Spot on.
You don't want to resort to using nuclear weapons to respond to random sniping or an IED. You do want to keep some in the arsenal.
This is precisely my philosophy. There are infractions that merit immediate spankings, and generally they are ones that put my child in danger. (E.g. attempting to run into the road.)
Otherwise, there are several levels of punishment and/or warnings before corporal is reached.
The first one is very simple, it's due to confirmation bias and that the internet didn't exist when you were young. Kids from your generation were angsty and emotional as well. They just lacked the technology to broadcast it to the world. Give it thirty years and Millennials will be complaining all day that kids are lazy entitled deviants. "Get off my lawn, you young whippersnappers" is as old as humanity.
While it may be as old as humanity, many of those cultures were precisely right about the spoiled, lazy, entitled, deviants. (Of course, the previous generation is also generally responsible for the attitudes of their progeny...)
If it were not the case, we would not see cultures become decadent and die.
Second one is also spot on. A significant number of people do not know that difference. If you ever want a couple hours of neutron star density depression inspiring proof that the kids of your generation did not necessarily turn out better, be happy to oblige. You have to buy the beer, though. Not claiming that my generation is better. A sorta ladyfriend does therapy work for criminals, lots of juvs. Couple of them were broken to the point that if humanity had an ounce of sense, we'd put two rounds into their brainstem. People say war is hell. It has nothing on some ordinary seeming homes.
Quite true. Disfunction occurred in previous generations. Looking at the numbers*, though, I'm fairly confident to say that it is more prevalent today.
*As an example, from the national center on fathering:
- An estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live absent their biological father.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, “Living Arrangements of Children under 18 Years/1 and Marital Status of Parents by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin/2 and Selected Characteristics of the Child for all Children 2010.” Table C3. Internet Release Date November, 2010. - Of students in grades 1 through 12, 39 percent (17.7 million) live in homes absent their biological fathers.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. Table 1. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, DC: U.S. Dept of Education, National Center of Education Statistics, 2001. - 57.6% of black children, 31.2% of Hispanic children, and 20.7% of white children are living absent their biological fathers.
Source: Family Structure and Children’s Living Arrangements 2012. Current Population Report. U.S. Census Bureau July 1, 2012.
