Do Kids Get Enough Real Discipline These Days?

It's Gary on this post and I'm probably going to stick my foot in my mouth (keyboard) at some point while I write this, but it certainly won't be the first (or last) time so please keep reading, especially if you think that parents have just allowed children to go much too far with very little discipline.

A few days ago, I witnessed a young boy, no more than 11 or 12, sporting a brand new tattoo.  I was really impressed with what I thought was one of those peel and stick temporary tattoos; until I approached him.  I asked where he'd gotten it and that's when he told me that it wasn't temporary.  It was a real, here for the rest of his life, permanent inking.  Did I mention he might have been 12 at the most?

I picked my jaw off the floor and asked how he'd gotten such a thing.  That's when he sent me reeling into the "What the heck are some people thinking?" twilight zone.  He said, "My Dad had to sign for it, but he said it was cool."  I thought Dad must have been drunk or mentally unstable, but it occurred to me that Dad just might have been too lazy or too intimidated by Junior to say "No."

Scary isn't it?  Some parents so afraid of Child Protection that children go all through their formative years with no foundation of real parenting.  And there are those parents who would say that I'm too strict, and should allow them the freedom of expression.  Hey, I'm good with expression....as long as it's finger paint on wax paper.  Outside...and cleaned up when it's finished.

Permanent tattoos, piercings, alcohol use...all those things, the McCoy boys CAN decide for themselves....when they're at least 18 and playing Xbox from their OWN living room.