The Judge Dredd Guide to Parenting
Judge. Jury. Executioner.
As a street judge, Dredd doesn’t just find criminals and bring them in. He judges them on the spot. If guilty, he assigns the punishment. If the punishment is death, he becomes the executioner.
In your house, you must be judge, jury, and executioner.
Not literally. You’re not going to kill your children.
But if you roll up on them violating a rule you set and explained to them, you must administer the punishment.
Don’t postpone it. Don’t pass it off to another.
You do it.
If you postpone it, you could forget it. And I guarantee your kid isn’t going to bring it up.
And if you pass it off, you’re sending the message to your child that they don’t have to listen to you because you’re not going to do anything about it.
They will not respect your authority.
Let them plead their case, but if you find them guilty, swift justice is required.
Photo Credit: Boyce Duprey
Great advice … and not just for Dads for Moms too!
Good advice…no one on their death bed ever said “I spent too much time with my kids.”
Excellent advice.
When my daughter was found guilty of spending too much time on the internet and refusing to stop, I “executed” by removing the internet cable from her computer, and right in front of her, cut off the end. She snarled and cried for a long time, but when she calmed down I informed her that I had the gear to fix the cable .. when she had earned it.
Father Dredd indeed. Nice analogy!
This is good to have sons and daughters you can love so maybe you can endure the rebel children who hate God and be patient with them but patience has limits as we see with Chosen of God Elisha
2 Kings
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
They talk back…you shout.
They storm away…you stop them.
They shove, you whack.
They bring a knife, you bring a gun.
They bring a bazooka, you bring a tank.
Right up to thermonuclear war!
Once this principle has been established beyond all doubt(and 2 years old is way too late to start), the stigma and resentment of losing is gone. They are SURE of where this is going, so they stop trying, and look for other, less nasty ways of manipulating you.
In my experience, they always try Love.
And THAT always works.
Lest you think me a tyrant, I really have few rules. The only thing that is beyond any kind of mercy is to flat out lie to me or to do exactly the opposite of what you’ve told me you did or will do.
I know it works. Someone can call either of my sons anything they want. Just don’t call ME something nasty in their presence. You’ll be spitting teeth for weeks. The 33 tear old is my business partner. We have lived in each others’ pockets since he was born. My collegian is always quoting me to his professors, as an unimpeachable source. The professors tell me so.
They have each been spanked once; three strokes on their bare bottoms; around age 8; with a belt. Their offenses were extreme.Thus the belt.
Right now, I don’t even know where my belt is.
Just the once. Just three strokes. I remember each one.
That judge, jury, and executioner stuff is most likely to get you in front of a judge; a divorce judge. You left out the step where after you render a verdict and get set to carry out the sentence, the kid whines and the Mommy Court of Appeals is convened. You, being a stupid brute of a man and having hurt her baby’s feelings are reversed on appeal and mommy buys the brat a Lamborghini or a castle in Lichtenstein to soothe its feelings and adds your offense to her bill of particulars in the divorce filing.
Clearly one had better be in agreement with the spouse. Otherwise divorce is the likely outcome.
Divorce, arrest, criminal charges of some kind are the likely outcomes of applying this advice given the number of people in their neighbor’s business these days. The only way to be certain to freely apply this advice is to live in isolation from others.
See:
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/1077-let-the-children-play-societal-constraints-reduce-freedom
The only way to restore parental authority is to repeal some bad laws and dismantle the law’s supporting agencies. It is probably necessary to eliminate year-round sitting legislatures, including City Councils. Legislative bodies have way too much time on their hands that allows construction of statutory mischief caused by “do-gooder” lobbying.
@Art Chance: I was assuming in my reading of this article that both parents are on the same page as to what house rules and consequences for breaking them are. That’s how my husband and I do things, and, in fact, trying to get one parent to contradict the edict of the other is a high crime. It was in the house I grew up in, also. If things go as you describe, you have serious marital issues way beyond child rearing.
If things go as I described, a man has married the typical modern woman. If you’re not like that, some man is very fortunate.
I’m not a parent but I am a fan of Judge Dredd, and I find myself once again compelled to point out that Mega-City One has no death penalty. Dredd has killed plenty of people, but he’s never executed one.
Other than that this was a fair enough article.
It’ll never work.
Dad: “I AM THE LAW!”
Son: “Whoa! Tone it down a tad, huh pops?”
My Daddy had only 3 rules: Sit still; be quiet; hands off. He always said that if you taught your kids those three rules, you never needed to teach them anything else. When we got older, he elaborated; e.g. sit still in public — don’t run around, climb the pews, kick the seat in front of you, or talk out loud in a movie, a meeting or a concert; don’t touch ANYTHING that does not belong to you — from your sister’s hairbrush to your neighbour’s wife. Daddy could leave a loaded shotgun on the table in plain sight and not one of us would have touched it. Because it was not ours.
1. I’m an old man now, but I vividly remember when I was 7 or 8 my mother would occasionally take me to a restaurant for lunch to teach me proper manners. What the reason was for different knives, forks & spoons; not to speak with food in your mouth; no elbows on the table; how to use a napkin; how to order a meal; how to seat my mother (or other female); etc.
2. My aunt’s first child was raised until about age 6 by Dr. Spock! At that time the child was being so disruptive and out of control at times that they ended up taking her a physiologist (and later a psychiatrist). The outcome – corporeal punishment! The child didn’t believed she was loved because they never corrected her for anything; once they started smacking her little butt when she misbehaved everything dropped into its proper place. She turned out to be a wonderful child, lady and mother in her own right.