"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." – Socrates (469-399 BC)
There’s much we could add to this, but it stands fairly sufficiently on its own. What would Socrates think about children of this generation? What can we do to reverse what we see? My wife and I have kind of become observers. We sit back and watch people and families and how they interact. At an airport earlier this year I saw a family heading out on spring break. Dad, mom and two kids. Each had their own iPod/MP3 players. They even had kind of a unique form of sign language. Something developed, I assume, to avoid having to de-cyborg yourself every time mom wanted to talk to you or ask you a question. She would just use some impromptu hand signals. The kids would typically respond with an agitated yes or no nod or shake. I wondered what supper was like at their home; or if they even sat together to eat supper. Does dad yell at the kids when sports are on; or maybe just ignore them altogether? Does mom disregard the kids when “Dancing With The Stars” comes on? Are the children an interruption to their lives? Not if you plant them in front of their own TV or video game machine. We’ve become removed and annoyed from spending time with them.
I came across an article while reading through the news. There’s a proposal in the Massachusetts House of Representatives that would ban corporal punishment (House Bill 3922). Lovingly spanking your child would turn you into a criminal. They tried to push this through
I’m fairly certain that my children would be ecstatic to spend every waking moment with me or their mother. Why? At times, we have put our interest on hold and taken up their interest. We take ourselves to their level. Whether it’s playing a game or reading a book or coloring a picture. We also involve them in our interest; baking, hunting, fishing, etc... I don’t claim to have perfect children or to have this all figured out. I do know that if we put our selfish “I-need-my-time” attitude on the back burner and show an interest in what our children are doing, you build a bond and a friendship that will outlast any spanking you ever give. That’s not to say that spankings are never necessary. And when I say that you need to build a friendship, that is not the permissive, anything-goes, kids rule the roost mentality that many parents have taken. “If I give them everything they want, maybe they’ll like me!” That’s just sick and way out of order! Catering to them is only fanning the flame. I think parents are just trying to get by long enough to get them out of the house. From there on, it’s society’s problem. Even those that claim Christ have this same misguided thinking. They hope that the Sunday school class will “train them up in the way they should go”. I believe we have made a turn in a very poor direction, and it will take something huge to correct it. Something larger than a push from man. Something like a revival of hearts. And that only comes from God.
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