A few things have really stood out to me in recent news.
1. Jon and Kate Plus 8 is now just Kate Plus 8. I’m actually really surprised that TLC is going to keep the show now that they’re planning a divorce. Although on second thought, I suppose watching a single mom raise 8 kids is even more “awesome” than a married couple. Anything for ratings, right? But it turns out that as news of this broke, Jon has decided he’s not sure that he really wants a divorce anymore.
That’s right. The same man who publically said he “despises” his wife, is rethinking the divorce. Oh wait, maybe it’s just the paycheck he’s thinking about?
But that does have me thinking… maybe one of the best jobs in this country right now is to have a ginormous family so you get all the free stuff you could possibly want and get close to 100 grand a week just to have film crews follow you around.
Any takers?
2. Raleigh, NC is finally enforcing a “panhandling permit.”
On one hand, I understand why you would want to enforce this. I really do. You want to be able to identify people standing around on the corners asking for money. You want to make sure that people’s safety is the primary concern.
But how many homeless people have a picture ID? The permit is free, but how is someone supposed to get an ID if they don’t have one? I hardly expect your average homeless person to be able to provide the necessary documentation to obtain a photo ID.
And the punishment for not having this permit? You’ll get arrested and fined. Yes, fined. Does anybody else see a problem there?
I don’t deny that something needs to change, but I’m certain this isn’t the solution.
3. There’s a new study out from the University of New Hampshire that says that spanking your children can lower their IQ by up to 5 points.
Hogwash, baloney, and applesauce.
Oh, wait. Did that just prove their point?
But seriously, I was spanked as a child. But I was smart enough not to need to be spanked often. Let me say that one more time. I was smart enough not to need to be spanked often. Doesn’t that one sentence negate that entire study?
I was listening to them talk about this on the radio today. One woman called in and talked about how the current one is a “generation of losers” and how kids today are animals. My initial reaction was right on sister! And then an 18 year old girl called in all offended because she and her siblings were good kids and had never been “hit” by a parent.
And I see two different issues there. First, I’ll admit it’s a little harsh to call an entire generation of discipline starved children “losers.” They aren’t. But there is definitely a difference in the way children and teenagers behave today than how they behaved when I was in school. And I’ve only been out of high school for 10 years. Nine and a half, actually. And it may be true that this girl is a fantastic kid and her siblings as well. But she’s going to be the exception, not the rule.
And this shift in thinking comes from people who equate spanking a child with hitting a child. My mother never hit me. My mother spanked me. There’s a marked difference. People who don’t know that difference shouldn’t touch their kids. They probably shouldn’t have kids.
And before I hear cries of child abuse! child abuse! from any of you, let’s look at a few of the instances where I was spanked as a child.
There was the time my mom had spent awhile cultivating and growing moss in our backyard. I liked to dig it up because the hole it left behind was the perfect size for a Barbie swimming pool. She told me if I did it again, I’d get a spanking. I agreed not to do it again, waited until she took a nap and went outside and dug it up. Yes, I got a spanking.
There was the time, when I lived with my dad, that there was a giant pile of cut trees out back. I loved to climb on them and play on them. My dad told me not to because it wasn’t safe. They were piled haphazardly and if I stepped wrong the pile could shift and crush me. I didn’t listen and got caught out there. I got a spanking.
There was the time when I was 13 (and incidentally, this was the last spanking I ever got) and my mom caught me with a cigarette lighter in my pocket. And I lied to her about why I had it. (Yes folks, I experimented with cigarettes at a young age.) I got a spanking.
Do I think I deserved it all of these times? Yes. I didn’t at the time of course, but looking back, I understand all of them. And they served their purpose.
And it didn’t lower my IQ.
