Well in MOST of the kid fingerprinting programs, the parents keep the fingerprint cards and photographs so they can provide them to the cops should little Susie or Billy get nabbed. Last I checked, the FBI wasn't routinely fingerprinting 5 year olds and keeping them on file.
We've gone to this nuclear family model, and it's insufficient. Unfortunately, instead of going back to the extended family model, we're trying to artificially prop up the nuclear family and make it work.
Well we agree on this at least. Unfortunately in today's society, we could call many families subatomic since many are single parent.
I guess the real question before those of us that are concerned, is how do we turn this massive ship back around towards an extended family that once was the source of guidance and discipline?
In this case, the party was a kegger being held at a house where the police had routinely arrested the owner for allowing underage drinking and twice for assault on a child. Still, all the kids found this guys "Cool".
The point was, my friend as a parent, could see the inherent danger of possible arrest and was trying to protect his underage child from that danger. Its the same reason we don't let toddlers stick paper clips in the wall socket. Yeah, they'll learn a lesson, but it just might injure them for life. Of course maybe if we did, it would help clean out the gene pool.
Well, as an American, I'll pipe in and give my two cents worth. At the seat of this problem, are our cultures so different? We both exist in a society that, for the most part, has both parents working (if the parents are still married), where we depend on nanny's and day care workers to rear our children and after school programs to entertain them until we can get off work. Society demands we work these long hours so we can provide the clothes and things our families need. We also tend to buy our kids way to many things to "entertain" them but not to "engage" them. We give all this authority to society to raise our kids, yet seem to get upset when society tries to correct our children.
As a kid, I was fortunate that even though my mom worked, she always saw us off to school each morning and was home when we got home from school. I romped and stomped outside most afternoons with the neighbor kids, playing cowboy and indians or whatever. Even though we had TV, I rarely watched it. When I got into my teens, I got into my fair share of trouble, but nothing like kids today. Why? I too had a respect for authority instilled in me by my parents and society. Kids are like ships that float on the currents of society. They will be guided by whatever wind and wave is the strongest.
Today's kids often lack that rudder to keep them pointed straight. They know they have influence over their parents and more and more they are able to exert that influence. Its really upsetting to watch a 14 year old tell their parents that if they aren't allowed to go to an all night boy/girl party, they (the kid) will call the police and say the parents are abusing them. The parents are so afraid of a system that automatically assumes the guilt of the accused, that they feel they have no choice but to give in. You say the above can't happen... try again, I witnessed it in a friend's living room one evening.
Should we monitor kids in a national database? No, I think that's just an attempt to cure the symptom, not the illness. When we as parents abdicate our authority to raise our kids to the government, we shouldn't be surprised when they use governmental institutions, like national databases, to try and manage the behavior of our kids.
Slashdot Mirror
Well in MOST of the kid fingerprinting programs, the parents keep the fingerprint cards and photographs so they can provide them to the cops should little Susie or Billy get nabbed. Last I checked, the FBI wasn't routinely fingerprinting 5 year olds and keeping them on file.
I guess the real question before those of us that are concerned, is how do we turn this massive ship back around towards an extended family that once was the source of guidance and discipline?
do you have kids?
In this case, the party was a kegger being held at a house where the police had routinely arrested the owner for allowing underage drinking and twice for assault on a child. Still, all the kids found this guys "Cool".
The point was, my friend as a parent, could see the inherent danger of possible arrest and was trying to protect his underage child from that danger. Its the same reason we don't let toddlers stick paper clips in the wall socket. Yeah, they'll learn a lesson, but it just might injure them for life. Of course maybe if we did, it would help clean out the gene pool.
Well, as an American, I'll pipe in and give my two cents worth. At the seat of this problem, are our cultures so different? We both exist in a society that, for the most part, has both parents working (if the parents are still married), where we depend on nanny's and day care workers to rear our children and after school programs to entertain them until we can get off work. Society demands we work these long hours so we can provide the clothes and things our families need. We also tend to buy our kids way to many things to "entertain" them but not to "engage" them. We give all this authority to society to raise our kids, yet seem to get upset when society tries to correct our children.
As a kid, I was fortunate that even though my mom worked, she always saw us off to school each morning and was home when we got home from school. I romped and stomped outside most afternoons with the neighbor kids, playing cowboy and indians or whatever. Even though we had TV, I rarely watched it. When I got into my teens, I got into my fair share of trouble, but nothing like kids today. Why? I too had a respect for authority instilled in me by my parents and society. Kids are like ships that float on the currents of society. They will be guided by whatever wind and wave is the strongest.
Today's kids often lack that rudder to keep them pointed straight. They know they have influence over their parents and more and more they are able to exert that influence. Its really upsetting to watch a 14 year old tell their parents that if they aren't allowed to go to an all night boy/girl party, they (the kid) will call the police and say the parents are abusing them. The parents are so afraid of a system that automatically assumes the guilt of the accused, that they feel they have no choice but to give in. You say the above can't happen... try again, I witnessed it in a friend's living room one evening.
Should we monitor kids in a national database? No, I think that's just an attempt to cure the symptom, not the illness. When we as parents abdicate our authority to raise our kids to the government, we shouldn't be surprised when they use governmental institutions, like national databases, to try and manage the behavior of our kids.
Wally