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You know... I'm sorry, but... I read this and all I see are parents who just keep trying to figure out how to give these children whatever they want the moment they want it. How to appease them. And I'm not a psychiatrist, and someone will show up shortly to tell me that I don't know anything about it, and what have you.

But the fact is, my stepdad would have FLATTENED any kid who acted like that. And I can't help but think that no kid would act like that around him after that one time. I know I was kind of a brat when he came along, and one day I went too far and... well, the rest is a blur. But I sure never pulled any stunts again. Ditto my younger sister.

Well... I guess that's all I'll say about it.

As a teacher who taught special education for 25 of the 35 years I taught, I really must agree—at least to an extent. During the time I was in graduate school, I vividly remember 2 of the most useful bits of advice I was ever given by professors. My Ed Psych professor, father of 6 children, told the class that “sometimes the best use of a psychology text was to apply it FIRMLY to the child's backside”. My Abnornal Psych professor told us that “one of the most important concepts children can learn is that behavior has consequences”.

There is no “special education world” for special needs children once they graduate from high school. The guiding precept must always be “how can I teach this child to fit into the real world”. How will they deal with bosses, co-workers, family, friends, neighbors? When they fly into a “rage”, in the real world, either the police, or a bigger stronger bar patron, will knock their block off. There are some behaviors that just cannot be tolerated, period—threatening to gut your little sister is one of them. Or threatening a parent.

Sometimes it's a not a bad thing for children to understand that their rages can provoke a controlled version of that emotion in their parents. It's the way human emotions work in the real world.

It’s interesting that when I was growing up kids didn’t have the kinds of behavior problems they have now. I wonder why? It was unheard of. Maybe it’s that society wasn’t as sick as it is now. Something is really wrong, and don’t tell me that some kids just have problems. Something is going on but I can’t exactly say what. I know one thing though, people were normal back then and most people agreed on how things were supposed to be done. I think part of the problem is that liberals second guess everything. Be it the teacher or the parent, the liberal expert always has a better idea. But their ideas stink because they don’t acknowlege God into the equation. So their solution is to drug the kids when their ideas don’t work. Maybe a good old fashioned butt kick would work better, but the liberals wouldn’t allow that.