Over the past few years I've been watching youth, seeing how they react in society today. My observations have found that youth today are much louder, immature, disrespectful, and more prone to violence than i remember the teenagers of my day being. Granted I'm not the oldest individual, but the change I've seen has been drastic. Teenagers these days have such a high amount of disrespect for other people that are outside their "group", that its become very appaling. Recent events show this, I speak of the youtube beating of a girl by several others. They care nothing for themselves and place value on the temporal things of this world. Things that really mean nothing in the long run, i.e. IPods, fancy clothes, big tv's, ect... . One of the biggest contributors that i've seen to this growing "plague on our future" is the parents. Yes that's right the parents would be to blame. I was raised that if you broke the rules, did something bad, or anything worthy of it, you got a spanking. Nothing that was going to bruise or permanantly hurt, but something to let me know, "Hey, I really dont want to do that again". However in todays society, parents are scared to discipline their children. They are affraid to give them a little paddle on the bottom and tell them no. Why are they affraid you ask? Because of parents of other children that think their way is the only way to raise a child. So when that parent sees another parent spanking their own child they get all defensive and claim abuse. Now dont get me wrong, I'm a firm beleiver of an eye for an eye, and if I had my way crimes would receive the same punishment equal to the crime that they dealt, a beating for a beating, death for death, and so on. Child abuse is one of THE MOST appauling things in this world, but a disciplined hand on the bottom of a child is NOT child abuse. Everyone we grew up using as role models were raised this way, some of them were forced to go find their own switch, carve it, and then were spanked with it. Look at how great they turned out, they became our role models. I'm a professional martial artist, and in my classes we dont hit to discipline a child, but we certainly let them know that what they did was not acceptable, followed by some sort of extreme workout. Parents bring their children to my classes because they know that their child will receive the discipline their child needs to grow up into the "little prince/princess" that they imagine their child being. So how do we solve this growing problem? First we need to realize that our way may not be the right way, and that the child being disciplined is in the family he's in for a reason. The child is there to learn the things that that parent has to teach them and there's nothing you can do about it, unless of course it is actual child abuse. Second we need to discipline our children. 9/10 parrents I talk to say that they dont really discipline their child because they love them too much to hurt their feelings. WRONG! If you truly loved someone, and wanted the best for them, then you would discipline them when they do something not right. Do it lovingly, but discipline needs to occur. Finally, put your family values first. I know its cheesy, but it's true. The most important thing is the family. The most important things to learn in life are learned from your family.
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