|
A lot of parent's these days seem to have a very different attitude to raising children than my parents ever did.
First of all, some seem to believe that giving kids whatever they want, be it money, toys, etc is the same as actually providing them a stable home life - I do prefectly understand that with kids it can be difficult to say 'no' when they want something, especially if you don't want your child to feel left out compared to all the other kids at school... - but giving like Johnny a twenty and letting him out of the door first thing in the morning so that he can go and amuse himself and keep out from under your feet all day, is not a good thing.
Secondly a lot parents aren't actually interested in discipling their children, they seem to feel that it should be someone elses job, for example the schools (but woe betide anyone at school who actually tries to make them do as they are told).
I never really got into any real trouble when I was growing up, either in or out of school - why? because I knew my parents would have killed me - I was afraid of them finding out if I did something wrong, so I never really did anything wrong. If i'd come home and said the teacher clouted me, they'd ask why, and I'd said because I was doing 'x' when I shouldn't have, I'd have got another clout.
Thirdly, I think in a lot of homes now, there's no one at home when kids come back from school - and yes, I understand that these days it's very difficult for one parent to be at home, since the cost of everything is so much that really you do need 2 incomes to have a reasonable standard of life - but once again having a stable home life, and having someone at home when you get back, and having someone at home that expects you back by a certain time, stops you from finding trouble to get into.
I look back at my childhood and can think of very few times when I was growing up that there wasn't someone at home waiting for me after school?
|