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When I was a kid, my parents would punish me when I back-talked, used foul language, made contemptuous facial expressions, or misbehaved in public. I would think that I shouldn't be punished because it violates my right to free speech and free expression. IMHO free speech means that I should be allowed to back-talk and use foul language, and free expression means that I should be allowed to scream, shout, cry, pout, whine, frown, grin, smirk, and act up in public. Kids should be allowed to express their feelings and emotions without being punished because this is America and we have the right to free speech and free expression.
Also, because my father was in the Army, we moved several times. I didn't mind moving with my parents. In fact, I was excited about moving to another location. However, I feel sorry for kids who are forced to move with their parents, thus having to leave behind their friends. As an American, I strongly believe in personal freedom and individual choice. For example, if the parents are moving, but the child doesn't want to move with them, the child should be allowed to stay behind and not miss his or her friends.
What is your take on free speech, free expression, and other American freedoms?
Location: Newton, NJ (but my heart is in Tennessee)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IBadget
When I was a kid, my parents would punish me when I back-talked, used foul language, made contemptuous facial expressions, or misbehaved in public. I would think that I shouldn't be punished because it violates my right to free speech and free expression. IMHO free speech means that I should be allowed to back-talk and use foul language, and free expression means that I should be allowed to scream, shout, cry, pout, whine, frown, grin, smirk, and act up in public. Kids should be allowed to express their feelings and emotions without being punished because this is America and we have the right to free speech and free expression.
Also, because my father was in the Army, we moved several times. I didn't mind moving with my parents. In fact, I was excited about moving to another location. However, I feel sorry for kids who are forced to move with their parents, thus having to leave behind their friends. As an American, I strongly believe in personal freedom and individual choice. For example, if the parents are moving, but the child doesn't want to move with them, the child should be allowed to stay behind and not miss his or her friends.
What is your take on free speech, free expression, and other American freedoms?
You obviously are not a parent. You are also misconstruing the idea of these freedoms. I strongly believe in these freedoms. They are rights but not absolute rights. This means there are limitations on what you can say and do. The notion that a child can disrespect their parents and everyone else around them, throw tantrums and swear at their teachers, is ridiculous. Parents are responsible for teaching their children how to properly behave, speak and act in society. Proper discipline is essential. Children are not born with this knowledge. Parents are the role models and children must obey and respect them. (This is of course assuming that the parents are not telling them to do something wrong or abusing them).
As to the notion that a child should be allowed to decide if they want to stay behind or live somewhere else if they so desire, give me a break. This is really absurd. Your 10 year old tells you they want to stay where they are and you are going to say Okay, good luck. Parents are legally and morally responsible for their children's upbringing until they are no longer minors. Why do you think they are referred to as minors? They are not allowed to vote, drive, smoke or do many other things for a reason. They are still children so they are not yet able to make adult decisions. It is the parents role to make decisions for them. Their job is to take a totally dependent, helpless baby and gradually teach them how to be independent so when they are an adult, they can live on their own.
To put it bluntly, children do not have the same rights as adults, nor should they, until they are adults themselves.
They are still children so they are not yet able to make adult decisions. It is the parents role to make decisions for them. Their job is to take a totally dependent, helpless baby and gradually teach them how to be independent so when they are an adult, they can live on their own.
To put it bluntly, children do not have the same rights as adults, nor should they, until they are adults themselves.
I agree completely! Children are given parents for a reason. There are quite a few thread's about parents NOT parenting. This is a great example of that. Children are so worried about their "rights" and not their responsibilities as a member of society! We all have responsibilities if we want to keep these rights!
What is this world going to be like when these disrespectful, selfish children are running things? I'm not saying all kids are disrespectful and selfish. But a LOT of them are and it is becoming more and more obvious every time I go out. I think a lot more parents are noticing this, too, and trying to make a difference starting in their own homes. Thank God.
This forum helped me realise I'm not alone in this "battle" to get a hold on our kids.
When I was a kid, my parents would punish me when I back-talked, used foul language, made contemptuous facial expressions, or misbehaved in public. I would think that I shouldn't be punished because it violates my right to free speech and free expression. IMHO free speech means that I should be allowed to back-talk and use foul language, and free expression means that I should be allowed to scream, shout, cry, pout, whine, frown, grin, smirk, and act up in public. Kids should be allowed to express their feelings and emotions without being punished because this is America and we have the right to free speech and free expression.
Also, because my father was in the Army, we moved several times. I didn't mind moving with my parents. In fact, I was excited about moving to another location. However, I feel sorry for kids who are forced to move with their parents, thus having to leave behind their friends. As an American, I strongly believe in personal freedom and individual choice. For example, if the parents are moving, but the child doesn't want to move with them, the child should be allowed to stay behind and not miss his or her friends.
What is your take on free speech, free expression, and other American freedoms?
Troll alert...people, this person obviously feels directly opposite to the way he or she indicates in this post (witness the deliberately irritating descriptives of "whine", "smirk", "back-talk", etc.). These emotionally-driven words are meant to inflame...or, well, flame. :P It should be pretty obvious...don't waste your time.
This is almost certainly a person who couldn't argue with the parents who were seen as more "permissive" on the other two threads--probably because we had good arguments, and made it less one-dimensional than the "sourpusses" would like to conveniently believe--and therefore began a post to bring up the whole thing all over again. But s/he did it in a very, very exaggerated way so that THIS time we would ALL have to believe that all parents today bring their kids up encouraging them to smirk, back-talk and whine.
It's kind of a psychological ploy but it's done pretty badly here.
IBadget, my take is this....and I'm sure it's your parent's take as well. As long as you live in my house, eat my food, and use my bathroom - you're gonna play by my rules. If you don't like them, feel free to take your stuff and find a place where the rules are more lax. And frankly, if I were your parent and found this post...your computer would be gone, too, because it would show me you lacked the maturity to function in the real world and therefore needed to be out in the world more, i.e., with a job. Then again, I'm a mean mom...ask my kids. I expressed my feelings on numerous occasions. I'm sure they remember those.
IBadget, my take is this....and I'm sure it's your parent's take as well. As long as you live in my house, eat my food, and use my bathroom - you're gonna play by my rules. If you don't like them, feel free to take your stuff and find a place where the rules are more lax. And frankly, if I were your parent and found this post...your computer would be gone, too, because it would show me you lacked the maturity to function in the real world and therefore needed to be out in the world more, i.e., with a job. Then again, I'm a mean mom...ask my kids. I expressed my feelings on numerous occasions. I'm sure they remember those.
Ha Ha! I'm the "Meanest Mom EVER!!" and Proud of it!
Ha Ha! I'm the "Meanest Mom EVER!!" and Proud of it!
I am pretty mean too - but my children 16, 12, 9 & 5 choose to go places with me, ask to help me in the kitchen and my 16 year old son (not making this up) told me that I was his role model and the one he really counts on!
I think this is an interesting thread in spite of the way it started. My kids believe(d) in individual freedom while they were teenagers, too. Unfortunately (or fortunately), they didn't want to bite the hand that literally fed them. They wanted tats. They wanted piercings. They wanted, they wanted, they wanted, and I was so unfair and mean and they could hardly wait to get away from me, I was stifling them as human beings, blah, blah, blah.
Mine are sons, 27 and 30....The oldest is a lawyer. He is the one who bucked me the hardest and wanted (off all damn things) Tweety Bird tatted on the side of his freaking neck. Up under his ear so everyone could see it (this is the one who snuck around and had his senior picture made in a Grateful Dead t-shirt...we were all so proud And now he's mortified by that - serves the little twit right). But I digress - now he and his brother, who is an identity theft and credit card fraud investigator admit that it would have been a poor life choice to get all tatted up. It's hard for the Supreme Court to take you seriously when you have Tweety Bird on your neck or The Dave Matthews Band down your arm.
There's a rhyme and a reason to most things adults do.....you just may not see it for another 20 years, until you are looking at this person, your child, that you would walk across fire for, and you know in your heart they can't help themselves - for the most part, teens just ain't too evolved. And so the parents do these horrible things in an effort to save their child a world of grief....and sometimes it just works and the child realizes his or her parents didn't just get up every morning determined to make life as miserable as possible for their children!
I remember the day I had my first child. All of the sudden everything my parents did - especially the stuff I hated the most - made complete sense to me!!!!
I called my parents and thanked them for doing what they did. Thanked them for giving me restrictions, and apoligized for all the bad stuff I did that hurt them. And I wasn't that bad of a kid!
I realized that they did all that stuff because they loved me
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And now he's mortified by that - serves the little twit right). But I digress - now he and his brother, who is an identity theft and credit card fraud investigator admit that it would have been a poor life choice to get all tatted up. It's hard for the Supreme Court to take you seriously when you have Tweety Bird on your neck or The Dave Matthews Band down your arm.
