Monday, March 04, 2013

How Can Something So Right, Sound So Wrong?


Negative conditioning. Especially in our schools, where it is NEVER OK to fight back, to protect yourself. If you do you get suspended while the bully goes free.

Yes, My Son, It Is Okay To Hit People
A couple of months ago, while attending a play group with my four-year-old son and one-year-old daughter, another little two-year-old girl lashed out and hit another child. Her mother, ripe with indignation, swept the girl into her arms and scolded, "No! It is NEVER okay to hit people."

My skin crawled. The scenarios flowed through my head and I couldn't restrain myself.

"Would you tell her that if she was being abducted?" I asked.

The mother stopped and blinked a few times and then stuttered, "Well... that's different."

"Yes, it is," I said. "But you just told her that it was never okay to hit people. That's not entirely true. There are times it's okay to hit people and to hit them hard."

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