The “Old School” Folks Had it Right
My generation was one of the final groups to experience paddling in public school. I remember each time I received the “Board of Education” applied to the “Seat of higher learning.” In our day and the days of those before us, the very threat of receiving pops kept the peace.
My coaches were experts at using this tactic. They always seemed to open the coaches door, which leads right into the locker room, at just the right time to catch one of us popping a towel, or using language we shouldn’t, maybe even stopping a freshman from getting his head rubbed, etc., they would give you the eye, then motion with their finger to come to the office. That was the longest walk in life! The anticipation was almost as bad as the application of the swat. It also created caution in my actions.
After I graduated from college, I became a teacher, coach. I watched as politicians decided to remove the board from public schools. When I was in high school, the halls were monitored with teachers that had the right to pull students out of the hall and use the board if you were doing something wrong. When I became a teacher, the board was removed. The halls became jungles, war zones. The students would curse out teachers because they knew there were no consequences. So, the students that were at school to learn, suffered because of the lack of discipline of very few people. All security was gone. The year was 1988.
Jump to 2020. These same students and many like them, are now 49 years old and younger. Youth raised with no respect for authority, are now the majority in our world. How’s that working for you? Putting Johnny in time out teaches him that there are no consequences to his actions.
"Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." - Proverbs 13:24 (NLT)
I’m sure I'll get a few angry people that have different opinions to tell me about them. But, I hope you can see that men need to be the leaders in their families. We need to be the disciplinarians in our families. Women need to support the men as they love their children and discipline them.
If we don’t give our children parental discipline now, the prison guard will introduce them to concrete authority in the future.
What you see happening in the media today is a direct result of a lack of discipline, and a lack of men, walking in authority in the family, and in our schools.
"For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights." - Proverbs 3:12 (NLT)
It’s time to go back to the basics. It's time to take our lives and our country back. This is not a race issue, a gender issue, or an age issue; it’s a respect for authority issue. It’s also a sin issue.
"Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished." - Romans 13:1-2 (NLT)
Put simply, Christians obey the Bible. Period.
In the past, the Houston Police Department distributed a little leaflet titled, “The Ten Rules for Raising Delinquent Children.” This is an excerpt from my book “Alpha Male.”
Here they are:
1. Give the child everything he wants. In this way, he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.
2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he's cute. It will also encourage him to pick up "cuter phrases" that will turn to full-blown disrespect later.
3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is twenty-one, and then let him "decide for himself."
4. Avoid the use of the word "wrong." It may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later when he is arrested for stealing a car, that society is against him and he is being persecuted.
5. Pick up everything he leaves lying around—books, shoes, and clothes. Do everything for him so that he will be experienced in throwing all responsibility on others.
6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but don't worry about his mind feasting on garbage.
7. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his. Why should he have things as tough as you did?
8. Satisfy his every craving for food, drink, and comfort. See that every sensual desire is gratified. Denial may lead to harmful frustration.
9. Take his part against neighbors, teachers, and policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.
10. Prepare yourself for a life of grief. You'll surely have it.
Reversing our situation will take a miracle. Good news, I know a miracle maker. Let's get Him back into the game. Decide to be a truth-teller, a force multiplier, a committed Christian, and say something, do something today.
Help us to pass along these type messages of truth to as many of your friends as possible, tell them how to register for the blog at gfwatkins.org.
The goal is to transfer truths like these into the lives of committed Christians, and then when God opens effectual doors of utterance in their lives, they will have something of value to say.
– GF