It seems as if the problem of bullies runs deeper than we think. I’m Paul Mero. I’ll be right back.
Within the past week there have been two incidents, both at the fast-food restaurant McDonald’s for some reason, where a group of kids assaulted another kid. In one case, an adult, who tried to intervene, was shot dead. These stories are being attributed to bullies and, I suppose each case, and others like them, could be seen as bullying. My guess is that both of these extreme cases are actually gang related. Even the youngest kids, now, are becoming dragged into gangs.
As we step back and reflect on these cases, I’m sure we’d find that most, if not all, of these bullies come from broken homes. We can recite the litany of personal and social dysfunctions that are created when families fall apart. We often fail to understand the familial power of gangs. Just because a traditional family falls apart doesn’t mean that our feelings about family disappear. Everyone longs for a family. Everyone wants to belong to something safe where we can feel loved.
A family is also where we learn discipline and, unfortunately, even intact families are failing miserably in this task. For whatever reasons, the latest trend in parenting seems to be not to spank the kids. Frankly, I thought the so-called non-violence approach went out with the hippies, but now modern, young couples are refusing to discipline their kids using this very effective tool. On top of it, many government agencies are viewing spanking as a crime. Meanwhile, without effective discipline, many children are seeing that bullying is an easy way to get what they want.
And it’s not just at home or on the streets. Our schools have become a war-zone in many cases because we won’t let teachers discipline children. We have school yard fights that can’t be broken up because teachers and administrators are no longer allowed to intervene. Now they just call the police which only wastes more public resources.
It’s time to get rid of all of this new age psycho-babble about how to avoid child abuse. The new stuff is causing much more child abuse than any good spanking every created.
I’m Paul Mero. Thanks for listening.
