Zach LarkinsMANNERS
D. Armenta recently wrote an article about manners. It is well worth reading and raised quite a bit of discussion. I'm not about to add to what was written, but it came back to me today when I saw an item about it on a show called ‘Living In Toronto'. My wife and I are still shaking our heads.
It seems that if you have more money than brains, or have totally lost control of your child, you can ship them off to a place that will teach them manners. This service doesn't seem to be for two year olds who throw tantrums in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. It is geared to older children who don't know how to use a knife and fork. It is also geared to parents who abandon their responsibility in teaching their children the basics and separating them from their hard earned dollars.
We're not talking about anything hard here folks. Just basics. Like chewing with your mouth closed. Not talking when your mouth is full. Not interrupting when someone else is talking. Wiping your mouth with a napkin rather than your sleeve.
I, at first, thought it was just me. I couldn't believe anyone would spend money on this. But they do. Lots of them do and they spend big bucks. My wife was babysitting a 9 year old for a while. She told me this child had no idea of how to cut her own meat. Her mother had always done it for her. I noticed during the times she ate with us, that she would pick up an entire slab of meat and nibble away at it. I thought, okay, maybe the meat is too hard for her to cut. But when she can't figure out how to cut a waffle, well, that's a bit much for me to handle.
Armenta asked where we are failing our kids. This is one example. Do everything for them and don't ever let them fail. Protect them from all the bad stuff they will eventually face in the world. Cut their meat for them. Do their homework for them. Give them a time-out when they set fire to the neighbours garage. Pass them into the next grade even though they can't handle the work of the grade they're in.
We fail our kids by shirking responsibility and not laying down some ground rules for them to follow. We fail our kids by saying the schools have to teach them sex-ed and paying someone else to teach them basic manners.
Remember, these kids are the same ones who will be looking after you in the nursing home. Their Mommies won't be around to save them when they have a problem and you're going to trust your final days to their care?
Please have me shot instead.
It seems that if you have more money than brains, or have totally lost control of your child, you can ship them off to a place that will teach them manners. This service doesn't seem to be for two year olds who throw tantrums in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. It is geared to older children who don't know how to use a knife and fork. It is also geared to parents who abandon their responsibility in teaching their children the basics and separating them from their hard earned dollars.
We're not talking about anything hard here folks. Just basics. Like chewing with your mouth closed. Not talking when your mouth is full. Not interrupting when someone else is talking. Wiping your mouth with a napkin rather than your sleeve.
I, at first, thought it was just me. I couldn't believe anyone would spend money on this. But they do. Lots of them do and they spend big bucks. My wife was babysitting a 9 year old for a while. She told me this child had no idea of how to cut her own meat. Her mother had always done it for her. I noticed during the times she ate with us, that she would pick up an entire slab of meat and nibble away at it. I thought, okay, maybe the meat is too hard for her to cut. But when she can't figure out how to cut a waffle, well, that's a bit much for me to handle.
Armenta asked where we are failing our kids. This is one example. Do everything for them and don't ever let them fail. Protect them from all the bad stuff they will eventually face in the world. Cut their meat for them. Do their homework for them. Give them a time-out when they set fire to the neighbours garage. Pass them into the next grade even though they can't handle the work of the grade they're in.
We fail our kids by shirking responsibility and not laying down some ground rules for them to follow. We fail our kids by saying the schools have to teach them sex-ed and paying someone else to teach them basic manners.
Remember, these kids are the same ones who will be looking after you in the nursing home. Their Mommies won't be around to save them when they have a problem and you're going to trust your final days to their care?
Please have me shot instead.
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I don't quite understand myself where things went wrong, when parental discipline became child abuse, when paople with kids started thinking that spoiling them was the ultimate way of showing love for them. Some seem to regard kids as accessories nowadays, rather than responsibilities.
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