What's Wrong With Our Children?

I'm going to start my blog off with a topic that really angers and saddens me at the same time. The situation with today's youth. How in the world did it come to a point where an upset child picks up a gun and kills? I just heard about the shooting on a school bus in Florida yesterday. This is just one in the many stories over the last few years. Where are these children's parents? What did they do or NOT do?

My opinion in this matter is it starts with the parents. Or better yet, it starts with society. You can't even look at your kids cross-eyed nowadays without someone turning you in for child abuse. If some stranger doesn't turn you in, you can bet your smart teenager will call the authorities and have you arrested! I'm not a supporter of beating children, but I'm here to tell you, I was spanked as a kid.....a lot. I don't hold a grudge against my parents. I'm not emotionally scarred for life because of it. I turned out to be a pretty good person, who is responsible for their own actions, has respect for authority, and believes in working hard for what I have and want. I believe that the discipline my parents handed down, coupled with their love, molded me into the person that I am today.

You can love your children more than anything in the world. You can give them everything they ask for. You can try to be their friend. All of this is great, but if you're not disciplining your children when they do wrong, you aren't teaching them how to be responsible, respectful people. You aren't teaching them that there are consequences for their actions, or how to deal with their anger. These are the children that are bringing guns to school. These are the children that are committing suicide because they don't KNOW how to handle it any other way!

Society today says it wrong to spank your children because it teaches them to be aggressive. Society today says you shouldn't raise your voice to your children for it might scar them emotionally. That's crap! Kids aren't stupid. They know they can literally get away with murder because no one can physically make them do anything. Teenagers are running wild, doing drugs, staying out until they see fit to come home, carrying guns, and having sex. And you know why? BECAUSE THEY CAN! There's nothing stopping them from doing anything they want to do. Teachers can't stop them. Parents can't stop them. The only thing that stops them is if they turn the gun on themselves or if they finally get arrested for doing something stupid.

I tell ya, I'm scared to death to send my kids to school. I don't know that they are going to come home at the end of the day. Which school will be next? Which child will decide he's been wronged in some way and take it out on other innocent students?

I'd give just about anything to go back to the "old" days. It wasn't that long ago when children were children. They played outside with the neighbors. They rode bikes and played baseball. Kids were relatively behaved and respected their elders. School was important, and kids knew that. They did their chores to earn their allowances. Things weren't just handed to them because they demanded it. Kids didn't kill kids back then. The occasional fist fight, maybe. But, there were no guns involved. It wasn't that long ago.....