Self-Discipline

The old adage of “Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child” has seen the pendulum swing to a permissive society in which children know their rights and discipline is a dirty word, self-discipline virtually unknown. Creativity and Self-Expression trump learning proper grammar and spelling. Recent online articles emphasize the problem of young parents feeling entitled to inflict their badly behaving screaming youngsters on their fellow restaurant diners. Were I to become drunken and unruly I’d expect to be asked to leave, why should these children be any different. Forgive me for thinking that until children have learned how to behave in public their parents should order home-delivery, take-out, or do their own cooking until their children learn self-discipline. Or they can frequent MacDonalds or Chuck-E--Cheese as has been suggested, establishments that cater to their needs and allow the rest of us to eat in peace.

An obsession with constant online contact and instant communication has led to an epidemic of texting in public places, particularly distracting to fellow theatre goers. Hand-held devices have led to the need for laws to make texting while driving illegal. A generation of new writers raised using instant-messaging shorthand combined with self-publishing has lead to the release of e-books that lack professional editing displaying an ignorance of grammar, syntax, or proper spelling.