www.womanthismonth.com 95 September 2013 Inside a supermarket, I saw a young child eat a candy bar. The parent tugged the youngster’s arm. The remainder of the bar was thrown back onto the shelf and off they went. A few aisles later the same child was eating cookies; he had no fear of being seen. The parent again tugged the small arm, hitting the bag of devoured food out of the tiny hand, onto the floor, and off they went. That was it! I wanted to reprimand the child, so he knew it was wrong to steal by eating food unpaid for within a store, but I actually wanted to reprimand the parent more for allowing it to happen. It was then I realised I have not seen anyone discipline a child for years. Why did we stop? Why can’t we return some things that were taken away due to political correctness? Correct would be teaching a child good from bad and right from wrong, with discipline for bad things, rewards for the good. Many of my friends have contempt for this subject. I agree there should be limits. I’m not talking about the all out beating up of children or abuse in any manner. Since political correctness kicked in, problems in society have gone unabated. Our parents had it tough and I am not suggesting a return to the ill-considered methods of old. What I am saying is that I benefited from disciplinary action, so too did my sister. Let’s do away with anything that can put someone into a Richter scale world of hurt. Are we scared to punish a child for fear of what they will think of us, or is it just our own guilt we fear? We should fear the long-term effects not if we do reprimand them, but if we don’t! ‘Time outs’ and ‘reflection periods’ are pointless if the child never learns what they’ve done should never happen again. Children today are lost and void of remorse because they have gotten away with so much without repercussions. There are indeed hazards to disciplining. For testimony about the long-term effects, just ask my father. On one occasion when I was disrespectful, he grabbed a wooden spoon, took a swing and missed me by a centimetre, connecting with the door frame, through which I had escaped. The resulting broken spoon has had my father in the dog house for decades. he says Discipline Your Child by JAMES CLAIRE As a future father I recently caught myself wanting to reprimand a child; I wanted to reprimand the child’s parent more.
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