Parents Need to Step Up

This post from a school teacher went viral today.  In it, the teacher calls out parents for their part in the discipline (or lack thereof) of their children and how this is part of what is causing our society to become a place rife with school violence.  Obviously this isn't all parents and all students.  Also obviously there are many things that probably have a hand in the increasing number of school shootings not the least of which is the general lack of respect for others in all of society, increasing mental health issues in younger and younger people, poverty, etc.

But this teacher did make an excellent point which is why her post went viral in the first place.  There is no doubt that parenting today is a challenge yet it has always been so.  Social issues may be different these days, yet there have always been problems that parents need to address whether is is 2017, 1917 or 1817.  And while the call for parents to better discipline their kids usually makes parents sarcastically respond with "you are telling me to beat my kids???" they don't get the fact that disciplining children starts at age 2 not age 16.  A doctor spelled out the situation in "The Collapse of Parenting" fairly clearly in this article.

I hope parents will see this viral post and realize it is time to step up.  This means siding with the teacher automatically instead of with their kid when there is an issue unless there is some sort of egregious behavior on the teacher's part.  This means setting firm rules and boundaries and letting the kid suffer for breaking either of these.  This means giving kids chores and responsibilities starting when they are 5 not 20.  The days of kids not being coddled is probably long gone but there is no doubt that the old fashioned way of parenting produced more resilient and more empathetic kids, something that is sadly lacking in society today.