Are the Children of Today, Out of Control?

The quality of today's youth is atrocious! And yet for some unknown reason, it's all about the children.

Don't drive too fast. There are children in the car. Or don't shoot your gun aimlessly. There might be a child in the way. The divorce courts have a famous saying; we just want what's best for the children. You can't have your dog off a leash; He might bite a child. Don't use bad language. There might be children, listening. Don't leave that ladder up, what if it fell on a child? Don't drive drunk you could have an accident and hurt or kill a child.

One might believe, that hurting, killing, or putting your mother, father, brother, sister, wife, husband, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, friend, cat, and dog in harms way is acceptable.

Most children today are disrespectful, inconsiderate, unruly, ill mannered, ungrateful, selfish, unimaginative, rude, and spoiled rotten, to say the least!

This behavior is more common than not. And there is only one thing to blame, Bad parenting. Most parents in today's society have no clue on good child rearing. And the self righteous candy pants mentality of today's society is not helping matters. This situation is out of control and needs to be stopped!

This behavior is seen in our restaurants, movie theaters, shopping malls, playgrounds, and amusement parks, etc. and the parents usually just sit back and let it happen. What makes a parent just do nothing? Is it fear, ignorance or just laziness?

Most of today's parents blame their ignorance and lack of parenting skills on ADD or ADHD or bipolar, autism, learning disabilities, or any other ridiculous excuse or disease they can think of. Doctors and teachers are using these excuses as well.

Let's just drug them up and keep them calm. We can let the TV, computer, or video games do all the babysitting for us.

This is the primary reason why today's youth have no imagination or creativity. They also hear parents; doctors and teachers use these excuses, to avoid having to deal with the real problem. This in return allows the child to use the same pathetic excuse to justify his or her own poor and unacceptable behavior.

There are plenty of legit cases where a child may be suffering from one of these diseases, but in most cases. They are being overused as an excuse.

A large percentage of parents today, want to be pals with their children. That's not a bad thing, it's good for children to have parents who will play with them and can be their friend, but children need parents to act like parents. And they need to know their place as a child. Throughout their lifetime, they will have many friends, but only one set of parents.

When a parent is timid or reluctant to give leadership, the children feel let down, children provoke non-discipliners and will not respect a parent when afraid to be definite and firm, children will keep testing the limits, making life difficult for the parents, themselves, and everyone around them until the parents finally crack down and show them some discipline and guidance.

A well-balanced child needs discipline. And being strict in the sense of requiring good manners, orderliness, prompt obedience, and respecting others is good for a child.

This is where most parents fall short in child rearing. Usually when a parent finally cracks, it results in yelling and hitting, which generally does no good.

Too much discipline or Strictness is harmful to a child. When a parent is too harsh, overbearing, or constantly disapproving, it can do harm to the child. As well as not making allowances for a child's age, or individuality. This kind of severity produces children who are either meek or mean-spirited.

Although there are many debates on how a parent should discipline a child. "To spank or not to spank." It is believed that some physical punishment is necessary and okay as long as it doesn't turn to abuse. Some parents use Timeouts. And some Take away privileges? It all depends on how the parent was raised or what their beliefs are. But the bottom line is this; the main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family--being loved and learning to love and respect others in return.

If you feel that today's youth is out of control, please share your comments. Do you agree or disagree that children should be disciplined more than they are in today's society?