Pre-Modernism

OK, I figure if everyone else can post on their postmodern viewpoint findings then I can post on my more pre-modern ones, even though they are not really PC. Right?

While I was waiting for my photo to download from my previous entry I clicked on a Reuters article on how this guy killed and ate parts of his cell mate . In case you couldn't guess, he was in jail for cannibalism. There was another article right next to it, stating that 31% of 5,000 parents polled from the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada don't feel like their methods of discipline are working (January 8, Reuters Life!). 45% of the parents used time-outs, and 41% removed privileges. The others used yelling (13%) and spanking (8.5%). As the children got older (ages 6-11), taking away privileges and yelling gained in popularity, but were just as ineffective. The author of the study stated that when time-outs and taking away privileges didn't work, she assumed parents must be resorting to spanking and yelling because emotions escalate. Her conclusion was, "Disciplining is something we do daily as parents but if this many parents think it is ineffective, it highlights the need to discuss other ways to teach children how to resolve conflicts." This study was just published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics.

Does anyone else notice what is missing here? Consistency. I don't care what method you use, if you are not consistent, it will not work. We are not lab rats, who will keep trying to get food from a certain box even though the incentive is only there 10% of the time. Humans will go try something more dangerous, more exciting, more on the edge--simply because we can. That about describes children, anyway. Another thing that is missing from this study is the obvious conclusion that the most-used method of discipline may indeed not work all the time. Her closing statement is ridiculous in light of this possibility, because discussing "other ways to teach children to resolve conflicts" gives the idea that the conflict is outside of the relationship between child and parent. And that is usually not the case. The parent is supposed to resolve the conflict by teaching the child how to and how not to behave, correct? Otherwise we are practicing "mutual parenting", where the child is on equal footing with the parent. And this is, in fact, what a lot of specialists recommend. This might explain some of the parental frustration out there.