Growing up, I remember hearing stories of friends of my parents who were left as kids...and I mean KIDS in and around the same age as these two children...on the side of a road, miles away from their home town, with no money, so that they could 'find their way home.' These stories were described as a 'growing and learning experience.' An experience to instill 'self-confidence'. Many of these individuals turned out to be well-adjusted, happy, self-confident people.
Unfortunately, today, this idea seems especially disturbing because we have witnessed numerous child abductions, kidnappings, killings and rapes. So, you could say, we are in different times. At the same time, however, part of me wants to say 'What gives?' I'm not a parent and if I were in the same position as Ms. Primoff, I am not sure how differently I would have handled the situation. But this story begs the question, when did disciplining children become a crime?
It is not surprising to me that so many children are disrespectful to their parents and to their elders. Parents are damned if they do and damned if they don't. G_d for bid a child act out in public. If they don't discipline the child, they risk embarrassment and judgment from surrounding observers who think they are weak and lack the ability to control their child. Further, the child learns that this behavior is okay, which can manifest itself as bigger problems down the line. If they do take action and swat the child on the backside or give the child a strong 'talking to', they risk being judged as abusive and inappropriate. Decades ago, it was perfectly acceptable for a parent to discipline their children (not violently, I'm talking a little hit on the rear end). But not today.
Sparknotes: Mother of twelve and ten year old daughters kicks them out of her car when they keep fighting and tells them to walk home. She goes around the block and theyre gone. She finds one and reports the other missing. The police arrest her when she gets to the station to pick up her daughter.
