While I am sure the educate people have all heard of Dr Spock those of us whom are not so educated think of this man being the second in command on Star Trek. And it is my opinion that this Dr Spock of the educated people is to blame in large for the state of our world today.

Most of us whom have not had children could care less who Dr Spock is and while we listened in class and did our reports we really did not care other than that it was funny to think there was a man out there saying to ignore your children's behavior and it will go away. Still to this day there are several programs that are leading our fine country and teaching this principle or lack thereof to our fine parents of today.

I, myself, had no idea who this person was until it was suggested I attend a parenting class in Nashville known as RIP. And no I do not remember what it stands for but I can assure you it is based on the principles of Dr Spock. Do not spank your children, ignore them and they will behave. Does this really make sense to anyone?

I am sorry. I have two lovely children who are handfuls and in large because I spoil them. Oh, wait, did I just take responsibility for the way my children behave? Why yes I did. And I assure you while I do teach my children proper manners, at the ages of 8 and 4 they are highly unlikely to use them unless I bribe them or threaten to get the paddle, both of which work quite well for me. But when they are of age they will know how to act properly which is my goal.

I guess my question to the world at large is do you really think ignoring behavior will make it go away or improve it in any way? Do you really think taking everything away from a child and taking the door off the hinges will teach a child anything? At one point this was suggested to my husband and I, we were also told when our daughter did not behave properly in a restaurant we were to take her to the car and put her in it by herself and go back in and eat.

No, we did not take all the advice given, and yes, I am aware of the stupidity of what was suggested. At one point at a K-mart my daughter ran out of my sight three times and then when I put her in the cart she hit me in the face three times,the third time I bent her over and spanked her butt and annouced to the store that if anyone had a problem with go ahead and call the police. No one said anything other than one lady who said I would of done it a lot sooner if it had been me.

My Father suggested I use a switch but I just could not bring myself to do that so I invested eight dollars in a paddle. What we call the attitude adjuster. I have about five now as my daughter hid the first one once from me so I keep spares and yes you can laugh. I count to 3 before I use one so the children have fair warning. They know if I count and they do not act they will have three licks from the paddle on the butt and if they do not bend over they get more. Guess what, it actually works. It has taken a few years to get my daughter to understand I mean business as I did not start out early enough with her however my son fully understands. The first and the last get spoiled or so I have been told and as I only have two children, they are just out of luck. They will know what it means to have respect however for their elders if not their mother and they say yes mame and no mame to me.

My daughter used to steal those plastic worms from the local walmart. The ones used for fishing. And I would discover this in the car and have to turn around and take her back. Can you imagine how I felt when every time I took her back,it happened three times, the person would pat my daughter on the head and say thats ok honey. The third time they patted her on the head I was so angry I could not see straight. I told her, fine. If they will not take you to jail because you are so cute then by golly I will. If you ever take anything ever again from a store without paying for it I will personally take you to the police station and have them arrest you and we went to the police station in Smryna and talked to an officer there. She has not taken anything that I am aware of since.

My greatest fear is one of my children may some day end up on the wrong side of the law. I want so much for them to be productive members of our world but I can only give them the tools. They will have to make their own choices someday but until then I will continue to count.

Common Sense is no longer something that seems to be a part of our everyday life and this really makes me ill. But just ignore the lack and it will go away-

So as you go about your business and listen to the news and read about this child and that child being sent to jail for killing someone or robbing the bank down the street and please bare this in mind, they were taught by someone who ignored their behavior.

So go ahead America ignore the children, and you know what, the behavior does stop and go away but not the way you think nor the way you may want it to.