Kennedy: Corporal Punishment and Children Essay

In today’s society, we are noticing a change in our children’s attitudes towards adults or any type of authority. It is widely expressed in the news, on-line, and television that the most recent generations of children have a lack of respect for their parents, bosses, school teachers, and also law enforcement officers. Why is this? Is the media to blame for this or is it due to the fact that parents are failing to teach respect to their children at a young age? The focus point of my research paper is based on this question. Are the changes in parenting and disciplinary techniques in the last twenty years the reason why children seem to be more disrespectful these days? I’m not trying to say that all kids these days are disrespectful. It seems to me that the generations that have grown up in the past twenty years seem to struggle with respect issues. This generation is referred to as “Generation Z.” A journal titled, “To Spank or Not To Spank: The Effect of Situation and Age of Child on Support for Corporal Punishment”, focuses on expressed views and opinions of college students when it comes to spanking children. It states that many scholars are pushing to eliminate the use of physical punishment. The article focuses more on the approval or disapproval of spanking and does not really touch on the effectiveness of the punishment. I have a lot of personal interest in this topic. As you know, I worked in law enforcement for many years and personally witnessed the difference in attitudes of this generation as well as dealing with parents who had no idea how to handle their children. I think of a particular scenario involving a thirteen year old boy and his mother. This young man did not have an ounce of respect for his mother or me as a police officer. By the time he was twelve years old, he had stolen two cars and a tractor. I would find him roaming the highways and city at three in the morning. His mother would constantly call the sheriff’s office requesting a deputy to come and speak with this young man about yelling at her. I had numerous conversations with her about keeping tabs on him and restricting him from being able to come and go as he pleased. Her response was that he didn’t care what she told him and would just do it anyways. I have no doubt that this kid will spend the rest of his life in prison some day because of his mother’s lack of desire to teach him when it could have made a difference.
Another experience I had was taking a drunk fifteen year old girl home to her parents at 4:00 A.M.. To my surprise, I was asked what she did wrong to have been arrested and brought home in a police car. Instead of her parents being grateful that I brought their daughter home safe, they automatically made me out to be the bad guy and the daughter as “just being a regular teenager.” This same young woman ended up in jail for selling marijuana a year later and her parents were shocked that she would do something like that. I really wonder why it is that parents enable their children to act this way and then act so surprised when the kids get into trouble. The kids don’t understand the principle of accountability. My service learning project is with the Boys and Girls Club of Ada County. I chose this project because I will be working with children ranging from the age of six years old to eighteen years old. During the orientation I attended this week, we were advised that quite a few of these children come from homes that the parents don’t expect much from them and they are allowed to come and go as they please. This organization gives them a healthy atmosphere to come and spend time rather than being completely unsupervised at home

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Kennedy: Corporal Punishment and Children Essay

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