What I find that inspires teenagers is garbage. It's mostly the parents fault, actually. While teenagers go on with their fancy cocaine, and their Music Television, and their make-out parties, and their pogo sticks, parents (at the risk of getting sued for child abuse) just sits there doing nothing while being controlled by their own children. And that's the world to you. Stupid music by Gwen Stefani, stupid news garnering sympathy and stupid parents letting their kids run wild. I am reminded of a saying from the book of Proverbs, "Beat your kids with the rod, for they will not surely die."

What do you think are appropriate discipline punishments that teenagers should receive? While answering, keep in mind of the failures of today's youth brought on by lack of discipline.

Haven't you ever learned? You are responsible for your actions? The parents MAY affect what their kids do, but who actually PERFORMS the action? Yes, the kids. The kids do something wrong but they are the ones who should be punished.

I personally think United States has a serious problem about this "child abuse" thing. Doh!! Why can't you freaking spank your children? Or at least beat them with a book or a belt? That's what parents do in South Korea and the government doesn't really care about it.

As long as you're disciplining children for the wrong they did, it's fine. If you're abusing your child, it means you're beating them up for no reason at all.

Back here in the United States, parents are completely responsible for everything the child does. What I don't understand is WHY do the parents have to be responsible for everything even though they aren't allowed to discipline their children above "grounding" them? Now there's some food for thought.


I don't know about Korea, but today's youth in the United States break easier than moths. Believe it or not, I onced laughed too loud and some girl screamed, "SHUT UP!" That is the extent of their character.


I concur. Humanity would be a much better place if parents punished their children, not buy them candy and ice cream if they rob a bank.

Well, for those who are followers of the God in the bible, the answer to this problem is clear:

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of the town. They shall say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death...
Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Sorry i fail to understand what is wrong here. all of the above is called growing up. Teenage years are about forming a personality, opinions and learning to become an adult. I fail to get why beating up your kids makes them 'better'. All this kind of punishment serves to achive is resentment and hatred of elders, authority and parents - that wont make for a better society. Go ahead and beat your kids but expect more school shoot outs if you do.

Teenagers go through what is called, "Emotional Roller Coasters" when they start growing up. But that still doesn't excuse behavioral problems and their poor choices in life.

Of course, it is normal to be on an Emotional Roller Coaster. In fact, you're supposed to. As you grow, apparently your emotions do too. The Bible says, "Everything on earth has it's own time and season." There's a time to cry, laugh, smile, mourn, hate the world, feel depressed, want to die, feel left out, stress, go through the pain of addiction, start missing everything from the past and all of that is normal. Honestly, everyone believes their problems are unique, so they try to hide them. An observation I found of society is that we're all on the same boat! And that's a good thing because if our boat wasn't sinking, then we would never have the chance to learn how to swim.

To sum it all up in a nutshell, life will burst that self-esteem bubble. But how you are raised as a child will determine how you act to it as a result of your character.

I don't have children. But when I'm in charge of someone else's children - such as during Vacation Bible School week at church - I get really, REALLY irritated when I see the results of zero-discipline parenting.

The kids are out of control. I usually volunteer to help with arts and crafts. They knock each other around, nearly throwing each other out of chairs, because EVERYONE wants the glue or markers or whatever first. (We finally got sick of it and started assigning kids stuff in turns so that there was no more fighting over the stuff. And some groups of kids were so rotten that we finally stopped even letting them pick the colors of the projects that they wanted to do. Oh, too bad - you're stuck with a green sun visor instead of the blue one that you wanted because you couldn't sit still and wait your turn like a civilized human being.) One kid almost got creamed (by me) because he started YELLING at me to give him pieces of a craft project that we were trying to pass out to each table in turn. (There was more than enough for everyone. I told them that THREE TIMES before I even started passing anything out. But this kid started screaming at me to give him his pieces. Grr.)

They won't shut up when an adult is trying to demonstrate how to do the craft, or say anything else. They throw markers at each other. They jump up and run out the door to go outside even though they know that's not allowed (need an adult - the church is RIGHT off a busy highway.) They've even thrown their shoes at each other before.


There are exceptions, of course. A few children are well behaved. I make sure to tell their parents how good their kids had been the entire week (I figure that if a kid does something good and right, he or she needs to know about it - so that he/she'll want to keep doing it AND so that they'll know Mom and Dad aren't the only ones who notice their behavior and are affected by it).



I don't care what some people say: when done correctly, spanking - and most other methods of discipline - are GOOD for kids. They're GOOD for parents. They're GOOD for those of us who have to put up with monstrous little jerks (who will surely grow up to be out-of-control teenagers, then out-of-control adults). My parents spanked all five of us when we were growing up. None of us are in therapy. None of us are criminals. We all know how to behave like respectable adults. And when we were growing up, people were *constantly* telling Mom and Dad how good/polite/well-behaved/nice we were. It was worth a little stinging in my back side if you ask me.

Please: if you have children, at least teach them how to behave when you entrust them to other adults. That's the least that you can do for us.

Children have to learn discipline, both mentallly and physically. Without it, they will be useless as adults.

I am not against punishment for a child who misbehaves or whatever, a "spanking" does no harm, and never will.

What has now happened with the law outlawing any form of punishmnet is like most laws passed in the past 20 years, they go too far. What was supposed to provide protection for an abused child has become the right not to be touched, stupid.

My parents loved me deeply, but it didn't stop my father giving me a wallop when I desrved it!! And I'm pretty sure I have turned out a reasonable person.

Physical discipline can lead your child into the wrong path as well. I am a teen, and my abused (yes I will say abuse because I believe it is abuse) friends are into drugs, sexually active, and go to parties. I do no receive physical discipline and I am an honors student and I am abstinent. I don't know, maybe because my father was abused when he was a child and grew up to be an alcoholic, has caused me to turn out to be this way. All I'm saying is that hitting your kid, is hitting them into the wrong direction.



-Megan

I would NEVER dream of telling other parents what is appropriate in the discipline of their own children. Parenting is one of the truly most difficult problems in life that we all have to figure it out as best we can. I am not even sure that their is any "right" answer. Not only could there be many right answers but children are so incredibly different that I am pretty sure that any one method just will not work on all children. However, it is abundantly apparent that whatever method you use will be quickly immitated by your children, and so the use of hitting and yelling, although very effective at getting quick result, forces you to deal with the problem of them using the same means of modifying the behavior of others (Something which I have learned the hard way by first hand experience). Thus I have sought whenever possible to use punishments or consequences that are logically connected to their offense, and most often this has meant witholding some priviledge or activity which they have from me, or from which ever parent is offended. As I have told my children, their boss in life will always be someone who has something that they want.