It always amazes me that no one has figured out why the youth today in the UK and other countries are "yobs and louts". I am a mother of three polite and well-mannered teenagers, now emerging into adulthood. I am incredibly proud of my children and they are who they are because they were brought up the old-fashioned way.
For teenagers in the UK and elsewhere, this is the generation that is a product of the "wisdom" of law-makers that passed a ruling, which made it illegal for a parent to physically discipline his or her child.
This is the generation that has never received a slap on the hand to prevent misbehaviour.
No boundaries
This is the generation that knows no boundaries, has no respect for the law, their teachers, their parents, their elders, their peers or themselves.
In every country where this ruling was passed you have youth that is out of control. Those that meddled with parents' rights, making them impotent to control their children in the way they thought fit, failed to see that there is a difference between physical punishment and physical abuse.
Where the latter is unacceptable and is rightly punishable, the former is a practice that every generation used before as a successful parenting tool. Even mother monkeys slap their children.
Empower parents
To produce a decent, upright, law-abiding child we need to empower parents again. Give them the right to slap their children, if they feel the need for it.
Exercising discipline is necessary to show children that for their bad behaviour there is a consequence.
Psychologists will tell you that behaviour can be modified through conditioning. Negative punishment in all forms can work as a deterrent.
Apart from slapping, there are other ways that do not include physical punishment, which can be extremely effective.
It is time for lawyers and legislators to admit that they were wrong.
Reverse the laws and allow parents to do the job that they were meant to do.
— The writer is a Gulf News reader.
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