“Discipline a child when he come home with a stolen egg; when he comes with a stolen cow it will be too late”. The rising cases of high school students beating teachers is a major concern.
Unfortunately, many incidents occur off-camera, leaving numerous teachers working in fear due to the growing indiscipline among students.
The primary cause of this issue is our adoption of a Western-style approach to raising children, where children are allowed to do or say whatever they want without facing consequences.
This has made it difficult for teachers to maintain discipline. Most teachers now focus solely on delivering content and turn a blind eye to misbehavior, knowing that any attempt to enforce discipline could lead to angry backlash from parents.
Before long, the situation escalates, and the teacher may even find themselves facing legal action.
Whenever I’m invited to speak to parents in schools, this is what I tell them: Teenagers have three faces, the one they show to their parents, the one they show to their teachers, and the one they show to their friends.
When teachers raise concerns about your child’s behavior, don’t immediately dismiss it by saying, “My child can’t do that.” Instead, take the time to investigate.
You might be surprised to discover that you only know one side of your child.
Remember, you won’t be able to defend them if they end up in jail one day. Don’t enable a potential criminal in the name of love.
If you cannot allow your child to face the pain of correction for their mistakes, then you don’t truly love that child. Stop pretending, what you’re actually doing is protecting your own feelings.
You don’t want to feel bad when your child is being disciplined. You also know that you would be a different person if not for the painful corrections you went through.
If you truly love your child, you will also love their future and support those who are shaping it. As the proverb says, “Punish a child when they come home with a stolen egg; if you wait until they steal a cow, it will be too late.”
When a child has the audacity to challenge a teacher, it’s a clear sign that something is amiss in their upbringing.
A child who is well raised and disciplined would never raise a finger against a teacher; they would view teachers with the same respect as they do their parents.
Any child bold enough to fight a teacher is also capable of fighting their parents. For a child to muster the courage to strike a teacher, it means they’ve likely been showing signs of indiscipline and emotional immaturity for some time, like “coming home with a stolen egg.” Unfortunately, such warning signs are often ignored by the parents.
When children witness their parents engaging in physical fights, what would stop them from fighting a teacher?
To such a child, an elder is just another person who can be beaten, as their father beats their mother regularly.
As parents, we are the first and greatest mentors of our children. Whatever they see us doing, they replicate directly. Our actions set the foundation for their behavior.
Let us be role models for our children and correct them when they come home with a stolen egg. If we wait until they steal a cow, it will become a police case, and we won’t be able to defend them in court.
The increasing cases of indiscipline have left our teachers unsafe, and it’s our responsibility as parents to address this.
