Where have all the parents gone?

At this time of year, my thoughts turn to my father. He has been gone for quite some time, but the memory of him lives on. I often wonder what he would think of what is happening in our world today if he came back.

I grew up with a father who believed in being “the” father. I confess that he was not always right all the time, but what he said was law in our house. That is, of course, unless his wife contradicts him. Then it was time for us kids to seek shelter outside where we couldn’t hear what was going on.

I can’t help but believe that some of the problems we have in our society today wouldn’t be so bad if we had parents. How many families are there where children grow up without knowing their father? No wonder they have no respect for authority.

Although my father was not a very well educated person, he knew how to use the Education Board in the Seat of Learning for all his children. Some of the things he did back in the day would get him into some real legal trouble today.

For example. My father believed that he had the right to be judge, jury and executioner in all things in the life of his children, without appealing to a higher authority.

In the kitchen, hanging by the door to go outside was a very interesting parenting tool, at least in my father’s eyes. It was an oar with a religious inscription, “I need you every hour.” The inscription was quite true to the reality of life in our home.

Spanking was a routine exercise in our house. My father had the idea that if you had problems at school, you also had problems at home. He had this fantastic idea that the teacher was right and I was wrong. I guess he knew me and he could take a bit of truth and turn it into a lie. I wonder who I learned that from.

Several times I got into trouble at school, which involved a beating in the principal’s office. The first time this happened, I remember very well walking into the kitchen and seeing my father standing there holding that infamous palette in his hand. Within moments, the paddle was doing his duty and I was doing the “paddle dance.”

After we rowed, my father sat down with me and said, “Okay, what trouble did you get into at school to get the principal to row you?”

I wished he had asked me before he rowed, because now he had no incentive to lie. Looking back, maybe that was the whole purpose of rowing.

I well remember one time in the backyard, I did something that required parental action. My father looked at me and said, “Go find me a switch. You need to be taught a lesson.”

At the time, I thought it was funny, however after the fact I couldn’t see any humor in it. I went to find the “switch” according to my father’s instructions and returned with a twig. I thought it was funny, but my father had no sense of humor about it. Within moments, my sense of humor evaporated because my dad went looking for a switch, which is much different than a twig, just ask my ass.

Reflecting on these things, I tried to calculate how many spankings I actually received in my life. Let me say that it was significant. More than that. He taught me respect for authority.

I wonder if any of these young people who get into trouble today have ever taken a beating? Of course, today that goes completely against PC. My father didn’t believe in PC, but he strongly believed in BS (Back Side). I think if today’s parents focused more on BS than PC, things could be very different.

Nowadays, people think that those old-fashioned spankings represent cruel and unusual punishment. However, if you look at this generation that hasn’t had an old-fashioned spanking; I think the evidence speaks for itself.

To whip or not to whip, that is the dilemma today. Most gravitate towards the “no spanking” aspect without knowing that they are doing a lot of damage to the next generation.

I must say that my father was not very interested in what people call “love” today. He was more interested in respecting authority. In fact, as I think about this, when you’re respecting authority, you’re showing love. People today do not know how to love because they do not know how to respect authority.

I think that if some of these young men could spend a week with my father and his infamous “palette” they would come to respect authority. Unfortunately, today there is no authority figure in most homes. Even those households that have fathers are forced to believe that the father has no real significance in the family.

All I can do is quote a famous psychologist: “How does that work?”

Well how does that work?

The wisest man in the world, Solomon, said: “For the Lord corrects the one he loves, as a father corrects the son whom he loves” (Proverbs 3:12).

True love always corrects what is wrong, especially in the person it loves.