Train Up A Child. . .

By Linda Torres, March 22, 2002

Children are wonderful. They have such great potential. If they are fed, loved and treated kindly, and taught how to treat others from the beginning of their existence they become productive adults and are an asset to society. But in the beginning children behave like children and the odyssey to adulthood as most parents know is filled with daily admonishments, training and more training. It’s a tough job but satisfying to most parents who finally welcome a contributing individual to society who bears their name and gene similarities.

On the other hand adults who have experienced an arrested development as a child enter society under the cover of seeming normality--physically they look like an adult--but detract from society or even are successful in destroying elements of society. What characterizes an arrested development? Children who experience negative behaviors--the way not to go--and/or are not corrected when their behavior does not match a more positive example usually end up not being able to become a constructive influence on their world and maybe even society at large.

When faced with an adult who obviously has had an arrested development what are the options for interaction and management of their unacceptable behavior? The management depends on the intensity and nature of the behavior. Sometimes regressing to a parent/child interaction where you become the parent with strong guidelines and direction, the other person will respond and take up the child role, easily solving any problems in interactions.

But if the behavior exhibited by the developmentally arrested adult takes on more destructive characteristics to the point of being lethal for others or even himself then other provisions have to be made. That’s why societies have prisons and death sentences.

If one persists to treat a developmentally arrested adult as a normally developed adult either because of ignorance of that person’s real social status or denial of the person’s social status, great problems can occur. If a person or a whole society exhibits the negative behaviors of childhood, with their capability of adult thinking and adult powers, unchecked it is incumbent on the more "adult" persons or societies to interact with them in the parent/child model.

If parents, real or in the parent/child model of interaction, do not discipline the errant child, the child or "child" society perceives its behavior as acceptable and will not only continue in that behavior but will probably eventually destroy himself, the parent, and everything around him. The lack of discipline after the failure of reaching certain goals of behavior or the relocation of the goals is devastating to a delinquent child. It is well known that delinquent children are more often than not the result of an unsure environment. Their behaviors are not met with consistent limits or are met with consistent limits that are unacceptable in the larger society and they become very confused about what behaviors they should be exhibiting when. If a parent has any confusion at all about how they want their charge to act they instill that same confusion in the child.

Errant societies are exactly the same, especially those societies that are a collection of people that are raised under the conditions described above. Then when they perpetrate their destructive behaviors not only in their immediate society but also on the world, the leaders of more responsible and socially more successful societies should take notice that there is a problem and deal with it. If the more responsible societies do not recognize the arrested development in the offending society, or worse recognize it and respond irresponsibly, things can get out of hand. If the parent societies set limits of behavior and then either move the limits or don’t apply the appropriate discipline for abrogated limits they are creating a milieu conducive to developing or reinforcing juvenile delinquent behavior for the already compromised society.

Haven’t we witnessed the results of juvenile delinquents? Delinquency not only effects a general diminishing of society but also infects the next generation. And most recognize the root problem. Probably the first thought in everyone’s mind when a young man or woman is arrested for a crime is, "What did their parents teach them?" or, "Probably their parents didn’t care about them or discipline them!" or, "They must have had a lousy family life."

It is obvious that Israel is surrounded by socially delinquent juveniles. These juveniles are typified by their behavior as individuals and as a group. They have no friends among the other bullies around them so they pretend to be friends with the only decent kid on the block. They grab whatever they want from him when the world’s not looking and then scream, "Israel did it, Israel did it!" Being angry more often than not about life itself, they like to fight--but they fight with knives, bullets and guns, and bombs! They run and lie when they think they might get caught. And when the prospect of possible discipline arises they smile at the parent nations and say they won’t do it anymore only to turn around immediately and continue their behavior!

If the US and other responsible parent countries don’t stop moving the limits or stop saying "There, there, now," when the bullies fail to comply with their discipline, we are going to have a major juvenile delinquent if not harden criminal on our hands if we don’t already. And guess what? There are no corrective facilities to house that great number, rehabilitation is lost on the morally bankrupt, and at this point would be hilarious!

Some parent country had better put their proverbial foot down and soon or the world as we know it will not be around for long. It would be nice if we could be the loving parent nations that so many want to be but as in the real world after a certain amount of time only God can deal with the malefactors of society. And you know what? He is a perfect parent He doesn’t move the limits and He understands the benefit of discipline!

More TruthNews