Wil's Rant

In fact this trouble is one facing parents all over the world. I can certainly understand why this might be particularly hard on immigrant parents. Allowing people to immigrate to a country is many times not enough. I, being a military brat, have experienced the culture shock thing and that's just moving from Colorado to Quebec. I can only imagine what someone coming from a completely different culture must deal with. Add to this problem is the fact that in the last twenty years the family unit in America has undergone many changes. The traditional support of both parents plus grandparents are often not there. Kids are exposed to a whole other world when they sign on to the internet, and again many times they don't have the necessary supervision. These things and many others have made the task of raising well grounded and adjusted kids much more difficult. Some communities have recognized this lack and are trying to create new programs to address them. Everything from increased community involvement by the police, to teen centers complete with counselors, to church baseball games and picnics, to classes for parents trying to cope in these changing times. I suspect that in the end it is these types of efforts which will yield the greatest results. We must try to strengthen the family once again and put in place alternate support groups for people who don't have access to a strong family presence. I don't agree that we have to return to beating our kids to keep them on the straight and narrow. I have three kids, each has received one smack in the butt, once in their lives. In all three cases it was in response to their throwing a violent tantrum resulting in injury to someone else, they were quite young at the time. They all quickly understood that this was the only thing they could do to warrant my taking physical action. So long as I was never required to use my body to prevent them causing unnecessary harm to another, they would never have anything to fear as far as physical pain was concerned. None of them has ever caused harm to another since except my oldest son who has when defending himself in school fights, can't really blame him for that. I must admit that I have had another advantage when it comes to my kids, I live in the country. This makes it much easier to keep them out of trouble and is the main reason we moved out here 12 years ago.