Two bad parents

At the shopping mall over the weekend, I saw two examples of bad parenting.


1) A dad was carrying his whimpering son, about 8yo. The dad punched him in the upper arm, I suppose to get him to quit whimpering. Didn't look like a guy-thing, "buck up" sort of punch; looked like a hit.

Various child development studies have shown that physical punishment is NOT the most effective form of punishment, and actually has adverse effects: it's all about consistency, and follow-through -- NOT the size of the punishment (e.g. a sixty-second time-out vs. a spanking). Just enough to make the misbehavior not worth the punishment.


2) In one of the parents' rooms, there's a fenced-in play area. A dad asked his son (6yo?) to come out, it's time to go. The kid shook his head and moved further into the play area. Dad asked two more times; kid refused, kept playing. Dad finally had to go into the play area and physically carry the boy out.

And the adverse consequences for the kid? None. No stern talking-to; no "time out"; NUTHIN'!!!

Which means that, the next time the dad tells the kid to do something -- there's no reason for the kid to obey. Tons of advantages to continuing with his own thing -- and no disadvantages. These are the same kids that the parents will wonder why they're such difficult teenagers, never listen to what the parents say...


Good golly.


--GG