Discipline

I never realized how important it is to discipline your children until today. I mean, I always knew that a child needs discipline to grow and learn, but more so than ever, to learn to act like a proper human being. Unfortunately, we can't always be the parent and the friend to our child.

Today, I saw a mother and her children in the store. One of them was small enough to still be in the car seat while the other was a young child somewhere under 5. The infant was asleep in the car seat and the child was pitching a huge fit in the back of the basket over fruit snacks. He was jumping up and down, banging his little fists on the car seat, waking the infant who immediately became distressed and began crying as well. Instead of disciplining the child for throwing a fit, waking the infant and jumping in the back of the cart which was completely unsafe, the mother ripped open the box of fruit snacks fresh off the shelf, opened a package and gave it to her son. Had that been Hail, I would have not have hesitated to spank him right in the middle of the store. I do not really agree with spanking but if my kid was acting in a way that was not only annoying but also dangerous to himself and others I would not hesitate to do anything in my means to stop the situation immediately. And if that meant spanking him, then so be it.

Later on in the store, I saw this same mother with her child. This time, she was attempting to bribe him with stickers if he behaved the rest of the time in the store. Obviously this didn't work, and the child proceeded to throw his fit for more fruit snacks and started ripping the stickers off the wall and throwing them in the floor. So, the mother picked up all the stickers, selected the one that she thought her kid would like best, and gave him another fruit snack pouch from the box.

I thought that I wanted to be one of those cool parents that was more of a friend than a parent to their child. After this encounter, I can clearly see why this can never work. If I were to give Hail everything he wanted, then I would be allowing him to be the parent and ruling me instead of educating him and attempting to teach him to be the best person that he can be. Teaching him to be an awesome person with all the perks of kindness, charity, good will toward man and to stay a sweet person even through trials and shitty dealt hands is my ultimate goal for him. I know that at times I will be able to be his best friend, but for the most part I have to be his parent. Otherwise, there is no telling what sort of person that he may end up being, especially if I teach him through my actions that he can walk all over me and other and get what he wants by pitching a fit.