When is America going to start getting tougher on kids?

Question

Americans are so concerned about sheltering their children from pain. We don't want to spank our precious children. But then these children grow up to be out-of-control sociopaths who end up in prison. We have more people in prison today than ever before. Do you think it's a coincidence that we did away with spanking in schools around the time these criminals would have been in school? Why are we so blind? When are we going to wake up and realize that children need to have a little fear in their lives if they are going to have any respect for authority. We are doing them a disservice by not spanking them.

Now I'm not saying we should beat them to within an inch of their life. But our new policy of never spanking kids is destroying our country and creating a generation of disrespectful a--holes! Kids today are completely terrible!

Answer 1

I totally agree that the school systems need to become harder on the students.  Unfortunately, today you have so many parents that cry "law suit", that schools are afraid to do anything.  It really puts the teachers in a tough spot, because they are not getting any backing from the administration.  I know that when I was a kid, if I got in any kind of trouble at school, I was going to get in more trouble at home.  NOT TODAY, parents come in and raise all kind of heck! They blame the teachers, other students, but it is never their precious child's fault, nor do they think that the child should be held accountable.  We really need to go back to the day when the children were afraid of being sent to the principal's office, because we are raising a bunch of out of control children that are going to turn into unreliable, lying, out of control, irresponsible adults.  Then what will the world be like?

Answer 2

I think it has a lot to do with the abused geeks of past generations who used to get beat up in school finally growing up and having kids of their own, who they don't want to go through the same thing.

I was one of them.

My parents also spanked me.

I don't think it's wrong.  In either case.  You end up with kids who try to abuse the system, rather than simply learn to or try and stand up for themselves.

Answer 3

Do you actually have any proof that most criminals weren't spanked as children? I think you'll find that more of them were abused than treated too leniently.  How does hitting your children teach them to behave well in society? It seems obvious, intuitively, that hitting children teaches them that it's ok to prey on people who are smaller and weaker than you are.

Edit: Nobody is saying that spanking is the only cause of violence. There is more violence in society today in general - in movies, television, music, etc. And just because spanking is banned in schools doesn't mean it's not happening at home.

Edit #2 - Well, I wasn't spanked in school, and guess what? I grew up respecting authority.  One does not follow the other. And I think that letting virtual strangers (which is what teachers really are when you think about it) physically discipline your children is criminal!

Answer 4

The problem goes beyond kids, it goes to all citizens and even foreign citizens.

The problem isn't the 'no spank' rule, the problem is that disobedience isn't just tolerated, it's even encouraged.

When citizens are saying bad things about the government, they are allowed to do that and even encouraged ('free speech' they say), instead of saying it's not nice to say bad things about the government (which is the authority) and giving them proper discipline.

When foreign citizens are saying bad things about their government, their government is harshly criticized and even 'disciplined' (sanctions, embargoes, etc) by the USA and its allies when their government decided to discipline them (take away their 'loudspeakers', sending them to their 'room', expelling them, etc).

Just imagine, if a child is allowed to cuss and disobey their parents, what do you think he/she will do to the authority when he/she growed up? What do you think he/she will do to the authority when he/she growed up if the criminals are spared while the authority is punished?

A child can grow up to respecting the authority without being spanked, on the other hand a child can't grow up to respecting the authority without a proper disciplined, especially if the child is encouraged to rebel against the authority.

Even if the child is spanked, a child can't grow up to respecting the authority if there's no proper discipline is applied.

The problem isn't the lack of spanking, the problem is the lack of discipline.

Discipline, that's the key. Not spanking, but discipline.

Answer 5

I have not, and never will spank any of my children. I believe that spanking promotes violence and that the child may believe that if they are not happy with something said or done to them that violence is an optional solution. I believe violence only promotes violence. I think a better question to be asked is "Why do parents feel the need to spank a child, rather than discussing a problem and dealing with it appropriately?" (and by that I mean without violence.) I think too many "kids" are having kids these days and they are just not mature enough to deal with certain problems without resorting to violence. I feel more of the problem lies with the parenting of these children, rather than the children themselves. If you raise a child in a good environment, teach them good values and morals, then your child will grow up with those as well.

Answer 6

They also need to put Bible and prayer back in school. Back in the old days, most misbehaviors were things like chewing gum in class or running in the halls. Now we have Columbine and VA Tech. Thanks Madalyn Murrey O'Hair!

Answer 7

i agree with you ..

Answer 8

I mostly agree with you! I was spanked as a child! NOT ABUSED! I didnt fear my parents...I feared getting in trouble. My father always made it very clear what we had done wrong and how we should handle it the next time. He would spank us and then send us to our room, give us time to think and then he would come talk to us and tell us he loved us and hates spanking us but we should not do .... whatever it is we did wrong and explain why. I felt very loved as a child and im in no way a violent person today because of it

Answer 9

I so agree with you,  but also you have to think about all those parents out there that DEFEND the child when the child misbehaves.  you better believe that if my child is disrespectful to any adult of authority than  i am all over her and she knows that she will be in trouble.  If kids know that there are consecquences for there behavior and actions then they will grow to be productive members of our community, but if they dont have that respect that should be tought to them by their parents then there is a problem.  But also look at all those people out there that have no bussness having kids and then raising them to be destructive hellions... wow i think you have just bairly tuched the tip of what is going wrong with today.  And it is realy scary to think of these young lazy children that have no goles for the futer, growing up to take care of america...

sorry so negitive but these thoughts are what makes me push my children to do their best and to learn to respect and love to learn...

Answer 10

I think maybe you should do some research before you come on here ranting about spanking. 90% of parents in the U.S. spank their children, and studies have shown that most people in prison or jail were spanked as children, so kids are getting spanked so people not spanking obviously isn't the problem.

Blaming societys downfall on one thing is single minded and ignorant.

Edit - I will play your little blame game. Sweden has a ban on spanking in the home and in schools. Sweden is one of the two safest countries in Europe. Now how could that be without spanking?