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With all the talk about compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding, empathy and the catchword ‘love’ we should have (with which I totally agree) is there still a role for discipline in our society today?
I had no intention of broaching this subject, at least not until I’d elaborated another one—the all-important role the Family plays in society. Yes, I capitalized Family because it is the mainstay of a stable society.
You know what brought this post on? A condemnation of France by the European Union for not passing regulations regarding corporal punishment.
The Council of Europe has singled out France, Wednesday, March 4, for its laws which do not condemn corporal punishment of children explicitly enough, in violation of the European Social Charter. French law “does not provide sufficiently clear prohibition that is binding and precise,” There was lamenting that a particular “uncertainty remains” on the existence that a “right of correction” recognized by French law.
This was coupled with a survey that was run by the French branch of one of the largest websites in the world, which simply asked: Should corporal punishment be allowed? What got my blood running was the image that accompanied the survey:
This is not discipline. Should we forbid spanking? What an image to accompany such a survey.
That image is horrible and if that’s corporal punishment… then yes, it should be banned. But that’s not all there is to corporal punishment… there’s MUCH MORE.
Once again, I repeat, the goal of The Explanation is not to get involved in debates and political subjects. My goal is to go behind the scenes, do an Audit of the Universe. The point is to look at the fundamentals, the basics of society. Corporal punishment and all other forms of punishment are ‘sub categories’ of a major subject which we could entitle: Discipline.
Discipline
I would submit to you that if we were ALL disciplined, in the sense that we always did what is right, then there would be absolutely no need for any penalties or punishment. However, we all know that none of us are ‘totally disciplined’ and that we need something to not only ‘keep us in line’ (rules, regulations, laws…) but also something to counteract ‘stepping over the line’… which we all do to one degree or another.
That ‘something’ is punishment, reprimand, chastisement, penalty… This can take many many forms including talking it through, depriving someone of something they enjoy, sending an adult to prison, sending a child to a corner, their room etc. You can call it whatever you want, but it is something to counteract the infringement of a rule. The goal is to restore a sense of peace and calm: a ‘disciplined’ person living in a disciplined and harmonious community.
Children are one of the most important and most universal riches the world possesses.
There are fundamental questions we need to ask if we are to answer our basic question: How would you bring peace and prosperity to Earth?
I’ve been perpetually amazed at how little ‘press’ is given to ‘how to bring up disciplined children’. Even less ‘press’ is given to ‘how to cultivate child-rearing for parents.’ Honestly, when you get down to it, we learn reading, writing and arithmetic in school but where do we learn about the social graces of marriage and child-rearing and such matters that will take up the better part of our lives?
Somebody please tell me.
We hear about and even pass laws regarding corporal punishment. At the same time we know kids and adults need ‘discipline’. So how do we obtain this result? Discipline is for all of us but this post is basically addressing children so here are a few things to think about:
- How do you raise disciplined kids?
- What are the respective roles of fathers, mothers, parents, teachers, schools, team captains, sports coaches, supervisors, other adults, local authorities, police, parole officers?
- If a kid is not disciplined… how do you discipline him/her?
- What if a kid will not listen and be sensible with the ‘soft method’?
- How do you handle rebellion and tantrums?
- Please don’t tell me this doesn’t exist or ‘it depends’ or ‘you have to see the circumstances’ etc.
Here’s a resume of a real story about kids from March 2015 here in a suburb of Paris, France
Ten Year Old Rappers are Controversial:
In a rap video clip they parade about with wads of cash and one even has gun in his hand, continually using violent and misogynistic lyrics.
In the video posted on the Internet, these youngsters are portrayed as professional rappers: hoods on their heads with permanent references to sex, obscene gestures, drugs and violence.
Question:
- How do ten-year-olds develop into the above scenario?
- What went wrong? Assuming you think something is wrong and this episode is not simply cute or that ‘they’ll grow out of it.’
- Should there have been some ‘punishment and discipline’ in their upbringing?
- Should there be any disciplining now?
- What kind of discipline to help them out of this state?
- What if these ‘kids’ are not interested in changing their behavior?
The big question that we all need to think about is ‘discipline’. If we decide that it’s needed, then we need to look at the generalities and then the details. If corporal punishment is one aspect of discipline, then we need to see how to use it properly for the benefit of both the adult AND the child… and ultimately disciplined society.
In Audit of the Universe I delve deeply into the subject of the Family and some its various aspects with regard to Society. In Origins of the Universe, book 3 of The Explanation series I’ll even go further and answer the question: WHY do we have the Family as the basis for society?
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