The epitome of liberalism: letting children run riot

Jeff writes from England:

I was on the bus with a young white mother (looked to be hip working class) who was playing with her baby. The baby would emit shrill happy screams followed by laughter followed by more happy screams. The mother was laughing too. The problem was the baby’s screams were very annoying. But what counted to the mother was to give “fun” to her baby. There was no sense of obligation to the greater whole, nor any sense that “fun” wasn’t that important. I didn’t say anything.

That scenario was typical of most Western parents and their young children. The parents want the children to approve of them. This leads to very narcissistic young adults. Discipline and work ethic are a far way off so to speak. It made me think of my time in countries like India and Pakistan and Afghanistan. There the children were early on made to know they had to work for the family and the tribe. Fun was way down the list. In addition they have to submit to a higher force, usually God or something equivalent (Buddhists). I remember thinking how much I admired the Eastern ways of raising children. The children had purpose and morality and humility inculcated into them at a young age. Plus a work ethic. Western children rarely receive those qualities from their parents . Some Jews, some Christians and many Muslim children still receive that sort of upbringing here. Ditto many other immigrant children. But the ordinary mainstream white parents (and many black parents) are not willing or not able to discipline or provide a moral structure or a work ethic for their children. As I’ve said before, there is an irony involved, as we are trying to reduce the very immigration populations whose parents often pass on many admirable qualities to their children.

I wrote something about how contemporary American (and apparently British ) parents deal with their children back in 2002: “Just Saying ‘No’: The Solution to Social and Moral Disorder.”

James R. writes:

You wrote: The assumption is that it’s normal for children to behave in an uncontrolled and socially inconsiderate way around adults, and that anyone who thinks otherwise is the abnormal one. This is false.

It’s not only the children. Today at the local airport holding lot I stopped forty feet behind a vehicle that had open doors and a stereo that was blasting hip-hop (rap?) “music.” A black, field-grade military officer, tidying up the vehicle, had the look that nothing was at all unusual and didn’t give a wit that nobody else wanted to hear what was blasting from his speakers. What are the odds against him teaching his children or troops under his command to behave in a socially considerate way?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 24, 2006 01:55 PM | Send