Another 'FIRST'

I was nine years-old, my sister was eight, and my little brother was three when we were grating on my father's nerves by jumping around in our bedroom. We also had a friend from across the street over; she was about twelve at the time. He and my mom had company. They were playing cards downstairs and all of the children were sent upstairs to play in the room above them.

I can't even tell you how many times we were warned to stop stomping. But it seemed the more times my dad told us to stop, the more empowered we felt when we stomped harder. My dad is like Homie the Clown. And as you all know, Homie don't play that. This was my first brush with a creative ass whooping...if I can even call it that.

The last time he marched up the steps, he had his black, leather belt in his hand; one end wound around his closed fist, while the other end dangled. Time freaking froze. My dad was a pro when it came to his belt game. I did not want another whooping. I was always first, since I was the oldest, and I felt like I always got it worse. With a voice deeper then James Earl Jones, my dad told us sit on the floor with our backs against the wall. He told us to remove our shoes and socks, and hold our legs straight out with our toes pointed toward the ceiling. Then he commenced to whipping our feet.

Do you know how hard it is to move in this position? We were stuck like chuck and up shit's creek without a boat or paddle.

I also remember a time when I had to wash dishes and everyone that knows me, knows I HATE to wash dishes. Well, my dad came in to get water and happened to get a glass that I half-ass washed. Oh LAWD! He was going to beat me. At least that's what I thought. But he didn't. He took every dish, out of every cabinet in the kitchen, piled them on top of the kitchen counter and table, and made me wash them all. He then told me, "if I find one dirty dish when you are done, I'm gone beat yo' ass." You would have thought I was doing a scientific experiment by the way I was examining each dish after I washed it. But it did the trick.

I think things like these are missing from child rearing today; Good ole fashion beatings, instilling fear in our children, and last but not least, DADS!!!

What type of creative punishments/whoopings have you ever had? And what else do you think is missing with the current generations when it comes to raising children?

By all means....

By all means, I'm no expert on parenting. I can't even claim that I'm really good at it. Shoot, I have my own problems with my hormonal teen, artsy eight year old, and a two-year old who uses 'ignorant' so much I find myself thinking of him when someone says the word. But I do know what I know, and I know that I think a lot parents go about steering their children in the wrong directions.

For example, summertime is approaching and parents are scrambling to find camps for their children. The parents I've encountered are foremost interested in getting their kids out of the home so they can continue working regular hours and get a much needed break from parentdom. No real harm in that, right? Not too much, but there is harm because half of them are sending their kids away to places the children are not interested in attending. The harm comes in if the brainy 10 year-old isn't very interested in horseback riding. Why not send him/her to a science camp or someplace his/her natural (or acquired) talents could be enhanced? It would surely make for a more enriching experience for him/her and money well spent for the parent(s).

Now I'm not saying allow your kids to do what they want to do instead of what's best for them. I'm saying that I don't think it's a bad idea to develop their strengths in areas that truly interest them. My daughter likes boys and drawing. So I'm always buying her drawing paper and pencils and encouraging her to draw the 'features' she likes in boys. Or even abstract portrayals of what she calls love. Of course, we deal with the rest of the boy issue in another way (mental note: buy more tylenol), but I'm encouraging the talent and hopefully, she'll have a masterpiece in someone's museum one day...

Gotta go. The artsy eight year old has tap and ballet in about an hour. It's funny, while I was pregnant with him, he danced in my belly any time music was played. See...

Now if anybody can tell me what to do with a very vocal, beyond active toddler, I'm all ears!

Next time: poetry

Stay peace and foster their strengths

Genesis