Kids today!

Okay, so we all know that kids today are spoiled-rotten, disrespectful, pain in the you-know-whats. And I can guarantee you that your parents' generation said the same thing about you when you were a kid. It's a vicious cycle. Man begets man; man condemns man; man becomes man; man begets man; man condemns man; man becomes man; and on the cycle goes.

But why is it that kids today are just "SO BAD?" Maybe our generation of man-condemning is too sensitive? I'll let you be the judge. To each his own.

I find there's a fine line between "monkey-see, monkey-do" and "do as I say, not as I do" teaching methods. Not a parent -- but an educator of children, adolescents and young adults -- I find myself observing the way others parent more and more often...especially as I grow older into that "ticking clock" phase of my life. I see some parents with a nice balance of the two methods. They demonstrate good behavior and expect it in return, while there are still some adult things they do that they warn the children not to mimic (or, at least, not until they're "older," "out of my house," or "financially responsible for yourself"). Other parents lead mostly by the strict warnings of "not as I do" and still others lean more towards the "monkey-do" techniques. Who knows what is right, honestly? What works for one kid, does not work for another...many times each sibling is different from the next. I guess the best I can say is that the only "right" way is to pay attention and stand your ground (because you're the adult in the situation) however you need to teach your child a lesson.

This seems like a post that's not at all about softball, but it is...of course. It's mostly inspired by the video below that I think we've all seen and argued about 15 times at this point. Whether or not this father's actions were something you would replicate, he's standing his ground to teach his daughter a lesson the way he sees fit. He didn't put her in danger, other than inadvertently by the bullying she may face at school and in public, and he paid enough attention to his daughter to know when she disrespecting him to a point that required a learning lesson; and he paid enough attention to his daughter to know HOW to teach that lesson. I'm sure the message was loud and clear for her.

A lot of the comments I've seen so far have been, "Glad my dad doesn't own a gun...because he would definitely do something like this." I grew up in surburbia. No one had guns. Anyway. I don't know. I know that my parents would never ever do something like this -- "praise in public, reprimand privately," they always say -- and, to be honest, they never had to. One look of disappointment from either one of them was all the "grounding" or "punishment" I needed. But that was just us. I'm not perfect because of it; and I won't claim to be perfect anyhow. But it worked. I think I came out fine. I think I know how to hold my ground and teach a few lessons. And I think coaching has helped me realize that sometimes disappointment isn't enough and hard lessons need to be taught the hard way. I'm thankful for that. It's experience. Hopefully it'll make me a better parent...if my time doesn't run out first.