I was in the Walmart checkout line the other day and directly behind me was a mother with two young children. I suppose the boy was four years old and his little sister was likely two or three. The lad was pitching a hissy-fit because he wanted a candy bar, which his mother would not purchase and the little girl was screaming and hitting her mother's leg for unknown reasons. About that time a teen girl approached the lady and said, "Mom, I'm going with some friends to McDonald's." The mother pleaded that she needed help with the groceries but the teen daughter ignored her mother and left with two friends. I had the urge to grab the keys from the teenage daughter and tell her she'd be meeting friends after a two weeks grounding then I would have told her to take her sister to the auto. After that, I would have swatted that five year old boy on his butt.
Driving home, I could not help but think about Tom Brokaw's book, 'The Greatest Generation.' That was his book profiling my parents' generation. The generation that won World War II and re-built an industrial America. Along the way those people raised children that understood 'no' because mom and dad 'said so.' Those parents did not spare the rod nor did they fail to explain stated expected behavior-responsibilities of their kids and the kids knew consequences.
What has happened to the parenting model in 21st Century America? Could it be that along the generational parenting journey while mommies and daddies were attempting to 'give' their children a 'better' life than that which they experienced, today's parents fail to make the distinction between 'better' and 'easier.' I hear a lot of parents say when it comes to parenting, "I pick my battles." My philosophy was 'I win all battles thus I win the war.'
Actually, I note many parents are very good friends with their kids and their kids' friends. I never wanted to be friends with my kids until we had some things in common: like a mortgage payment, monthly bills and children. That plan worked out good...today, I am friends with my children.
My wife and I raised one narcissistic tyrant>>>James Wilkerson Yoder...Toy Poodle 'Yodie.'
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