I had a VERY republican conversation with my daughter yesterday.
We were talking about her actions as a Team Leader in her class. In a nutshell, she's to help keep the kids focussed on the task at hand - and tell them to shut-the-hell-up and get to work, if need be.
The subject moved to discipline and Alaina mentioned 'Time outs'. I told her something to the effect Mommy and Daddy don't do 'time outs' with she and her brother because 'Time outs' are stupid.
Alaina looked at me with a 'wtf' look.
"But on Time Out it means you can't play - you just have to sit there and do nothing."
'But dear, see? Playing isn't a right. Playing is a privledge. Removing or restricing a privledge isn't a very good way to keep your brother from running out in the street and getting killed by a car, is it? Imagine this - Ethan is running out into the street when I see a car coming. I yell 'Stop!' If we hadn't been spanking you kids, Ethan might think "Oh. So, yeah, Dad won't let me PLAY for 10 minutes. Big Deal." and keep running. SMACK! Little brother is squished by a car. Now - because we beat you guys, when I yell "STOP!" to Ethan he thinks "Holy Crap! Dad will HURT Me if I don't listen!" And Ethan stops in his tracks. When Ethan is OLDER I'll explain physics to him -"
'What are physics?' she asked.
"Physics is a term smart guys made up to descibe how things on the earth react towards one-another. For instance Gravity. You know what that is, right?"
"Yup - it keeps us on the ground."
"Exactly - Gravity is studied under the category of "Physics." sorta. Physics tell us things, once moving, tend to STAY moving untill something slows them down. For Daddy, he gets out of breath. For a car, somebody puts on the brakes. Well, since it takes awhile for a car to stop, sometimes the car can get in an accident - even hitting kids and pets and junk."
"And Ethan doesn't understand that, so he just stops cuz he doesn't want a spankin'"
"EXACTLY! The most IMPORTANT thing is for Ethan to stay alive and not get hit by a car - when he's older he'll understand. First Obey, THEN understand. So - we use spanking as a 'consequence' for Ethan and you not obeying. Do you know what a consequence is?"
"I forgot" she said.
"A consequence is something which happens because of something else. For instance, because you are so pretty, a CONSEQUENCE is I'll have to chase all the boys away in about 10 years."
"Yeah!" She said, eyes lit up, "And you'll have to chase the GIRLS away from Ethan!"
"No - actually, that's really not a problem for me...yeah, it's not.."
"Cuz I'm your little girl?" she asked, batting eyelashes..
"Exactly."
