Watching the coverage of the riots in Baltimore, a transformative moment got picked up by the cameras. Toya Graham, a single mother of six, saw her 16-year-old son participating in the bedlam and went and “got him home” while administering a slap-down, all on national television. Political leaders, newscasters all praise her for getting her son; even while giving him the slap-down. She said she recognized him as part of the riot on TV and “just lost it.”
This is news. A filmed slap-down of a 16-year-old when you admittedly lose it is lauded on TV and radio as loving parenting with impressive discipline. This certainly wasn’t the sense of “progressive parenting” I felt encouraged in raising seven starting in 1980. If my child acted up in public, I had to wait until I was home to spank them or someone might report to the authorities I was abusive.
I respect Graham and her drive to keep her children on the straight and narrow. It was obvious the son respected his mother in that he didn’t fight or talk back. So, the next time you see a parent giving a child corporal punishment, you need to say to yourself, better loving discipline teaching respect for authority now than blind, unloving discipline later.
Wayne Mayo
Scappoose
