07-28-2020, 04:53 AM
I don't know if it's "the permissive society", or a failure of parental units to inspire respect in their children.
I only spanked my son once. ONCE. He was about 2 years old, and I gave him a single swat with my hand on his diaper. He carried on like he had been killed for a couple of days, and then it was all over. For the rest of his childhood, all I had to do was give him "the look", and he'd straighten right up. I never had to say anything at all.
A few years later, in his teens, I taught him some of the basics of hand-to-hand combat. Never know when that might come in handy in today's world, y'know? He was particularly impressed by the way a knife could magically fly out of his hand and all the way across the room, and by the fact that he could never, NEVER, get a shot off into my head from an airsoft gun before it was out of his hand and in mine. He started to bow up on me once - ONCE - after that, and all I said was "I want you to understand one thing before you get too deeply into this, son. I taught you everything YOU know, but I didn't teach you every thing I know. Proceed now if you think you have to, but realize, understand right down in your gut, it's at your own peril."
He just turned 25 a couple of months ago, and is a manager at Amazon getting fast-tracked up the corporate ladder. Too fast for his own comfort it seems, if recent conversations are any indication. At 25, he has a great job, a family of his own, and a 45 acre farm - one I had no hand in gaining for him. I taught him to think for himself from infancy on up, and it's hard now to get one over on him. His mind is quick. He's not a mini-me - I always stressed to him that he needs to think on his own, come to his own conclusions, because the day will come when I am no longer around to consult, and when it does, he needs to be his own man, make his own decisions, go forth and prosper in the world, able to do so without me. He took that to heart, and is now his own man. I may not agree with everything he says or does, but dammit, he IS DOING IT, on his own terms...
... and that makes me prouder of him than I have any right to be.
.
I only spanked my son once. ONCE. He was about 2 years old, and I gave him a single swat with my hand on his diaper. He carried on like he had been killed for a couple of days, and then it was all over. For the rest of his childhood, all I had to do was give him "the look", and he'd straighten right up. I never had to say anything at all.
A few years later, in his teens, I taught him some of the basics of hand-to-hand combat. Never know when that might come in handy in today's world, y'know? He was particularly impressed by the way a knife could magically fly out of his hand and all the way across the room, and by the fact that he could never, NEVER, get a shot off into my head from an airsoft gun before it was out of his hand and in mine. He started to bow up on me once - ONCE - after that, and all I said was "I want you to understand one thing before you get too deeply into this, son. I taught you everything YOU know, but I didn't teach you every thing I know. Proceed now if you think you have to, but realize, understand right down in your gut, it's at your own peril."
He just turned 25 a couple of months ago, and is a manager at Amazon getting fast-tracked up the corporate ladder. Too fast for his own comfort it seems, if recent conversations are any indication. At 25, he has a great job, a family of his own, and a 45 acre farm - one I had no hand in gaining for him. I taught him to think for himself from infancy on up, and it's hard now to get one over on him. His mind is quick. He's not a mini-me - I always stressed to him that he needs to think on his own, come to his own conclusions, because the day will come when I am no longer around to consult, and when it does, he needs to be his own man, make his own decisions, go forth and prosper in the world, able to do so without me. He took that to heart, and is now his own man. I may not agree with everything he says or does, but dammit, he IS DOING IT, on his own terms...
... and that makes me prouder of him than I have any right to be.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’