She did get his attention. But she's a single mom of 6 kids. I'm sure in her mind at the time, she thought about attending his funeral at the hands of police officers. Fair thought or not, if faced with waking my kid up with a head slap vs seeing him in a coffin, I'm going with the head slap. There are also lots of differences between/among different cultures and communities. Studies support this. "Several studies suggest that –across the board- parents of lower socio-economical status tend to engage in harsher disciplinary techniques (3, 27). Correspondingly, parents who experience more psychosocial stress are more likely to resort to physical means and more often, perhaps as an expression of their frustration or anger. This, for instance, was found in a study of 475 Chinese parents in Hong Kong (28). More stressed parents tended to perceive their children as more difficult. Also, a close correlate of stress -maternal depression- is another factor in harsher discipline: in a study of mostly Afroamerican mothers, those who had persistent symptoms of depression were twice as likely to use physical discipline, even with very young children (29). A recent meta analytic study of discipline, suggests that a higher level of marital conflict is associated with harsher discipline and lower parental acceptance of the children (30) The National Survey of Families and Households (31) highlighted the parent’s own childhood experience of physical punishments as a predictor to the use of it with one’s own children. Other factors that favor harsher disciplinary strategies are: single parenthood, being divorced (32) as well as a having higher number of children in the household (31). In the study in Alexandria, Egypt (16) crowding in the house and frequent quarrels among family members were additional factors" Also, "Straus (7) has suggested that in societies where there is a high legitimation of violence by institutions (such as the police and other agencies), there is a stronger justification for use of violence in child rearing. Straus contrasts the US and its high social index of violence as well as its endorsement of physical discipline with more “primitive’ societies, where physical discipline is generally less used by parents. Also, some suggest that in societies with a high rate of ownership of guns, and approval for the death penalty, more parents are likely to express violent ideas about raising their children (31)." I also tend to think that certain ultra-conservative Christian households support corporal punishment. Conversely, "Latino parents, both in the US and those living in Latin America, tend not to use physical punishment with young children, like infants and preschoolers, even when they employ it with older ones. Parents place great emphasis in the child being respectful of adults and elders, not to be “malcriado” (raised badly) and to “know their place in the world”, and not as much on obedience or compliance (40). Through home observations of Mexican immigrants in the US (40) it has been observed that preschool children tend not to have as high self-care skills and independence as it is typical in Euro American children ( e.g. to get dressed by themselves, pick up their toys, eating alone, going to bed alone). Latino parents often expect that their children will be dependent on them for a comparatively long time, and give assistance in all of these activities (40). With the young child, mothers tend to be indulgent and families idealize the closeness between mother and child, which is also the prevalent expectation in many other traditional groups (41)" Lots of words to say that tirk was right. Generations of patterns and influence that are just not going to change quickly, if ever.
Not quick change, that is unnatural. But so is stasis. Patterns and influences will evolve as all natural systems do. But our species in almost unique in being able to actively shape social evolution.
As a teacher, I've noticed all of what you posted. And behavior at school seems to be fairly dependent on the socio-economic status of the student, moreso than the race of the child (in my experience.) The school where I have taught for 18 years has 40% free and reduced lunch students, a heap of middle class students, and a sizeable chunk of fairly affluent students. Discipline problems come disproportionately from the 40% of economically disadvantaged students, regardless of race. The same goes with children being free to roam around on their own. Plano is a city (not a suburb anymore) of 300,000 people. My kids don't go out without permission or without my knowing where they are. That is the same philosophy their friends' parents tend to use as a guide, as well. However, it's not that way in all parts of town. Last year, a student of mine (white economically-disadvantaged girl) said she had an argument with her mom, left their apartment, and walked around the city until 11 p.m. At my house, I would not allow my child to leave the house and run off to God-knows-where. I cannot understand why any parents do, but a lot of it goes back to how the parent was raised or whether or not the parent is working/over-worked, etc. Parenting is one hard, full-time, 24/7 job.
Heard on the radio that the Baltimore game today will be closed to the public. Should resemble the same effect as an A's game without the stipulation...
The As covered their upper seats in the playoffs a few years back to disguise the unsold tickets. Yet they had a kickass team.
True. It's hard for some of us to imagine the level of control she must maintain over boys, especially, as a single mom and in a drug-ridden community. I don't condone beating the shit out of kids; however, her beating his ass, to me, shows she was willing to stop at nothing to keep the streets from taking him.
So funny, I was having this conversation with my 8 yo just the other day. Telling him how bad I was in school and how the Principal would turn on the intercom and whoop my butt with the paddle and the whole school could hear it. That shit happened today the lawyer would be there before the recess bell could ring. Pitiful. Yet we wonder why our society is circling the bowl.
