According to the AP Press (see article here), a 47 year old man has kidnapped and/or threatened to kidnap his mother’s cat. Over the course of a year he has extorted around $20,000 from his mother with this ploy. Makes a person wonder what has happened to parental respect.

This man is right around my age, same generation, and yet I cannot think of anyone I respect more than my parents. I still cringe when I slip and say a ‘bad word’. And truly no one deserves that respect more! Parents dedicate their entire lives to their children - the job does not end when the child turns 18. It is a thankless job that is nerve-wracking, time-consuming and a killer on the finances.

So what causes children to be so disrespectful? Schools? Society? TV? The parents themselves?

I think it is a combination of all these factors. Society now determines how children are disciplined and since the government is so involved in this determination, parents are more afraid to do any discipline. Now, I do not condone beatings - but I do believe in a firm hand and the occasional spanking.

Let me know what you think!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Legal/Crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.