Whatsa mada witchew
Recently, I listened to a call in program. They were asking an uncomfortable question. "If you are not wearing a helmet and you are riding a bike and you get into an accident, should you be covered by Medical Insurance for the cost of repairing your injuries?"
I listened to the responses. Most people agreed that accidents happen. But they disagreed on who should pay for the consequences. I thought about what I would say if I'd called in. It would be along these lines:
"What the world needs today is more mothers. Mothers who hold their kids accountable. Mothers who pay attention to what their kids are doing every day. We need mothers who pay attention to what their kids' friends are doing as well. We need mothers who will hold their kids accountable. Sometimes this means that when kids are doing something stupid, the mothers will be heard yelling "Whatsa mada witchew?" If we had that kind of accountability, many bad decisions and actions would be avoided.
People wouldn't ride around without helmets, because their mothers would have taken care of that. "You are not going out without a helmet young man. Did you not see what happened to that watermelon we dropped when we were getting it out of the trunk? Whatsa mada witchew?" Kids would come home and be in bed by a decent time, instead of staying out late, and getting into trouble in the neighbourhood, because they'd know that their mother would come searching for them (in her p.j's and curlers and with cold cream on her face) if they broke curfew. Kids wouldn't even think of being a cyber-bully, because their mothers would find out on ther Facebook history. She would hunt them down, take them by the ear, and make them apologize to the little kid they were tormenting before making them do a hundred hours of raking leaves as punishment.
I think our society has swung so far away from keeping each other in line that we have all sorts of needless events. We think we should "live and let live". But the result is that we end up standing by and watching the unthinkable happen -- kids shouldn't be allowed to be in (or to create) treacherous settings. Accountability should be an every day occurence. Kids (and adults) should expect that their choices and actions are being observed. That others are cheering them on, but also are going to step in if necessary to keep them on the right path.
The real quest here is to find people who are brave enough to walk out of the house in pj's, curlers and cold cream if that's what it takes to protect kids from themselves. Who better to do that than mothers?
I listened to the responses. Most people agreed that accidents happen. But they disagreed on who should pay for the consequences. I thought about what I would say if I'd called in. It would be along these lines:
"What the world needs today is more mothers. Mothers who hold their kids accountable. Mothers who pay attention to what their kids are doing every day. We need mothers who pay attention to what their kids' friends are doing as well. We need mothers who will hold their kids accountable. Sometimes this means that when kids are doing something stupid, the mothers will be heard yelling "Whatsa mada witchew?" If we had that kind of accountability, many bad decisions and actions would be avoided.
People wouldn't ride around without helmets, because their mothers would have taken care of that. "You are not going out without a helmet young man. Did you not see what happened to that watermelon we dropped when we were getting it out of the trunk? Whatsa mada witchew?" Kids would come home and be in bed by a decent time, instead of staying out late, and getting into trouble in the neighbourhood, because they'd know that their mother would come searching for them (in her p.j's and curlers and with cold cream on her face) if they broke curfew. Kids wouldn't even think of being a cyber-bully, because their mothers would find out on ther Facebook history. She would hunt them down, take them by the ear, and make them apologize to the little kid they were tormenting before making them do a hundred hours of raking leaves as punishment.
I think our society has swung so far away from keeping each other in line that we have all sorts of needless events. We think we should "live and let live". But the result is that we end up standing by and watching the unthinkable happen -- kids shouldn't be allowed to be in (or to create) treacherous settings. Accountability should be an every day occurence. Kids (and adults) should expect that their choices and actions are being observed. That others are cheering them on, but also are going to step in if necessary to keep them on the right path.
The real quest here is to find people who are brave enough to walk out of the house in pj's, curlers and cold cream if that's what it takes to protect kids from themselves. Who better to do that than mothers?
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