That credit goes to the woman who gave birth to me.
I went through hell mostly, but I suppose it was for a good cause.
I realised this when I saw a shared picture on Facebook the other day and it was like my mother was talking to me.
My mom taught me four important things in life:
Religion… “You better pray I don’t catch you doing that again”.
Logic… “Because I said so, that’s why”.
Wisdom… “When you get to my age, you’ll understand”.
Justice… “One day you’ll have children and I hope they turn out just like you and I will delight in your suffering.”
Vengeful much?
I’m sure I wasn’t all that bad, but that’s just my opinion.
Then I got to thinking, what if my children one day turn out like me?
I read somewhere that your children usually turn out three times worse than you did.
Three times more trouble than I gave my mother?
Right at that moment I decided that I shall not have children, not in a million years.
Now, I don’t know how true this is but I get chills just thinking about the possibility.
I didn’t exactly make things easy for my mother, but it was not intentional. Honest.
I’m just imaging a little mini-me running around causing chaos and destruction wherever the little monster goes.
And then it made sense, the women I’ve seen holding leash-like bands that strap around their children’s waists while walking in public.
I never grasped the concept of this, this is a child, not an animal.
Well now it makes complete sense.
Brilliant invention I would say.
You have full control of the hyper-active curious little being, and it’s totally humane. Bonus.
It’s probably not as bad as I imagine it would be, but still, I’m a little deterred.
But I’m sure as time goes by, I’ll change my opinion.
If they get difficult, we’ll go have a lengthy visit at grandma’s and I shall quietly slip away and come back after a few hours, just until they have settled. Success!
And I’ll get one of those leash-like objects as well, just to be on the safe side.
But it all comes down to how you handle it.
Not being a mother myself, I took it upon myself to observe other mothers around me and it’s surprising to see the diverse attitude and overall discipline of different children.
Assuming all people gave their parents some kind of trouble and sleepless nights along the way while having a fit of teenage hormones, it seems that children don’t always turn out too badly.
Not all though, just to clarify.
I remember the time when I threw a tantrum once in a shop, can’t remember what I wanted, but I just wanted it.
That was the last time I ever threw a tantrum in public because I will never forget what followed.
Got a hiding that lasted me until now.
Oh and the shame. Dreadful.
Well it did the job that needed to be done.
But nowadays, if you give your little one a smack on the bum it’s seen as abuse and you can go sit in the slammer.
I know this is to prevent real abuse of children that is happening everywhere, every day.
Completely understandable, but what happens to the youth if you can’t teach them decent manners?
Sometimes a child needs a good hiding to learn the difference between wrong and right.
I’m obviously no expert, but this is common knowledge to everyone.
Many people would probably disagree with me and say giving your child a hiding is wrong, but I don’t think so.
I grew up in a age where a hiding taught us what not to do, being children, most of us still did it anyway, but the knowledge that it is wrong was there.
And I respect my mother even more for having done what she did, even if I didn’t always agree with her at the time because really, who actually wants to be whacked?
I don’t know what’s going to happen to the youth in the future if they aren’t taught proper manners in the proper way.
Will there be disrespect to elders?
Lack of order?
I don’t know, I guess it’s up to parents to decide how to teach their children obedience.
If they choose to punish them by taking their phone away or not letting them go out over the weekends and not spanking them, it’s for them to decide.
My mother still says I’m not too old for a hiding, but that has my express disapproval.
