I think kids need to have something interesting going on in their lives. I was by no means an angel, but helping someone with a project like we have would have peaked my interest. Kids today don't use their brains for much. Did you ever see a kid today trying to make change without a means to calculate? Their language skills also leave something to be desired. The schools take a large amount of our tax dollars and don't teach much. Everyone is always yelling that the schools need more money, and they probably do, but something has gone off the tracks in American education. When I was in school (many moons ago) we had dress codes. You had to wear a sport jacket, suit, or dress better on fridays. How the hell can anyone concentrate with butts and boobs hanging out. When we screwed up, there were consequences. If a parent reprimands a child today, they can be arrested. Teachers reprimanded us more than parents do to their kids today. I wasn't good as a kid because I was a great kid, I was good because the consequence was a strap on the butt. It wasn't a life scarring event, it was a learning event. My Dad always let us plead our case, we were most always guilty, kneel in front of the toilet and get 5 wacks on the butt with a strap. No personal injury, just a lesson. Dad never spanked us when he was mad, always cooled down and sat us on his knee after and told us how much it hurt him to do this. I understood this when I had a child, it does hurt you more than the child. Can you imagine the armed forces without rules, consequences, and disipline? Our kids need structure. Nothing bothers me more than going into a restaurant and having some oblivious parent with a screaming kid. That's why most animals eat their young!
