Now I am not going to tell you how to raise your kids, unless your kids are around my kids or a group of kids and they are misbehaving. Then I might suggest to them that they should have more respect for people, and I may tell them they should apologize for what they said or did wrong. But that is only after I made sure that another adult was in the same room, so I can have them swear that  all I did was suggest that your child should consider a different route next time they have a conflict with another student. And that my intention was to suggest to the child and not tell the child what to do. But, first, I might call my lawyer and see that I am not committing a crime, and I guess I could have the other adult film this all on their cell phone for a record in case this goes to court, cause that is what we need to do these days to get even the simplest things done.

I remember when I was a kid in school, and if I did something really wrong my teacher would get a ruler and she would paddle my little behind.  Boy that sure made me think twice about misbehaving.  These days that teacher would be up for abuse, inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment for the same act.  Which brings me to the reason I am writing about this subject today.

Here is the headline:

W.Pa. Bus driver on probation after toppling pupil.

The good thing and bad thing now a days is that everything is being filmed or recorded, whether you know it or not, (These comments are being recorded for quality control).  Only I don’t ever see folks using these recordings for anything more than reality TV.

So here is a link to the video taken from the bus and how the bus driver reacted. Now, try to be objective as you watch, if that is possible. Remember the most important thing to watch is the reaction that the bus driver has and not all the misbehaving kids on the bus before hand.

click here

Ok, so whether you watched this or not, the deal seems to be in the fact that the bus driver slammed on the brakes, causing the kids to come forward in their seats. As far as I can tell no one was hurt.

Here is where I see the problem, and please help me with this, because as I see that this bus driver may be acting inappropriately, something needed or NEEDS to be done when folks don’t act the way they should in public. See, I think we are in a spiral with our kids that may be at the point of no return.  We spend the time we should be reprimanding our kids and young adults on the parents and adults we leave in charge while we are not around. 

It has gotten so bad that even the parents are facing charges when they discipline their own kids. It is plain to see that once this bus driver slams on the brakes, then heads to the back of the bus and yells at the student, it becomes quiet for a moment ,and then they proceed to yell at the driver in disrespect.

Again, I hate to bring up my childhood in reference; however, the phrase that rings through my head when I see this kind of behavior is, “ Do you want me to give you something to cry about?” That would normally shut my mouth tight and talking back was not an option.

I am not saying that we should allow strangers to discipline our kids; we should be the ones doing that. But when we are not around and something happens, something has to be done to show the young kids that disrespect is not an option. We all know that catching and correcting a dog right after the act trains them and waiting makes them wonder what happened, and nothing is learned.

We as parents have become soft and the kids have become more defiant. Kids these days, if they don t like what you ask them to do, they resort to drastic measures to prove a point. I.e.; Columbine, Virginia Tech, school bus fights and all the stories you folks could tell me about your kids.

Put yourself in this bus driver's shoes for a minute . . . before you wind up snapping. If you were on this bus, had no control, and kids were screaming at you and hopping all over the bus, what would you do?  Now take into consideration that you cannot kick them off the bus, and you can’t call the police and report it, so what do you do? Maybe what this bus driver did was the only thing in that circumstance, who knows?  AGAIN, I am not saying to beat the kids,  unless they are my own ;).

What is the solution?

Should we set forth a policy on buses, policies that state that if your child does not meet the QUILITY CONTROL on this bus during thi or her trip to or from school the parents will be fined? Now parents, here is where you all come in. If you are fined, they are punished.

Grounded, paddled, privileges taken away, or better yet, just take their cell phone away and watch how fast they fall and come crawling back to you with their tail between their legs.  Don’t allow any computer, chatting, and they will give you anything you want.

We cannot expect our kids to grow up and become adults with good parenting skills if we don’t get in there and show a little alpha male (head of the pack) now.

The bus driver gets probation for two years and has to do a program that will help him with his anger management. He will never be able to have that job, or any other for that matter, for as long he lives in that area.  As for the kid? , Well he will see himself on national TV and call all his friends and boast about how he took down this old man.  The bus driver is labeled for the rest of his life as an angry man. I say to you, behind every angry parent there is a … BRAT!

I grew up with father that was an expert at snapping his belt. I don’t gather that you become good at this skill by merely just taking the belt on and off. No, I think it comes from the clever art of parental intimidation. It is right up there with, I will give you something to cry about.

My quick solution for this parental dismiss we are having with our kids: take 'em to a movie, GRAND TORINO and tell them that Clint Eastwood is just like your father was DIRECT and to the point!

Your friend,

Will

-- 

Will Roberts 

"The Good Will Tour"

www.WillRogersUSA.com 

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