Categories
Parenting

Indulgent neglect

This just in. Venting my frustration here. I am an old school father who believes in regular dinner time and healthy food for children. There must be lots of  young mom’s out there who understand the importance of discipline and nutrition in the life of a child. It’s just that I don’t know any! I get so frustrated when I see a mom take her child on her knees in front of the computer to eat junk food when it’s time the child should be seated and having a real and healthy meal.

I don’t believe there is much hope for these kids. They will likely lose out as adults to stronger, healthier individuals who learned discipline in childhood.

Both Jeremy Bentham and Charles Dickens advise against imputing motive. Even so, I suspect that often the indulgent mom does what she does to make herself feel good, not for the true benefit of the child. My sampling of experience indicates that too many moms behave this way. After all, it is an easier path. Essentially it is a lazy path. It is a job to discipline a child properly and successfully with love and empathy. On the other hand, it is easy, very easy to feed them candy and park them in front of the TV. And no government bureaucracy exists that can protect kids against this kind of abuse and neglect.

I think the perfect social storm is brewing.