PREVENTING YOUNGSTERS FROM BECOMING MASS KILLERS

PREVENTING YOUNGSTERS FROM BECOMING MASS KILLERS

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

First of all parents need to stop being their child’s BFF (Best Friend Forever). Parent’s main responsibility and concern should be to teach their children to be good honorable, law-abiding citizens. There is a short period that parents have to inculcate moral values, habits, social thinking, organization and many other skills to be the best person they can be.

Modern parents have been indoctrinated with the progressive notion that the better a child feels; the better he will develop into a well functioning adult. “High self-esteem” became the catch phrase in child rearing and in our schools. As long as the child thought he was wonderful his future would be bright and happy. Merit, work ethic and character issues have been dropped from the education radar screen.

For children the cultural change at home and at school has had a significant impact on their thinking and behavior. Most children have little ability to evaluate their own performance. Too many of them overestimate their talents and ability. This is not hard to comprehend in their world of everyone getting a trophy for merely showing up or just participating in a sport not for their accomplishments.

Public school’s grade inflation and dumbing down of standards has had the same influence. It has fostered all students to believe they are doing well when they are far behind students of the past. On many occasions when students are asked a specific question they firmly believe the answer they are giving is correct even when the response is way off base. When confronted, they respond, “it does not matter, I can Google it.”

Positive attitude towards work, family and character have also been degraded by this high-false-esteem approach. Youngsters are not being punished or even reprimanded for their misdeeds even when their actions are harmful to others. Secretary of Education in the Obama Administration, “Arne Duncan, tells teachers to seek softer solutions for disciplinary problems.” The school districts responded and often overlooked violent ticking time bombs like Nikolas Cruz of Parkland, Florida. This is happening in homes, schools and our communities where youngsters and adolescents are being protected from negative consequences. Elites have indoctrinated society to believe negative consequences would ruin their future reputations.

This pathetic reasoning has tainted our families, schools and criminal justice system. Without negative consequences for destructive behavior, the actions of these misfits will continue to escalate until the person gets the peer and adult attention they are seeking. Too many adolescents’ behavior is so outrageous that they can no longer be ignored.

It might start with stealing, breaking valuable objects, hurting innocent pets or other animals. Vicarious entertainment outlets feed the anti social behavior. Violent movies and video games desensitize the youngster to killing and sadistic behavior. Often these antisocial upstarts begin to research violent criminals and adopt their thinking and behavior. They study the weapons used and body armor worn by these killers. These potential mass murderers become experts in how to be a mass murderer.

If mothers continue to appease their child the anger may appear to lessen towards intimate people, especially the mothers, but as soon as she puts her foot down he will show his explosive other side. These family and significant friends unfortunately ignore these obvious indicators and usually lull themselves into inaction. This is the opposite of how they should respond.

The only legitimate method to counter these potential mass killers is to train them by nipping things in the bud as early as possible. The BFF, permissive materialism, and high self-concept approach have led us to this increase in low frustration tolerance, poor self-control, and violent-destructive tendencies in some people.

When parents, teachers, mental health professionals, judges and law enforcement are passive towards severe misbehavior it only increases the likelihood of the youngster growing into a more lawless person. In large cities we have seen when law enforcement is not allowed to confront lawbreakers, younger and younger children will imitate anti social behavior such as throwing water on the police and taunting them while under fire.

This ignoring of bad behavior has to change to firm consequences and training. Instead of BFF we should again become STPB, (Strong Trainers of Proper Behavior). Our teachers, mental health professionals, judges, police and all authority figures need to insist on wholesome behavior and punish negative, destructive acts.

The family has been the backbone of our culture. Parents have the major responsibility and duty to train their children. But all authorities have a hand in correcting deviants. Helping wounded souls is an important way of protecting all of us including those robbed of developing a conscience.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.