The face of Jesus in my soup.

My first reaction was “what the fuck was she thinking ?” But then I thought about it and it occurs to me that this problem isn’t a new one. It’s just that the solution is so much more complex nowadays.

[nostalgia]

If this sort of thing had happened when I was young, the school teacher would have given us a clip round the ear and told our parents, who would have then hit us again. It’s not enough to say kids have no respect these days, kids have never had any respect for those older than them, what they had was fear. Fear of what would happen to you if you got caught doing something you shouldn’t, as you got older this fear turned to respect, because you realised that they were right to insist you didn’t do certain things. Parents and schools no longer have the deterrent of any form of useful punishment, and the kids know it. If you confront a group of kids about something they just stand and look at you, because they know they are untouchable. We would run away, because we enjoyed the chase, and because we didn’t want our parents to find out what we had done.

[/nostalgia]

I’m just thinking aloud, because I have no solution. I understand the thinking behind banning smacking children, even if I don’t agree with it. I really do believe that schools need a suitable punishment, but they also need the backing of parents, and I think that is sadly lacking these days. I don’t really have any ideas other than bringing back corporal punishment, but I know one thing, if we leave things as they are, in a few years our society is going to be totally fucked.

Is this just a by product of getting older, or have we got a real problem ? Because I seem to remember my dad saying much the same thing when I was young.