I've heard the statement before. I'll hear it again. And it's completely false.
"Kids these days..."
That's how it always starts. It's a giant discussion about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket because the kids these days aren't doing what they should be doing. I'm not going to blame most of it on the kids. They get a bad rap, and childhood is a pain in the ass.
I'm going to blame it on the parents. Children by and large are a direct representative of what their parents do. Let me be clear: I didn't say what their parents say. I said what their parents do. If you yell at your kids, your kids will yell at each other. They will be you, but with less of a filter. It is both weird and creepy. I've seen it out of my own kids.
If I want them to start listening more, I have to start listening. To everyone.
If I want them to quit yelling, I have to quit yelling.
Do as I say not as I do doesn't work. Yet that's what many parents use. For a while. Then they phone it in and quit trying.
It's strange how we start off wanting our children to be the president when they are four. By the time the child is 15, you're hoping to avoid jail.
Where did that come from? How did we fall so low as parents as to go from supremely high achievement to less than the average? Where did our grasp disappear and our fight go? Too many bills and too many problems in the world?
Parents, you must hold on longer than you think. Maintain the discipline longer than you think is necessary. Especially in the teenage years. There is a time for responsibility, and that is as the child earns it. Fail in responsibilities, reduce responsibilities. It's a constant give and take.
We want women to achieve in life at the rate of their male counterparts, but what do we teach them via most children's education method? TV teaches most children. And you demonize business or anyone starting a business. And you end up with some single mom on TV with multiple kids and a contrived story about how they got there. Might as well say the sperm donor walked as some of the crap they come up with.
If you want to see women succeed, start writing successful women. Start teaching that parenting requires two parents. And it requires full time effort from both parents. I don't care if you are tired at the end of a work day. You aren't done until the kids go to bed. Quit dialing it in and being a dead beat parent. Achieve something.
And... don't let the hippies teach you how to parent. Because they haven't got a clue.
I've heard numerous stories, and I'll leave you with one from "the old Corps". I heard it during Corporals Course in Iraq back in 2007.
An instructor was asked about the differences between the "old Corps" and the "new Corps". He said there was a Marine who would show up to a unit, and be great for a few weeks. Then the Marine would start becoming insubordinate and rude. Eventually, the guy would be taken out back and beaten up. It worked OK for a few days. And then he was back to the same old thing.
He was moved to a new unit, probably due to his disciplinary issues. Same scenario proceeded. The man would show up and be great at his job for a while. Then he'd turn insubordinate and rude. And he would be taken out back and beaten.
And that same thing persisted until he was finally discharged.
Following the end of the story, I remember a bunch of people looking like it was something to look forward to. Like they had missed a great institution. But they missed the crucial point. Despite the beatings, the man never changed. The beatings did not fix the problem. It was a stupid application of force that only temporarily solved the problem.
And yet here was Insanity rearing its ugly head again. Over, and over, and over again.
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