It’s been a while since I’ve commented on any web-skirmishes (no I haven’t missed any, I just chose to avoid them like the plague. Most of them were stupid, and a waste of my time anyway.).
I thought I’ve read it all on the web, but this load of horseshit definitely takes the cake:
“No, I do not condone punching kids or hitting them with belts, paddles, sticks, switches, kicking them, pulling their hair, etc.
But a slap across the face or their ass…you betcha! I don’t care who it is! The discipline does not just need to come from the parent. Remember the paddle in the principle’s office?”
Responses from the web:
Electric Venom – I think Kate took the post as meaning “parents not disciplining THEIR kids, is making social miscreants”. To that, I’d have to agree. I doubt highly she’d tell anyone “Sure, hit my kid… that’s ok! Sock ’em one for not making their bed this morning, while you’re at it!”
In fact, I can’t think of a single parent that would say anything like that.
Meryl Yourish – “No matter what your opinions on hitting children, when a person who is not the child’s parent hits him, it’s illegal and just plain wrong. (And by the way, Serenity? No way do I want you near a child of mine, not with that attitude…)”
Yeah, Meryl has hit the point that Bhoomi, Glenn, and I have found very disturbing in this post. While you’re at it Valerie, can you stay away from my kids too?
Valerie’s response to Meryl: “[update] Btw: Yourish nice attitude. You obviously missed my entire point. I didn’t say ANYONE can smack a kid”
Let’s roll the videotape…
“But a slap across the face or their ass…you betcha! I don’t care who it is! The discipline does not just need to come from the parent. “
Uhm… yeah, you DID say that.
By the way, it’s “PRINCIPAL‘S office” not “PRINCIPLE‘s office”
(Which end of you did they use that paddle on, Valerie? Just curious.)
Seeing as how Glenn was made an example of in the comments by a bunch of bitter, obviously-childless, people (who found the word “penis” offensive, yet they used variations of the word “fuck” at least 12 times to get their points across on this page… go figure!), you’d have to be out of your mind to post an opposing opinion in there. So I’ll say it here:
“Oh I can hear it now from the peanut gallery. ‘No one has the right to back hand my child…..if someone ever did that to MY kid I’d have their ASS!’ …”
Oh no. I wouldn’t say that at all. What I would say is:
If someone lays one finger on any of my children. I will fuck them up.
Just so we’re clear on this in the event of any future discussions on this topic.
Doesn’t matter if you’re big or small. If you’re bigger than me, I’ll use a baseball bat. If you’re smaller than me, it’ll probably hurt more. If you’re exactly my size, I’ll probably use a baseball bat, just so you’ll hurt as much as if you were smaller than me. I fight dirty, so wear “ball protectors” when you see me coming.
I will teach you that hitting is wrong, by beating you to a pulp.
Any questions?
No. I am not particularly thrilled with the current laws, created by a bunch of hysterical liberals, that curtail parents from disciplining their children, nor do I agree with them 100%. I have learned, however, that a little reasoning does go a long way with my kids. I know my kids aren’t saints. I know their flaws and I know their strengths. I know they can be royal pains in the asses sometimes. Reversing the situation with “How would YOU feel if that was done to you?” or “Would YOU like it if the cat stuck a fork through YOUR stomach?” usually breaks them from a lot of their annoying practices. Of course, my kids are probably a lot more intelligent than your hellspawn, I’ll give you that.
As this is the “house where all the kids come to play”, and like to call my wife and I, “mom & dad”, they also have many obnoxious friends. Yet, somehow, the thought of me smacking any them has never crossed my mind. For starters, they’re not mine to do it to. I go to their parents.
If their response is: “My child would NEVER DO THAT!”…
Then I threaten to punch their mom or dad in the mouth.
If you ask me, that’s where you’re doing society the favor.
“Not MY child” types are the ones who need to be hit with a clue-by-four.
What was even more disturbing was the cattle call of “Right ons!” and “Hell Yeahs” in the comments of that post from the folks who all have a history of giving me a migrane when I read their blogs. You know, deep thinkers who can solve the Middle East crisis with genocide, object to their tax money paying to give American kids breakfast (yet a $70 billion+ quagmire in Iraq is no problem), or curing my headache with .44 caliber aspirin.
Most memorable quote:
“Kids today need a good beating every now and then. If you don’t beat your kids when they fall out of line, the next thing you know your son will go off and bang some dude in the ass just out of spite.”
Oh wait… that was Maddox and his spoof about child abuse. He was being funny. Quite scarily, these folks are saying the same thing and are dead serious.
My mom hit me maybe once in my whole life, usually she just had to talk to me the way I talk to my kids now. Of course, I realize I was a superior child, as many of you were probably hellspawn.
I’m not sure how old Valerie is that she could be sent to the “principle’s office” for a paddle, but I went to public school in Brooklyn from 1970-1983, and teachers weren’t allowed to hit us back then.
Last I checked, hitting a minor was against the law.
EricBrooks.Com® – Yes, by all means, beat your kids (and everyone else’s) to make them upstanding citizens. It worked wonders for Jeffrey Dahmer, folks who grew up to abuse their children, and a bevy of other serial killers and child molesters, didn’t it?
*Note – I found out a day later, the author of that poorly-written drivel’s name is Valerie, not Trish… but calling her Trish pisses her off for some reason, so I’m leaving it. Hee! Hee!
** On second thought 11/21/03 – The REAL Serenity has shown up, and while it’s been real fun (and it seems many people have made the same case of mistaken identity with this half-witted wannabe), it’s not right to insult the real Trish like this… therefore I’m switching it all back to “Valerie”, that moron’s real name. And my sincerest apologies to Trish.
He was named 2-Tag when he was a frightened little cub two years ago, separated from his mommy and caught in a bear trap. When the game warden tagged him, he didn’t realize he was already tagged in the other ear.
