Senseless violence and teens

[Gromgor]

Children are like elephants at the circus. You see, when an elephant is young and brought into a circus a heavy steel chain is placed around it's leg. The elephant quickly learns that it can't break the chain. When the elephant is older (when it could easily break most any chain a person could put on it) all that is required is a rope. Not some super rope. Just a good, heavy duty rope. Something to tug at the elephants leg when it tries to wander too far. Why? Because the elephant learned very young what was and was not an acceptable limit.

Now you can derive from this example two things. Both are probably right but only one is reasonable:

If we chain a child up when it's young then when they're old all it will take is a rope to keep them straight. (BTW, this is the unreasonable)

Or, if people would set limits on behaviour from a very early age and actually stick to it (as in, not allowing whining to force you to give in) then those same traits will be remembered as an adult.

You have to teach kids the difference between right and wrong. Not lawful and unlawful. Don't approach them with anger. Approach them with disappointment and conviction.

As for those kids who have the "Make Me" attitude, you get a big, angry man, perhaps someone like me, 6' 250 lbs. Most of it muscle and calloused skin, and you give me a month with no questions asked.

I guarantee you the next time he speaks to you there will be a sir/ma'am and a please/thank you.

I hear people saying they are "god fearing". Why aren't kids "parent fearing"? Kids should fear the punishments that can be inflicted upon them. That doesn't mean they can't know they're loved. All too often though I see kids screaming in a store while their parents failingly plead with them to be quiet. They look around to see who is watching them and what they might be doing that might be illegal.

Fuck that. I'll tell a kid straight up to shut his midget ass up. I won't tolerate it.

But I'm an asshole who doesn't give a fuck what the other people in the store thinks about how I deal with an unruly child.

I had someone tell me once they were glad I didn't have kids. They think I'm mean. The woman's daughter would slap her, cuss her. Basically doing those things she'd never do to someone who would lay her ass flat for it. I pointed out that I wouldn't have to beat my kids. I wouldn't have to be mean to them. I would stop them from doing it the first time. Not the seventh. Not even the second. I would deal with it the first time. Violence isn't necassary most of the time either. Making a kid go to the elderly couple's house down the road to do some chores (cooking, cleaning, yard-work) that they might have difficulties with also works.

Parents need to be more creative.

Maybe I'm wrong. All I know is I get called "Sir".