The " Time Out " Generation

"You need to take a time out"," Do you want me to put you in time out?"," Don't make me put you in time out".  How many times have you heard these words spew from parents mouths during dinner, movie or even the playground?  When I was growing up there were two types of "time out", one was in the sports world, not the ones on any video games, the real sports that you have to get off the couch to play, you know the ones when you got a bruise you knew where it came from.  The other one came from my dad, who use to take "time out" of his day to bust my behind when it was needed.  I hear on the news or read in the papers about "kids these days", kids, wonder why we don't hear about parents these days?  Is it not our sole job as a parent to raise kids to be respectful, reliable, and most of all accountable?  I can hear people saying "Did he just spank that child?" Yes ma'am I did.  Read your BIBLE, spare the rod and spoil the child.  Now I'm not saying that you should go around beating your kids but the time has come when "time out " does not work.  I grew up in the early 70's and graduated high school in '91, not one instance comes to mind when I ever saw a gun come onto school property. I know things have changed in four decades, both parents have careers that they work hard at to basically afford things they don't want to impress people they don't like, (a little Dave Ramsey for ya there) but your main job is your kids.
Its not the tv's job , its not the baby-sitter or grandparents job, its not even the school systems job to raise your kids, IT'S YOURS!  Investing in your child's future does not require money, however it does require you spend time with them, talking, listening, engaging in what interests them, not you.  I have two kids of my own, my wife and I both have jobs that are very demanding of our time and energy but we make time to spent with the kids even at a loss to ourselves sometimes, so, what's more important, your kids future or that next step up the corporate ladder?  I know, I know, I hear some of y'all reading this saying "you have no idea what my situation is", you're right I don't, but heed this,    "Teach your child in the way they should go and when they grow older they shall not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.  That one statement right there puts all the responsibility at the feet of the parents.  Hate and mischief is not in our DNA, it is learned.  I was asked one time "You are teaching your daughter life's lessons at six?" My response was "When should I? at 12, 14, 16?"  How 'bout we wait until after she is unimpressionable to try it then.  One of my best childhood memories came from that same life's lesson. My step-brothers and I lived about 6 miles from the pool in the summer between 8th and 9th grade,  and we wanted nothing more than to swim all summer long.  Dad caught wind of our plan to be tan and wet all summer long, so he sat us down and laid it out like this, " If you can find a way there and back and pay for your swim you can go every day".  He thought that would teach us to make our own way at an age when we needed to know it. We had our bikes, not mountain bikes with all those different speeds either, freestyle bikes, the only speed it had was how fast you peddled.  So we had the transportation now for the money.  You want to talk about child labor laws, ha, there was no such thing back then, we stacked wood, cleared fields of brush, anything that we could do to get that $2.50 needed to swim and get a burger afterwards.  We thought we showed him -we got to swim all summer long.  Looking back on it now, he didn't do it to keep us from going - he wanted to see what we would do when we wanted something bad enough.  Since then we have all had jobs since the laws allowed and we work for the things we want, nobody is going to give us a ride to the pool.  Thats what I fear is wrong with the "parents of today" they want to give rides to the pool, and in return the kids today feel entitled to those free rides.  Raise your kids, don't fall victim to the worlds views on violence, and most of all - show them how to go instead of letting them "find themselves" or you might "find" them on a roof top with a deer rifle.

Power of the People

Power of the People

I witnessed something today , people uniting for one cause . No, it was not for a charity or a cause of action. It was a group of people I've never meet but have had several conversations with. People that do not live with in a twenty-five mile radius of my Castle DE Capps but yet I have invited into my home several times . People of different race , religion , and political status . A group of people that I can say I'm proud to be associated with. These people are people that I follow and that follow me on Twitter . All of your local news will report a story tonight , a story of a race , a race that took place in Daytona fl.    , and in that race a crash happens that puts the spectators in grave danger. What they won't tell you is what I saw in the aftermath of the wrecked race cars littering the infield of Dayton International Speedway. These same people banding together in prayer for those spectators injured from debris. Keep in mind we did not know these fans nor their families but some how we felt for them as if they were our close family member . Tweet after Tweet I read made me fill with pride to know that I picked the right "sport" to be associated with. No one cared at the time if their driver won , finished 2nd or 40th, they cared about that person from New York , Tennessee , Texas or where ever they are from sitting in the path of that debris field breaking through that catch fence, if you would like to tell your kids what the definition of what class is ; you won't find it in the Webster's dictionary , you will find it in a NASCAR fan. I thought back just a bout a month ago when the San Francisco 49ers played in Atlanta for a playoff game that the 49ers won , a stabbing was reported after the game because of a riff between fans of different teams. There are 40 drivers that competed in that race today and at the time just after the accident everyone was a fan of a "fan". That got me to thinking , what if we took that compassion , love, and the belief in prayer to another level ; our home, our community, our state and our country. Could you imagine what change would come our way? Just think about it . I like to use the saying " pulling on the same end of the rope" meaning don't fight me, help me. If we could all be compassionate , loving , and have the faith in prayer in other words if we could all just be a NASCAR fan this would be a world we would all be proud to be associated with.