Results of bad parenting

INDIANOLA, Neb. — I was watching the news today and there was a student caught on video assaulting another, then later that student claimed it was a racial crime.  My thought is the color of one’s skin doesn’t amplify the cases of bullying in our country. 

In my opinion, parenting is a huge reason we have such unrest in our lives. Parents in area schools have threatened litigation so that school administrations can’t discipline students that make stupid decisions.  Instead of letting those students face a consequence, parents would rather step in and claim their child didn’t know that they made a terrible choice and that is one reason why kids today are getting away with “murder” (I say that tongue in cheek). 

Recently I attended the state volleyball tournament and was appalled at the number of relatives/fans berating and actively scorning student-athletes.  As if those folks could do any better than the players on the floor.  Instead of remembering that a team wins together and loses together, some of those kids blamed other athletes for making mistakes (I think because of parental influence.)

I noticed this year parents keeping stats that their kids made (including errors that others made).  I have been known to keep stats in basketball, especially fouls, mostly to keep myself from yelling at refs.  (True story, but one for another article.)  It is hard to constantly tell one’s athlete about how GREAT they are without affecting the cohesiveness of the team. 

It makes me sad when so many kids today are self-centered enough that they feel it’s alright to continuously bad mouth others.  Unfortunately, they learn that behavior at home.  So, when schools talk about “Be Kind”, they actually need to try and enforce social behavior that is “Kind”!  

Have a good one!