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[Moonbeam]

Interesting enough we got the pilot episode through Netflix a few weeks ago, and we'll get the other disks (seasons) soon. We plan to introduce LHOTP probably within the next year. However, DH put it on the other night and DD was mesmerized. I have had the book series on the Amazon wish list for the last couple of years. If the grandparents don't get it, I will need to sooner rather later. I agree with his comments regarding The Cosby Show.

http://lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi238.html

By Bill Sardi

I can recall a program to teach manners when I was in grade school. Every student in every grade was taught to say "please" when making a request and not to interrupt adults when they were speaking and if walking in front of someone to say "excuse me."

Well, today, there seems to be a declining interest in teaching manners to kids. But more troubling, there also seems to be a growing problem of kids talking back to their teachers and parents. I see this in the school my son attends, and by no means is he isn’t removed from the problem. </snip>

"I wanted my girls to have a window on a healthy relationship and skipping over the aforementioned, stumbled across it in Little House On The Prairie and the changes in their behavior stunned my wife and I.

Shortly after they began to watch it, we noticed that they began to refer to us as Pa and Ma and the tone in their voices grew increasingly respectful. That's when I began watching with them and noticed that though the girls on this TV show loved their parents and felt secure, and there was also a respect for their parents that I had never found in modern sitcoms.

Michael Landon had somehow managed to inject his character Charles Ingalls with the perfect balance of kindness and authority." </snip>

[bennie]

I remember, in the 3rd grade, a teacher read the book to us a couple of chapters at a time. Always thought the TV program, Little House On The Prairie, was very meaningful. Felt somewhat the same way about The Rifleman and a few other programs.

[da gooch]

Why Are Kids So Sassy These Days?

IMHO ...  It comes of the children not having had any discipline at home while they are very young. [ages 1 to 5]

The Nanny State has so intruded into the families everyday life that one actually lives in fear of the Nanny State breaking down the door, shooting the family dog and kidnapping one's children because some nosy neighbor caught a glimpse of the traditional form of child rearing to wit: corporeal punishment.

IF the Child Protective Services had been around when I was being raised my parents would have been arrested and my siblings and I would have become "wards of the State".

And yet I survived without a single scar and have become a worthwhile addition to the human race. [At least I hope I have ... ]

[Felinenation]

You nailed it, gooch.

And it's not even physical punishment that has become child abuse.  Any discipline, telling a kid "no", even making them do chores is now considered abuse.

I was reading the Tightwad Gazette, and the author said people wrote to her, saying making kids wear hand-me-down and garage-sale clothes was child abuse.

This world has gone nuts on this subject, with the result of kids being savage monsters out of control.

[MamaLiberty]

I broke and trained horses when my sons were small. I always had a quirt on my belt.

quirt
   [kwurt]
noun
1.
a riding whip consisting of a short, stout stock and a lash of braided leather.

Just as with the gun I carry now. I didn't need it often, but everyone knew it was there and that I knew how to use it.

And, BTW, I would never actually STRIKE a horse or a little boy with it. Raised the dust on a rump or two a few times, but no damage.

[Moonbeam]

UPDATE: I received my complete book set of LHOTP two weeks ago! Looking forward to introducing them to this wonderful world!

[Scarmiglione']

Why are kids sassy?

Kids are sassy because they are following their parent's example.

Not that their parents are sassy, but their parents have no self-respect.  Mental and emotional strength comes from self-respect.  So the parents are not strong and the children sense this and exploit it.

The parents have no self-respect because they are not proud of themselves.

They are not proud of themselves because they do not feel a sense of accomplishment.

They do not feel a sense of accomplishment because they have never risked their survival on success.  The comfort and stability of their lives is given to them, not achieved by them, and so their lives have no accomplishment, no pride, no strength, and no confidence.

[phjg777b]

Kids (and grown ups) are so sassy today because there is rarely, if ever, a significant negative consequence for their poor behavior. Conversely, they have learned that this kind of behavior achieves a particular result that benefits them in some way.
Sassy behavior is also glorified on TV and movies as well. It's a matter of pleasure vs. pain.

It's a living example of Operant Conditioning (operant conditioning is a form of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its consequences).
 

[sharp_shepherd]

Kids can be "sassy" and still have respect.  Think of it like this...many of us do not like anyone especially the govt telling us what to do or how to live our life and our kids pick up on that character "flaw" in us.  Being sassy can be considered independence as long as it doesn't lead to being disobedience.  We try to instill a certain independent sassy personality in our kids and teach them to think (for themselves) which can sometimes cause disagreements.  We really don't want obedient drones....do we?

Hope this helps.

[MamaLiberty]

Hi there, sharp_shepherd!  Hadn't seen you for a long time.

There's a big difference between assertive independence and nasty smart mouth. When children are taught, from the first days, that mutual respect and non-aggression are the primary principles of good human interaction, the "smart mouth" would seem much less likely. All too often, the "sassy" children are simply reflecting the entitlement mentality they have been taught, both in "school" and by example of their elders and peers.  And the entitlement attitude is about as far from rational independence as you can get, of course.

[Bill St. Clair]

I have never understood the push for obedient children. I want respectful interactions with my children, but that starts with me respecting them. I owe it to young children to prevent them from permanently harming themselves, but I also owe it to them to allow them to make the mistakes that will plant lessons firmly in their experience. They do not owe me obedience. Ever.

[Moonbeam]

Yesterday I was speaking to DD and she rolled her eyes at me! Six years-old and I'm thinking, "WTF?!"

So I ask her why she's rolling her eyes and she tells me she cannot control it (obviously lying). So for the rest of the day I "spontaneously" roll my eyes when she talks and I tell her, "You're right! There's no way to control it!"

When DH is done with work, in front of her I tell him we have to take her to the doctor to get it checked out. He tells me that they will have to give her a shot for it. She confesses and we gently explain how disrespectful that it is.

Kids! 

[sharp_shepherd]

Well I haven't had any eyes rolled my direction in a long, long time.  Just giving my 2 cents worth.

Unfortunately I'm waiting on a part for my carpet cleaning machine so I may be chiming in a lot this week.  I sure do miss you guys.  I'm sad to see so many of us old timers gone.

[Adventurer, Explorer, Inquiring Mind.]

I have never understood the push for obedient children. I want respectful interactions with my children, but that starts with me respecting them. I owe it to young children to prevent them from permanently harming themselves, but I also owe it to them to allow them to make the mistakes that will plant lessons firmly in their experience. They do not owe me obedience. Ever.

Yep, you and scarmig nailed it.

And again... "obedient children?"   That's more of that idiotic super christian teaching that has somehow infested half the world and given all the fools justification for rolling over and letting evil win... always with a prayerful thanks... to boot.

To put it into perspective, my father was beaten within nearly an inch of his life as a child, by his super christian father, and he did his best not to become like that.  Ironically, he gave in to peer pressure from the less enlightened, but the bigger irony is that if he hadn't, he would have never earned my anger/hatred/disdain.  Not once in our common life.

To me, its one thing to teach a child the limits of relationships.  It is another to be the arbitrary dickbag who beats them or tyrannizes them and teaches them the proper steps to being an obedient serf "or else!"

[Rarick]

Kids are obedient BECAUSE you have taught them to do what you say because LIFE ISSUES the consequence for not listening to mom/dad.   Dad Occasionally uses the belt as a premeditated "I told you so" for the life threatening crap life will return to you for certain stupidities.  They do what you say because you have reasoned with them and make sense about your position and are consistent about it. 

I have noticed that the well behaved children are usually talked to for a minute or two when they do something wrong, and that is usually it, sometime it goes to a conversation, but rarely.  The real boneheads are the ones where mom/dad isn't teaching anything but "Do this, do that, hey you want lumps?  Then DO IT!"........  Kind of interesting........