In my lifetime, I have come in contact with many people who have influenced my life greatly. A large portion of these people is adults, in the form, of my teachers, and my parents. Each one of these people have used their own very different discipline methods against me and some have worked quite well, while others have dreadfully failed. Whenever I did something wrong, my parents never hit me or grounded me. They simply took away the things that meant the most to me, like my Game Boy (way back when), my computer, or certain television shows. They never ceased to share their love for me, but they always got their point across and I admire them for that.
On the other hand, I remember a teacher I had in the 7th grade named Mrs. N. Mrs. N was an elderly English teacher who was very strict in all of her teachings. Mind you, seventh grade was also the year of drama around every corner and figuring out that boys could be more than just friends. English class was far from my interest when there were much more important things to think about. Mrs. N ended up yelling at our honors class every single day because of course nobody did her homework. By yelling at us and attempting to instill fear in us, she actually made us bored and created hatred towards her work. Mrs. N’s methods did not work for me or any of her other students, though I do admire her for her persistence.
I completely understand where many are coming from when they say, “Our parents spanked us or beat us when we were kids, and we turned out fine!” On the other hand, though, it certainly could not hurt anybody to stop using the methods that are now considered “child abuse”. There are many more effective ways to make sure a child understands that all actions have consequences. A parent is not required to physically or mentally abuse a child into acknowledging this fact. In addition to that, I think that the media has definitely blown child violence in relation to spanking out of proportion. In all honesty, I think that the increase in violence from kids is because video games and television shows depict violence as acceptable behavior.
With the new video games and televisions series out there, kids are now becoming a lazy group of people. Nobody wants to do school work or homework anymore. They just want school to be over the moment it starts and learn everything from a screen instead of one-on-one interaction. If life does not go the way they want it to, then they will blame anybody to get out of being in trouble instead of simply telling the truth. I hope that my children will never be like that.
I have always dreamed of being a mother and being able to teach my own children about the world. I want my relationship with my children to be very much like the relationship I have with my own parents. I can come to them with any problems I have and they always know what to do. My mom calls what we have an “open relationship” and that means sharing is encouraged. I do not want my children ever to have to endure hardships that could easily be avoided with my guidance. If they do something they should not have done, I will try my hardest not to yell at them, because I know from personal experiences that kids never really listen when parents yell. I want to be able to sit them down and really listen to what they have to say. I hope that my parenting skills will help me be a great parent in the future.