Popular Categories

Today’s parents, schools quick to defend, slow to teach




Editor:

Re: “La Vernia ISD moves to stop ‘slapping game,’” Oct. 17

A dangerous juvenile fad. Really? “Dangerous”? Calling hand slapping dangerous or “assault” is poppycock and completely false.

This world is dangerous. It is cruel. It is rude. It is difficult. How are we preparing our children for the real-world dangers?

News reporters, writers for the newspapers, journalists, etc. feed America with garbage on a daily basis.

Today, our youth are soft, sensitive, and extremely offended by everything around them. How have they become that way? Everyone around them is teaching them to be that way.

Describing the slap fad as “dangerous” is a prime example of misinformation and blinds the children from the real-world truth. More importantly, it prevents the children from learning how to cope with and how to deal with adversity. These children will turn 18 one day and will go out into the real world. They will see true dangers then, and then what? What will they do or who will they turn to? They have been told all their lives to let others handle their problems and now they have no idea how to handle these issues alone or on their own.

Children are children. They play games. At times, the games get rough. As children they tumble, fall, get banged up, and also experience broken bones at times. There are times that parents and school staff should step in and address the issues. This slapping fad is not one of them.

I assure you this, I will not teach my son to tattle on a student for hand slapping. I teach my son to defend himself if someone ever places their hand on him in an unfriendly way. His first question was, “Won’t I get in trouble at school?” My answer to him? “Son, it is quite possible that you receive unjustified punishment from the school; however, you will not be in trouble here at home. As long as it was self-defense and you did not start it.”

Parents and school staff have taken the wrong approach to bullying in recent years. Sure, they have addressed the issue. Punishing all parties involved is not the answer. Punishing the bully only is the second way to resolve the issue. The first way to take care of the bully is to allow the bullied to defend himself or herself without fear of punishment. When the child “tattle tells,” he/she becomes the victim of further problems. Narc, cry baby, etc. are just a couple of the nicknames, (verbal bullying) they will receive afterwards.

So when you are writing articles about these kinds of issues with our youth, stop embellishing the truth with incorrect adjectives. Call the issue what it is.

Parents became outraged when they learned that their children were involved in a game dubbed “challenge” — slapping one’s hand on the back of another student and leaving a red handprint.

Since the beginning of human existence, we have played rough, fought violently, and learned how to take the bad with the good. It seems in La Vernia, some parents have forgotten what it was like to be a child — each child learning how to fit in, or how to become accepted among their peers, or even how to defend themselves.

Parents in La Vernia today are too concerned about what other children are saying, doing, etc. to their child instead of allowing their child to learn on their own or how to deal with and handle their own daily struggles.

We must remember that these sorts of games that children play among themselves are just that, “games.” To tell them anything else, well, frankly, you’re teaching them to be sensitive, offended, and fearful of anything that may place them in a position that could leave a mark.

The one word I hear too often today? Ow. Yes, I hear children constantly crying and saying “ouch” to the slightest of touches. Why? Simple. We have taught them that everything is dangerous and every touch is assault. It is time we knock that garbage off and tell the children, “Deal with it or get over it.”

JOE ROSSON
Stockdale