5 Ways to Ruin Your Kid

All parents think that raising children is difficult - but therein lies the rewards. Nothing in this world worthwhile is easy, is it? Making sure that your children have the ability to become the best they can at whatever they do requires a lot of care and attention. Bad parents have one common characteristic: they want the easy way out.

Just know that when you're older and your children don't call you, it's positively correlated with the amount of effort you put into raising him or her (or because of a petty argument over something stupid). So, how to NOT raise a kid?

Sit them in front of a television.

This is possibly the easiest and laziest method of escape. You say you're busy, but who isn't? There are plenty of parents out there who have full schedules, yet they still make room on their schedules to raise fine young children who are intelligent, understanding and caring. And even if you don't have time, try to coach your child into doing something more constructive, will you?

With all kinds of crazy stuff being aired on television, who knows what your child might come upon? Even IF it was cartoons, a lot of the cartoons nowadays aren't nearly as good as they were back in the '90s. Many of the programs teach bad morals, ethics, and bad behavior. Heck, half of the cartoons on now have gratuitous amounts of violence. This way, your child will very quickly develop a rebellious nature and think that he lives within a movie, while at the same time ruining his or vision. An increasing amount of children are becoming near sighted at a very young age, most likely due to the lack of parents' supervision. Scratch that - DEFINITELY due to the lack of parents' supervision. I highly doubt that your child is near sighted because he studies the multiplication table every day.

Hit them.

Stop the violence. It is not acceptable to hit anyone. Chris Rock once said, "No one is above a beating, but that doesn't mean it's to be done." How true you are, Chris Rock. Parents hit kids because they are frustrated with the way their child acts after repeatedly telling him to stop peeing on the wall (or for various other reasons).

This happens partly because of the lack of patience. Patience is a virtue, and many parents don't have this. If you feel the need to beat your child, you're obviously doing something wrong. Using force to restrain them from doing something and intentionally hitting them is totally different. Maybe you're having trouble at the job, maybe you and your spouse are going through a tough time, maybe the dog pooped in the azaleas - none of these is a reason to use violence to solve problems (because violence DOESN'T solve problems).

The key to avoid this is to tell your child what you want him or her to do, lay out a set of ground rules and punishment, and use the correct tone in your voice. Teaching your child how to be a better person involves lots of time and effort, and by hitting your child you just erased 9 important lessons.

Give them a list of morals.

This will not help your child develop a conscience. No matter how many times you repeat it, "SHARE YOUR TOYS" will not ring a bell in your child's mind. No stealing, no killing - you might as well give your child a list of the Ten Commandments. What is the best way to learn anything? To have concrete examples, hands on learning, and experience. The same goes for raising your child. If you want your child to become a good, caring, and loving person, you must treat his or her education with the same qualities. Throwing a list of things to do and not do isn't doing anything. It's like washing your feet with your socks on.

By only repeating a command, you really haven't made an impression on your child's mind as to whether something is right or wrong. Learning something so deep can only come with from repeated life lessons learned day to day. And the more you repeat something, the more your child will lean towards the other side, thereby effectively drowning out the message you are trying to communicate. Teach intelligently, not repeatedly.

Throw money at your child.

Your child is bugging you for that $20. Give it to him? Aside from spoiling your child into thinking everything they get should be just GIVEN to them, you aren't making the effort to spend time with them; essentially you're lying to yourself that you're a good parent. If I give him or her some money, I've provided, right? My duty as a parent consists of caring for my child to the best of my ability, and that is all about the number of jeans he has or the priciest cell phone he can get. If you think the previous sentence is correct, look for a window and jump out of it.

Thinking that money can take the place of attention and time is extremely irresponsible. In this case, time is not money.

Don't promote intelligence in your household.

This last condition is the one I'm worried about. With so many outlets for children to shy away from developing a true, practical passion, it's no wonder that the economy isn't looking too good in the future.

At an early age, games that challenge the mind stimulate your child to become a problem solver - someone who is interested in doing things that not only help others, but also increase IQ. By not helping your child develop any interest in anything besides playing Warcraft until his eyes fall out, you are effectively wasting the resources to make a productive member of society.

As children have more access to games that consist of mindless clicking, blood, and zombies, they effectively suppress their neurons, and at such a young age, they might never be able to stimulate those later on. Something such as Math Blaster is a much better alternative to ZOMEBIE KILL 9000. Games can be fun as well as educational.

This is not to say that all children who are boring like to play bloody games. What I'm trying to get at is that in order to shape your child into the useful member of society that he or she should be, you need to instill some interests that involve practical applications, rather than just sitting on the couch and staring at the ceiling all day. As life gets easier and everything is taken care of by the previous generation who worked their butts off, the younger generations will become increasingly boring and less innovative, thereby securing their future to be primitive and colorless.

Pretty soon, the world will be full of people who know nothing of electrical circuits, database systems, and heartwarming poetry; they'd all rather be playing XBOX.

Get involved with your kid's life. Once you have a child, you are no longer the center of your life. Pass on your best qualities, and you will live on forever. And your kid won't be messed up.