Recently, a grown woman released a video of her father punishing her for stealing, by whipping her butt with his belt. The video became viral, and ended up on the national news as fodder for a child abuse scandal. I don't know this chick who posted it, but I'd say her daddy didn't tear that ass up good enough.
First off, I realize many of you will disagree with me about spanking your children, and I respect your parenting practices, as it's a free country, and they are YOUR kids. But, I can honestly say, looking back at how my parents raised me, I'm grateful for each and every ass whipping I got. We were NOT abused growing up. My sister and I are both hard working, intelligent, law abiding citizens, because mama and daddy instilled the fear of God, and them in us. Nothing was worse than falling from their good graces, and the belt wasn't nearly as terrible as that look JoAnne would give us when she was pissed and disappointed with one of us.
Secondly, I do not condone child abuse, as there is quite a difference between spanking a child and just beating the hell out of them for no good reason. When pushed to levels of rage that probably would have gotten one of us seriously hurt, (don't act like your kids have never pissed you off so bad you wanted to snatch their hair out of their heads!) Mama and Daddy often yelled and threatened, then after calming down they'd wallop us, but never once were we struck on a whim, or in a fit of rage. Growing up, my mother was not my friend, she was the boss, and so was daddy, and they both made it clear that they would not tolerate certain behavior, and we had an obligation to them, ourselves, and society to behave respectably. Rules were rules and set for a reason, and breaking them carried serious consequences.
Now, nothing disgusts me more than hearing a parent just rip on their kid like they are no better than a dog. Sure, mama was famous for telling us, "Do it again and I will slap your teeth down your throat!" Another favorite was, " Nancy, I'm going to slap the snot out of you if you don't quit that!!". Daddy's favorite thing was saying, "You pull a stunt like that and you'd better give your soul to God because your little ass is mine!" Nothing is worse than hearing a child berated for sport, and in many ways verbal abuse leaves the deepest scars. As we got older, the belt was replaced with groundings, and backhands which taught sassy mouthed teenagers quick reflexes, but dodging didn't mean you wouldn't get from the other direction. We learned that when it comes to respecting your elders and authority, there is no such thing as being "too grown".
Both mama and daddy are gone now, and at age 45 I can truthfully say I've never been in trouble with the law, I've held a job since I was 18 years old, and even now when I know I'm doing something wrong, I stop and think about what my parents would say. I didn't understand or appreciate all of their rules when I was a kid, and naturally I went through the age of thinking my folks were old school morons, but they knew what they were doing. In many ways it's a shame I couldn't have children, because I'd like to think I'd love my kids as much as mama and daddy loved me. But, in today's "spare the rod, and screw the brat up into a dysfunctional train wreck" society, if I had kids I'd get reported to Social Services when they needed to be reminded of just how much I loved them.
No comments:
Post a Comment