punishing your children because you don't know of anything else to do?  Your kids just won't listen and you just want them to shut up?  If you said yes, then you suck as a parent and at the same time you are abusing your children.  Your discipline is a reactive measure with no actual long term purpose.

The way I see it is this:  If you have to punish your child, then they have to know the reason for it.  If you stick to your guns, then your child will know that behavior or action is unacceptable 100% of the time and will remember the punishment laid down.  If you have to whoop the hell out of your kids every day, then you have some serious communication issues.  No amount of beating is going to solve that barrier and will actually do more harm than good.  Your child has to know that you care about him/her and that your punishment comes with good intent for their long term well being.

Here, let me summarize this for you.  I'm sick and tired of seeing kids running around in the stores being loud, disruptive, and disrespectful.  Parents need to start taking responsibility for their kids actions and discipline them.  However they choose to do that is up to them.  Whatever is done, parents have to remain consistent.  If you say you are going to do something, then follow through with it.  I'm not buying into the whole politically correctness about raising your children.  I was raised a certain way and I'm proud of who I've become.  I want my kids to have the same morals and values that I do, so I will do what I can to make that happen. 

The world as we know it is coming to an end.  Apparently Massachusetts thinks it should be illegal to spank your children.  This is what is freaking wrong with our country!  I see kids enough running around back talking their parents and raising enough hell as it is.  You want to know why they do that?  It's because they aren't scared.  If you take away a parent's right to whoop the living hell out of their children, then you take away their ability to scare their kids. 

I can't recall ever getting spanked personally.  I'm sure I was probably smacked a few times just to remind me who was the boss.  Here's what I do remember though; I remember my parents telling me that they would have no problems with doing so and hearing the stories from my friends of their father's belts.  That was enough to keep me straight.  It was FEAR that made me understand my parent's authority when I was growing up.  That's what kept me out of trouble and made me the person I am today.

Please don't let our lawmakers pass laws that encourage our youth to be a bunch of spoiled sissies.  If kids grow up without a backbone, then they'll act the same way as adults.  It can't be pleasant to see a 50 year old man throw a temper tantrum.  Just think about that.

Edit: Wow, I'm amazed at how much attention this post managed to bring. To read more of my thoughts on this, please read my follow up.