A Rant

[anonymez]

So i walk into my store this morning, thinking i'll open up a little early; customers like to feel special

i walk in only to find 10 beer bottles smashed to pieces, and 4 windows completely shattered (the windows were up high and out of reach, so entry would be very difficult). i immediately called the police, the nearby petrol station and the glass repair company. the repair cost the shop $2300;


the petrol station said they heard a bunch of likely intoxicated kids, 2 of them as young as 12, the others around 16, throwing things at the store at 3am. i don't own the store, and nothing is coming out of my salary or anything, but i'm damn pissed off. what the hell is the world coming to when kids as young as 12 are not looked after, taught morals and responsiblity?

[drfsupercenter]

Good thing I am older than 12

[Gary D]

Respect????????????



Is it enviroment? Something in the air? More than likely, it is problably due to set of circumstances beyond their control.

The average family today compared to stay at home mothers of the fifties is quite different. Today, it takes two incomes to run a household. If the parent is single or separated or divorced, this parent sometimes works 2 or 3 jobs to support the household. Therefore, the children have less guidance at home and to use in the real world. I bet the parents of these kids did not even know the kids were out at that time.

This is a societal problem because Walmart (a.k.a Big Business) wants to pay low wages and keep the Chinese employed. Just look at blank DVD companies moving jobs from Japan to Taiwan, Singapopre, etc. If this money and capital stayed home and the manufacturing was done in the country it was sold, the wages would go up and the standard of living would soon follow. My wife and I are lucky. We are both unionized and enjoy a certain standard of living. We are just lucky we have a good friend doing the daycare for us!!!

Children today are not afraid of punishment. In many countries, it is now illegal to spank (and the kids know that). When I was raised, there was no "sparing the whip". Today, it is just illegal for anyone else to spank your child except for the parent.

Respect for private property is not there anymore. Why respect it when you can not be punished??? It is time to change. But how to change is the bigger question??????????????????

[LT. Columbo]

i agree. it's this tree-hugging, dirt-eating politically correct society. when i was a kid i got beatings. sometimes massive beatings. the belt, the wooden spoon you name it. look at me now.

[blutach]

Slap the cuffs on em looie.

Here in Oz, where this crime took place, it is in fact illegal for even a parent to spank a child. And as GD8ck says, the kids sure know it.

Regards

[soup]

The growing problem is there is no concept of value, not just other people's property but also their own. If you have no value on anything & no grasp or care of what is right & wrong then you have problems.When we were kids there were consequences for your actions & you knew exactly what they would be.So you put a lot more thought into how you behaved.This was at home & also at school.

[Experi-Mentor]

bring back the old days (60's prefferably)

[rubber knob]

this is the way of the "new" youths of today.

[scooter1556]

i know how it feels, i manage a shop with a mate and we have had the front windows smashed in twice now by idiots walkin back from the pub. I blame the parents!!! More contraception i say!

[Jack Lurker]

Theres just not enough discipline anymore, bring back national service I say! A spell in the army would do 'em some good.

[Derree]

I could not agree more with all of you...I am only in my early 30's but still remember getting the belt and the wooden spoon when ever I stept out of line and I think my parents were not very strict at all..Kids now know that that can't happen at all. In some ways it makes sense, someone does you wrong you react with violence which is something we don't want to teach kids..but since I was spanked and I don't react violently to people I am not sure that is right. My 7 y/o step daughter will talk back to me in ways I still wouldn't talk back to my mother becuse she knows I can't do anything...Anon I know its not your store but you run it and I'm sure it feels like your own..I feel really bad for you and I hope that you guys are able to do something.

[Furiousg]

I will be stepping into this area very soon with my first child on the way. The thing I am most scared about is exactly what you all have mentioned.

It seems that kids are "waking up" to the fact that the parent is pretty much powerless in the fight to raise and discipline them. I have a neice that has threatened her father with VERY disturbing threats just to get her way, and there isnt anything the father/mother can do. All the child has to do is say one thing about what "Dad did to me" and its over.

The vandalism in my area is uncomprehensible to me. I cant even see WHY they do it. It serves no purpose, achieves nothing for them, and yet it is almost a right of passage nowadays.

I am so looking forward to being a father, but at the same time terrified of the society that my child will grow up into.

[scooter1556]

Hey,thats understandable, i would be 2. All you can do is be the best father you can and make sure they are happy and don't feel the need to go out doin absurd stuff like this, i am only 17 but was very lucky with my parents and i am managing a computer shop with a mate!!! Congrats by the way,I hope fatherhood goes well for you.

[soup]

@ Furiousg, all you can do is the best for your child in your opinions, there is no manual & no matter how many people give you advice, in the end it comes down to you both give it your best shot as the child grows. Good luck & hey keep us posted. Look forward to parenthood & never mind the other stuff yet.

[Furiousg]

hehee...even if there were a manual, I know dang well no-one would read it until they messed something up first.