CHILDREN FRIED
Friday, November 30, 2018 at 11:55AM
Esther Blumenfeld

“When a child hits a child, we call it, aggression.
When a child hits an adult, we call it, hostility.
When an adult hits an adult, we call it, assault.
When an adult hits a child, we call it, discipline.” (Haim G. Ginott)

Paddling children in school is back. It is now again legal in 19 States to strike a child on the buttocks with a paddle. Even the Supreme Court says corporal punishment is legal if parental permission has been given.

I’m sure that Christian Grey would say, “I got paddled as a child and am a better person for it. Ouch! I love it!”

A kid named, Billy was in my 7th grade class. He was convinced that no one liked him. He was right! Billy managed to antagonize everyone in the class including the teacher. Every time something bad happened, the teacher, Miss Bowman, would yell, “Billy!” even if her back was to the class. Miss Bowman was my favorite teacher until the day she struck Billy on the hands with her ruler. She hit him…really hard. That blow struck fear in my heart. I had never seen an adult hit a child.

Billy was also sent to the principal’s office where his butt became his seat of learning many a time. It’s always been a mystery to me how an adult intends to teach a child self control by losing it. And, what does a child think when Pa takes off his belt and says, “You’d better appreciate that this is for your own good. Pa’s not always going to be around to teach you a lesson.” Is a child supposed to feel bad about that?

I am convinced that there are many ways to discipline children without hitting them. The most effective way is for the youngster to lose technology time on phones, tablets, watches— whatever. One Father was so upset with his teenager’s Facebook messages, that he took out his gun and shot her laptop. That might be a bit extreme, but I’ll bet she got the message and hash tagged her way out of there lickity split.

One Mom reprimanded her 9-year-old daughter, “It’s not okay to ask Siri for the answer to an arithmetic question.” Her little girl  had already learned that because she said, “Mommy, Don’t worry, I won’t ever do it again because I got the wrong answer.” “How did that happen?” asked Mom.“Because I asked the wrong question.”

Some punishments don’t work such as grounding a child but not grounding her I-pad, or
not allowing your kid to go to the beach with his friends on a rainy day.

However something as simple as , “If you want today’s Wi-Fi password, you need to empty the dishwasher, fold the laundry and take out the trash” works every time. It’s a hit without raising a hand.

Esther Blumenfeld (“I like children if they are properly cooked”) W.C. Fields


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