The Walking Dead and the Discipline of Children
So, I was re-reading a post over at DailyKos, and this comment and the subsequent thread -- made me think about the new (old) realities of the Walking Dead world. (And I can't see it being much different in, say the world "after" seen in Terminator: Salvation and Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles.)
And that comment had to do with the way children were raised and the reason for it -- the stakes were life and death.
In a very short time, I could realistically see "the belt" coming back in a post apocalyptic world as a tool of discipline and compliance. This is not a world where there's always time for time outs and other tools of sweet reason. These are luxuries that simply do not exist any more.
In the days of yore, if you were of a certain class/race, you gave your children the strap because they needed to learn to be immediately obedient to those in authority, because right now their back-sassing little asses didn't realize that at the wrong time and in the wrong place, this was life and death, and better for them to have their asses whupped then have MyLord/Occupying Soldiers/Master/John Law beat, maim, or kill them on the spot.
In the world After? I think it would be very, very important for children to understand that you never leave camp/the house/safe place without permission, that you never go anyplace alone, and that when an adult says to do/stop something, or to be quiet, that you get instant compliance.
Children and young folk don't reason the way that adults do, study after study has shown this. That part of the brain, the part that gets more abstract consequences just hasn't fully developed yet. Children can be reasoned with, but it's going to take time for non-immediate situations like "But you increase your risk of the walkers/HK's getting you if ..." and "we have this rule because ..." to sink in.
Stuffing a rag into their mouths to muffle the noise and switching their ass has a more immediate effect.
And that comment had to do with the way children were raised and the reason for it -- the stakes were life and death.
In a very short time, I could realistically see "the belt" coming back in a post apocalyptic world as a tool of discipline and compliance. This is not a world where there's always time for time outs and other tools of sweet reason. These are luxuries that simply do not exist any more.
In the days of yore, if you were of a certain class/race, you gave your children the strap because they needed to learn to be immediately obedient to those in authority, because right now their back-sassing little asses didn't realize that at the wrong time and in the wrong place, this was life and death, and better for them to have their asses whupped then have MyLord/Occupying Soldiers/Master/John Law beat, maim, or kill them on the spot.
In the world After? I think it would be very, very important for children to understand that you never leave camp/the house/safe place without permission, that you never go anyplace alone, and that when an adult says to do/stop something, or to be quiet, that you get instant compliance.
Children and young folk don't reason the way that adults do, study after study has shown this. That part of the brain, the part that gets more abstract consequences just hasn't fully developed yet. Children can be reasoned with, but it's going to take time for non-immediate situations like "But you increase your risk of the walkers/HK's getting you if ..." and "we have this rule because ..." to sink in.
Stuffing a rag into their mouths to muffle the noise and switching their ass has a more immediate effect.