So this is how my day after Thanksgiving has went so far. I get a call from my wife, telling her that a group of boys are in the backyard hitting my dog with a broom handle. If anybody on this site has ever seen my dog, you'll realize how foolish this is for any young boy to do (she is half German Shepherd half Husky, big, and WILL bite if provoked). So I was left with but a couple of options. One, hide outside until they do it again and then beat them with baseball bats (as suggested by a co-worker, don't worry, that's not even a real option, but humorous none the less). Two, file a police report. Or three, go through the laborious process of tracking down neighborhood parents and having them address the issue.

So number three is what I've chosen. Right now I am waiting for the last mother to come home, and I started thinking: this is a major reason I am a conservative. When I was a child, if I went on my neighbors property with out permission, I was yelled at. If yelling didn't work? My butt was whooped (that's what the butt is there for was always the sentence I heard before the spanking). And you know what? I got a lot of whoopins, but I was a respectful kid. I only did the same bad thing once. Of course I could always find other bad things to do, but that's besides the point. The point is, I think of my son Gage, who is right now only 6 months old, and while I don't WANT to have to spank that cute little butt, the fact is that it WILL happen. Don't get me wrong folks, I'm not condoning child abuse. But spanking your child's butt for being a brat is NOT child abuse. 

In fact, while conservatives say that such and such will ruin our country, and this and that will devastate our nation, I say this: unruly liberal parents will be the death of our great society. Liberal parents, who don't watch their kids, don't punish their kids, don't expect better from their kids...those parents are creating monsters that feel as though they are owed something. Its already started with my generation. How many worthless people do each of you know in their early 20's? I know at least half a dozen, maybe more, and I'm willing to bet each of you out there know at least a half a dozen as well.

Children need discipline, and children need responsible parents. So before any ultra liberals out there decide you'd like to breed, think about it long and hard. Our country is depending on your decision. 

With that said, after I talk with the last mother I'm still not sure whether or not I will file a police report. If Jasmin (my dog) bites one of those kids (and I wouldn't blame her) and there isn't a record of WHY she bit, she'll be taken away and put to sleep simply for doing what is natural. What a mixed up society this is. I don't know, what would you, dear reader, do?

Archived Comments

Wickle
In a more civilized era, talking to the parents would be all that was necessary. You're right, my parents would make sure that I knew I was never to think about trespassing on your property, looking sideways at your dog, or using a broom for any purpose other than sweeping for a very, very long time.
The idea of getting the police involved for something that SHOULD be handled by parents is very sad, but you're right that it might be the best thing to do. How many stories do we have about kids who get themselves in trouble and then the parents sue someone else (the idiot who fell through a manhole while sending text messages comes to mind -- her parents sued the city). Sadly, that's what we have become.

Kevin Tracy
I sometimes wonder how much of that is lazy parenting and how much of that is ambulance chasers telling parents that they can make an easy buck by suing somebody. Anyway, I agree with Wickle. File the report just in case it does happen again.

Matthew Rhodes
I'd say file the police report just incase they come and do it again. Wickel's right; in a more civilized age it wouldn't be necessary but in our current world it would be the DOG's fault she defended herself.

Travis Gearhart
Thanks for the insight, guys. Between the comments on here and co-workers, I've decided to go ahead and first thing monday file an incident report. Also, I've warned all of my neighbors with their own dogs that the little brat beats animals, so they know what kind of kid he is.

Laurie
Absolutely-file the the report. Poorly parented children quite often escalate neighborhood shenanigans well past the disruptive. From experience, I can tell you that talking to parents (even those you know well) often just elicits a denial that their bunchkins could ever be involved in such things, or at least a silly attempt to justify what the kids's actual intentions were, which is of course always angelic and goll darn it, they're just being misinterpreted.
Sorry, Travis but the "Liberal parent" dog just doesn't hunt. This is more about an entire generation of parents(liberals, conservatives, and general nut jobs) who spend more time planning vacations and careers than they do thinking about what it takes to raise a good human. They have refused to do their jobs, abdicating it to day car centers, babysitters, neighbors, teachers-anybody but themselves. And it's an epidemic that is absolutely not quarantined to liberals, or even those with liberal parenting styles. A spank is just a spank and has no bearing on a good outcome unless it comes with true guidance- something many, many parents are too busy, lazy, unwilling or incompetent to provide.

Travis Gearhart
Well of course I'm sure there are SOME liberal parents that do a better job raising children than conservatives, but let me give you the scenario of two families, one stereotypical liberal, one stereotypical conservative, and you tell me which is more likely to produce productive offspring.
One family tells their children that they are special no matter what they do and that they deserve to get that trophy, the other teaches his children how to play the game better so that his son EARNS the trophy.
One family goes to church whenever they can and teaches right from the wrong, the other teaches the child that church is useless and there is no such thing as heaven or hell (teaching that there are no consequences for actions)
One family, when their child gets all F's on his/her report card, runs into the school and demands to know from the principal why he is failing his son. The other, grounds his child until his grades are up, and sets up a conference to find out why his son is failing.
See a pattern emerging here? Don't get me wrong Laurie, obviously nothing is 100%, but liberal parents typically raise worse kids than conservative parents.

Laurie
After almost two decades as a "professional" parent, I have to say that you just haven't looked at the whole picture. The scenarios you point out (and many more) are played out every day, and it's not just liberal minded folks that fall into the sad situation of praising children when they haven't earned it, who are under-involved in religious education and over-involved in school to the point where they write their children's papers, lie to teachers about why the kids haven't done their work etc. This is a societal sickness, a majority attitude. Conservatives tell us all that most in our country identify as "right of center" at least, so you tell me: Is this just the fault of liberals? No way.
You're talking about styles of parenting, and after 18 years of observing parents, I can say definitively that how a person votes at the polls has very little bearing on how he/she parents. After 12 years in some of the best Catholic schools in the country, I can also say definitively that religious belief has little to do with it, either.

Dave Woodson
It takes a village. So, be the chief of your village and lay some smack down. I was like you, but I come democrat parents (notice I did not say liberal parents). If I did wrong, I got the belt, the switch, the wooden spoon or whatever was handy. Sometimes, one after the other. If I hit a dog and dog bit me, my dad's first question would have been, "what did you do to the dog?"
Not today, nothing is ever anyone's fault. It is always someone else's fault, the dog for being a dog, that broomstick for being too easily assessable, etc etc.
We are back to entitlement. Pres. Obama made everyone believe he was/is going to take from the rich and give to the poor. You all are entitled to it. It is not your fault that you are in the situation that you are in.

Travis Gearhart
Dave hit it on the head. HUGE difference between old style Democrats and liberal ones now-a-days. Laurie, granted I haven't been a parent very long, but with a mother that is teacher and me not being out of HS all that long (I'm 23) I still stand by my statements, but let me clarify a little more. I consider the type of parenting that I described as a liberal type of parenting. Does that mean that a person who votes straight D's can't raises his child with hard work and consequences, part of a conservative way of thinking? Of course not. However the liberal way of parenting is prevailing, and yes, some conservatives are falling into this line of thinking as well. I get what your saying Laurie, that it isn't necessarily a "who votes for what side" type argument. As far as Catholic schooling, I don't know much about Catholics. I was raised Lutheran (the dirty Catholics, lol) and I'll admit we aren't the most religious family, but when Gage turns about 5 or 6, he's going to be going to Sunday School and we'll start attending church as a family more often because religion does instill values into a person that I think are invaluable.
And Dave...are you sure we didn't somehow grow up in the same family? lol

Wickle
For the record ... I was thinking about this.
If these were my kids, you wouldn't need to call the police, but I wouldn't try to talk you out of it. If the kids decide to do something that stupid, then they deserve the trouble.
You would have a couple minions. If it's physically possible (and you were interested), then they'd be charged with bathing your dog -- on your schedule, and to your standards. If that's not possible (I don't know how big the dog is relative to the kids), then they'd be available to help, or they'd do other chores as you and I agree. Want your car washed for the year? Lawn mown? We'll work something out that teaches that over-the-top bad behavior has profound consequences, and that those consequences include losing control over your time and doing things you don't want to do.
That, of course, is after we're done with the hide-tanning and the personal apologies.

Laurie
Wickle, I wish we still lived in that world. But we all know that so many contemporary parents, rather than admit the culpability of their kids, would fight to the death to prevent them from suffering ANY consequences. And I don't care how loud anyone shouts this, it isn't just liberals or Democrats who do this.
Preventing bunchkins from owning up to their own bad actions is something all too common to many, many parents who misunderstand their roles as the first and best teachers to their children. Far too many parnets today have abdicated their jobs as role models when they shipped their kids off to day care etc. so that they could chase the American dream of houses that are twice the average size than those of 25 years ago, twice the number of cars in the driveway, and 10 times as much crap in the toybox.
And (out of guilt? confusion over what it really means to be a parent? not sure) when push comes to shove, the parents are often more interested in 1) protecting their own image and 2) preventing anybody from "knowing" that their kids aren't perfect. So they do anything they can to cover it up, deny it, even pay for the crap their kids do, without ever getting the kids involved in the solution. This is how far too many parents react to the stupid things kids do, and it's a major reason why some kids continue to do stupid things- No consequences.

Laurie
Travis,
We really do agree on the basics. Just a caution, as you go forth in the world of parenting: Bad parents cannot be so easily determined by thier obvious political philosophies. You're going to find a lot of fiscal conservatives who raise thier children with a "bottomless pit" approach to money, a lot of God-fearing people who have absolutely nothing to do with their children's religious education (why go to church when you can scream that the public schools should do this) right along side some good liberal thinkers who think "live and let live" should apply to their impressionable children and so on.
A good parent will NEVER mistake political philosophy with that of good, basic common sense strategies to building a human. A smart parent will understand that, unfortunately, this is often not embraced by many, many folks out there in Mommy and Daddy Land.

Travis Gearhart
Laurie, I do agree that it isn't purely along political lines. Still, I think that there are differences, assuming people actually live their philosophies.
The liberal parents are more likely to push a permissive approach, while the primarily-fiscal-conservative parents are more likely to abdicate the parenting role to someone else.
Still, I think that there is a point to the idea that if we were applying genuine traditional/conservative values to raising our kids, then there would be a lot fewer of these problems.
Of course, this is coming from the stay-at-home dad. What do I know? ; - )
And like I said ... if washing the dog is out, then they will be making it up to you in some other way. Dog-washing has an advantage of being tied directly to what they did wrong, but that's not absolutely necessary. Perhaps better would be to teach them the proper use for brooms ... how'd you like your kitchen cleaned every Saturday for a few months?