Thursday, May 19, 2011

Standing In The Corner + Time Out= Same Thing

I have said this before, but this time I mean it. This will be my last blog entry untill I move.

Trust me.

Do you remember when you were growing up and as a young child you would do something your parents did not approve and be told to 'go stand in the corner'? I think just about every child has been told that.

Now a days its called 'time out'. It doesn't matter what you call it, it is still the same thing. It could be standing at a wall or sitting in a chair or what ever the parent doing the disiplining deems necessary.

I think the reason for calling it time out as aposed to the corner might have to do with the length of time a kid was supposed to stand. Depending on the parent it might have been anywhere from five to ten minutes. If you were a smart parent. I recall hearing once on a news report and this is no lie, that a parent got arrested for having her child stand in the corner for over five hours. To me and I guess to any rational thinking parent thats too long.

But, regardless and I am not trying to excuse this woman's behavior, but you are the parent ( if you are a parent) and from what I have learned is that no parent likes to be told how to disapline their kid. To a degree I can't say I blame them. I would only take exception if the parent makes the evening news and outright abuses their kid, even than I don't know if I would say or do anything.

I feel as a single male with no children I can learn not just from other parents about how to be a effective dad when and if God allows me to, but I can also learn from my experiance as a child and how I was disaplined.

Now, with all due respect to my mother she did the best she could with myself and my sibling and looking back I would have to say she wasn't abusive with us, but with that being said, she got her point accross. I hope that one day I can do the same with my children.

I remember watching an old episode of Little House On The Prairie where in a flash back episode of the Micheal Landon character as young boy. He had did something to his teacher, the teacher knew the boy had did it and told the boys father. The father while still in front of the teacher, let the instructor paddle the boy. Only thing was the teacher didn't stop when the boys father wanted him too.

I personally see a problem with this happening in real life situations and that is some times other people don't know when to quit the disapline if the parent of the child agrees that they can do so.

Mom and dad come home and they notice that some one went over board.

Thats not only wrong in my opinion but a crime as well.

If you recall I had wrote in an earlier blog about a friend of mine who misplaced his cell phone and went all around his house asking his wife and kids if thay had seen it. When it was finally figured out that one of his kids, after telling my friend no he didn't see or use it, my friend told me he had to 'Be a dad' and put a bit of a restriction on him. The child in question was a teenager, but it doesn't really make a difference a parent has to do what they feel is right if they think their kids are not being honest with them.

Lastly I will leave you , my reader's with this. First, I will honestly tell you I do not know the percentage of parents that do this, but I am aware that some use what I like to call 'the counting method'. Basically, the parent wants the child to either do or stop something, if the child doesn't than the parent would start counting. The hypothesis is by at least the number two, the kid is on their way to do whatever or has stopped doing what ever. If the parent got to three and the kid didn't stop, he or she was in some hot water as they say.

I once knew of a kid who's parents did get to three. He told me and I quote " I shouldn't have pushed them"

If anybody reading this is a parent this blog was in no way shape or form trying to tell you how to raise or disapline your kid. I trust you are a fair parent and you all go about the task with honesty and integrity.