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Dee McLelland: If everyone jumps off a bridge ...
Dee McLelland new

I’d like to understand how any intelligent human being would…. wait a second, here comes another one.

I have stumbled upon a Tik Tok video from time to time and have heard countless people talking about them, but for the life of me I don’t understand where the humor, or better yet, the intellect, really is. Every time you turn around it’s someone coming up with some sort of idiotic challenge. It’s the “Eat A Tide Pod Challenge” or the “Sniff A Donkey Challenge” and now we have the “Put Mustard On Watermelon Challenge.” What the what?

I’m of the age that my mother said, “If all your other friends jump off a bridge, would you?”

Of course, the answer was no then, but now I’m not so sure. In fact, I don’t think many parents today tell kids not to do anything.

Our kids got guidance in different ways, but in the end, they respected us for the fact that we held them accountable for their actions and decisions.

Yes, we spanked our kids. It was the cost for disobeying rules or misbehaving. They are all productive citizens and college students right now. They aren’t running around breaking laws or causing disruptions in society.

I think a few of our generations skipped a few spankings and Tik Tok videos are a good example.

I asked the twins Emma and Sadie, who are in college now about the Tik Tok challenges.

“Stupid Dad,” Emma said.

“Why would I do something like that?” Sadie added.

That’s my girls.

The reason I bring all this up is people keep pushing the idea that authority figures in our society, the police for example, act far too harshly to people in certain circumstances. I say they act harshly at times because the people they encounter have no respect for authority because they saw no repercussions in their actions growing up and why would that happen to them now.

I once told the kids when they were a bit older that it wasn’t the job of a parent to be their friend. It was the job of the parent to make them understand right or wrong, good or bad, kindness over hatred and responsibility. After that, it was up to them.

I know right now there may be a “helicopter parent” flipping out, but the truth is probably, that “helicopter parent” is too busy making sure little Jimmy gets his “Participation Award” because he “almost” made every practice and he “almost” made every game.

The sad truth is, there has been a generation of children brought into this world who are now young adults who don’t have the type of respect for their elders or those in authoritarian positions. One of the things I have found over the years is you can spot a young adult who was brought up with morals and respect.

And sometimes it’s sad. It’s sad that the young adult who has manners should be so singled out. They should be in a crowd.

My mom used to say we were some of the best-behaved children in the world when we would go with her into public. Well, yeah, we would have got our butts spanked if we didn’t. We were scared of the consequences and that was OK.

We have to make sure young people, their parents, and even us older folks, know there are consequences to actions taken. Their actions can lead to harming other people, or on the other hand, good actions can help others as well.

What I wouldn’t give for people on Tik Tok to make that kind of video. Maybe instead of putting peanut butter on a lemon or sniffing cat food, we could have one with people helping people or being kind to a senior citizen.

Happy Father’s Day to all!

If you see me, say “Hey!”

Dee McLelland is Publisher of the Coastal Courier and the Bryan County News.

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