It's 9:15 am and I am confident that what I just read on the pages of msn.com is the most stupid thing I will read today. Usually, the stupidity in the world around me doesn't present itself till later in the day, so this is amusing to say the least.
The article on msn spoke about a new policy in a UK school which allows children to say the "F-word" up to five times
in class to
the teacher before they get 'talked' to by said teacher.... Apparently, the offended teacher must keep score of how many times the 'F-word' was said and by whom and if it goes over the max "5", then she gets to 'talk', not yell, to the student. Well, isn't that a fine how-do-you-do? What's next?? Teens can shoplift five times before they get thrown in Juvie? You can get up to five girls knocked up before you get 'talked' to by your parents?
I never thought I would get to the point where I would say "In my day.....", but here it comes. In my day, (exactly as Baz Luhrman put it.) children respected their elders. Hell, I spent all four years of high school apologizing to teachers for the tiniest offences... turning my back on the teacher when she was talking to me, cheating on an exam by reading a poem that I was supposed to have memorized, I even remember spending an entire class apologizing to the principle for wearing
earrings to school! And these kids get to cuss out their teachers
five times!? I think we can safely say that westerners have taken the notion of letting children express themselves a little too far. I say we bring back the days when kids got spanked instead of a 'time-out' when they were bad. Let's go back to the times when a look from their father was enough to make children shake in their HelloKitty/Superman underwear.
I say we start a 'Spank The Child' revolution. The UK could learn a thing or two about child-rearing from us Kuwaitis. Afterall, here in Kuwait, spanking (with hand or belt), twisting of ears and pinching are all still acceptable forms of negative reinforcement. Brits would migrate to Kuwait from far and wide. We could send brochures to the UK... "Move to Kuwait, Spanking is legal.", "Child Abuse, Schmild Abuse.", "If they're bad, they deserve it.", "Spank it like it's hot!".... Ok, maybe that last one isn't really applicable....
But seriously, let us, as the next generation of parents, bring back the respect and fear that all parents deserve. Let's end child spoiling/coddling. Reward them when they do good, spank'em when they do bad. Let'em know whose boss and let'em know it isn't them! Spank'em loud and spank'em often! Trust me, it's the only way to go.
Results may vary-Layla