photo credit: Found hereThis week while I was in a department store, I saw a young boy running around chasing who appeared to be his younger brother. One of the women who worked in the store {who was probably close to 50 years old} told the boys "No running in the store". The mother was flabbergasted, and highly offended, that someone other then herself brought correction to her boys. She came up behind me in line, looked over at the store clerk, and very loudly said, "What the hell!? No running in the store!? Bullsh*t". She fixated her eyes on the stores employee almost daring her to make eye contact back.
It made me think.
My child, who is just shy of 11 months old, clearly isn't at the age just yet to be disciplined. But when she is old enough to be corrected, would I mind someone else intervening if I wasn't at her side to correct her bad behavior?
I grew up in a generation where you borrowed sugar from your neighbor if you ran out. If you locked your keys in your car, they invited you into their home, where you would warmly wait, until the tow truck showed up. Where people looked out for one another's children and never thought twice about it. Whether that be handing them a dollar to get an ice-cream off of the ice-cream truck, running out with a band-aid if you saw a child take a spill off of his bike, or bringing about verbal {not physical} correction to a child for whatever reason deemed necessary. People actually appreciated all of the above.
Fast forward to today and it seems to me that many parents now a days don't seem to care how unruly their child is....no one is to discipline their child but them.
It made me think.
My child, who is just shy of 11 months old, clearly isn't at the age just yet to be disciplined. But when she is old enough to be corrected, would I mind someone else intervening if I wasn't at her side to correct her bad behavior?
I grew up in a generation where you borrowed sugar from your neighbor if you ran out. If you locked your keys in your car, they invited you into their home, where you would warmly wait, until the tow truck showed up. Where people looked out for one another's children and never thought twice about it. Whether that be handing them a dollar to get an ice-cream off of the ice-cream truck, running out with a band-aid if you saw a child take a spill off of his bike, or bringing about verbal {not physical} correction to a child for whatever reason deemed necessary. People actually appreciated all of the above.
Fast forward to today and it seems to me that many parents now a days don't seem to care how unruly their child is....no one is to discipline their child but them.
I am not for my child/ren getting yelled at by a stranger. Nor threatened. And if anyone touched by child...well...Jesus be a fence! But people who have good intentions {and speak in a mild-mannered voice}, and especially people that are familiar with my child, and are close to us, I would not at all be opposed to them bringing about verbal correction to my child. The same way that if there was an adult nearby and saw that my child was potentially in danger of getting hurt - adult intervention is just necessary sometimes. No matter how much we think we have our eyes fixated on our little ones all the time, there are going to be times that things go unseen.
The same can also be said about praising/complimenting/encouraging a child. Many people can potentially add to your child's self-esteem - who wouldn't invite that in to their child's life? Additional words of affirmation from outside influences, other than yourself, is something that I would think any parent would delight in.
So does it take an entire village to raise a child? Or just a few good hearted people? I'm not sure of the answer. But I wish that I was back to living in the generation where people were receptive to the sense of community that once existed.
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