When the family is out of control, the kids are out of control. Order begins in the family. Discipline begins in the family. Authority begins there too ... we were parented! We didn't grow like weeds.
The other day I saw a little boy in the market crying, screaming and throwing a fit! His mother stood there rather embarrassed with that 'what can I do about it' look on her face. Her little brat carried on for quite a while.
Nice mother, lousy parent!
Things like that just didn't happen in my day, or at least not very often. Why? It simply wasn't tolerated! Authority and order prevailed. We were parented!
Adults had authority. Adults were in control ... and it felt good.
My mother may have been thin but she was in control! Yeah, I grew up poor and I'm not ashamed of it; 1929 just wasn't a good year to be born. They say my first bed was a dresser drawer .... a 1929 'make do' basinet. Papers formed one of my blankets. No pampers only washable diapers. And my mother said food was hard to come by.
Looking back, being poor never hurt me, rather quite the opposite, it helped me ... made me resourceful strong and independent. I was the product of a single parent family; no one likes divorce but that's the way it was. I'm so glad I was parented by a stay at home mom that showed both love and authority ... I'm glad I was brought up the old fashioned way.
When I screwed up, and I did, mom got the coat hanger and used it.
Yeah, mom taught old fashioned ethics ... Fear God. Respect adults. Sparing the rod will spoil the child, kids should be seen and not heard. Telling the truth was an essential and keeping my word fell in that category. Do your best in school, you can do no more. Take care of the toys you have. And, oh yes, always say thank you!
Did we go to church? Of course we did! Every Sunday we walked to church with our Bibles in hand. Mom always found some church somewhere that was filled with Believers.
The old TV set we watched in the store window provided us with good, clean entertainment which was an assist in teaching good Ethics. There were good guys and bad guys and the good guys were the heroes. 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Father knows best' weren't icons of ridicule but examples of what should be ... examples that helped teach us ethics.
In those early years we watched TV and listened to Radio which actually helped reinforce the ethics we were learning at home.
As kids if we wanted something, it was understood that we would save our money until we could buy it. Most of us learned to work early. My first job was selling magazines. The Saturday Evening Post magazine.
Early I learned that work was a good and necessary ethic if I was to be a man. It may seem shocking today, but I wanted to be a man.
Sadly, everything I've written above seems to clash with the liberal Californians of today. I scratch my white head and quietly ask ... what happened during this span of time? I find I no longer belong!
