“Our youth can’t possibly know how age thinks and feels. But as we age we are guilty of being too busy-brained when we forget and ignore our memories of what it was like to be young.” – Marc Chernoff.
S U R V I V A L O F T H E T O U G H E S T ?
This week’s Word Prompt on Susan and my site is Tough Love.
Tough love is defined as” promotion of a person’s welfare, especially that of an addict, child, or criminal, by enforcing certain constraints on them, or requiring them to take responsibility for their actions”.
In essence is this type of love really a cover up for poor parental skills? Here is my case in point.
Last Wednesday I was strolling through a medium size open air strip mall. The pedestrian traffic was fairly constant and not overly heavy.
I turned a corner to observe a youngster about five years old fall flat on his face (sprawled out on the cement sidewalk) while his mother was holding his tiny hand. They had just left a nearby supply store and the child tripped on something.
I though the child was knocked out cold after having his face slammed into the cement walk. He did not move for a few seconds and his mother was chatting on the cell phone all the while.
Her husband was with her and he was pushing a baby in a stroller and held an infant in his arms. He could not help the child or see if it was injured.
The mother excused herself on the cell phone, bent over and raised the child up in the air by its two sausage like arms. The kid looked like a downed prize fighter waiting for the bell to mercifully ring.
She raised the boy high in the air, shook his body a few times, loudly called him clumsy and then returned to her phone call. Her hubby was about as effective as udders on a bull in this instance. He did not utter a word through the entire incident.
As I walked by the couple I glanced at the little boy. He was still a bit groggy from his encounter with the hard sidewalk. Both parents gave me a dirty look. The kid still had trouble focusing his eyes on any one object.
In this example were the couple incompetent and irresponsible as parents or was a form of tough love their goal? I don’t truly know. I do know the cell phone call took precedence over the child.
This week Susan and I would like to have your opinion on the matter. Is tough love the way to raise a youngster or should there be a certain amount of maternal caring and concern for an offspring?
Did your own parents use the tough love philosophy in raising you and your siblings or were they lenient and forgiving? How do you rate your own parenting skills?
https://weeklyprompts.com/2019/09/18/word-prompt-tough-love
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