Caution: The Following Contains An Old Cogers Tirade. Not For The Easily Offended

Where do I begin.

I grew up in a small rural village of New Hampshire.  It was a developing neighborhood, where everyone knew (for better or worse) everyone else, and it was a sheltered middle class life.  I was born in the summer of Love, and spent the first few years of my life in the Viet Nam era, completely oblivious to what was happening in my country.  Only much later in life had a discovered that the older brother of my babysitter had fought and died in that debacle.  One day the family was no longer there, and there was only the hint of something amiss, as my father had helped his father move some heavy furniture and I stood on and watched as my mother briefly hugged his mother as she cried.  But in my youthful ignorance I thought little of it.
Perhaps it sounds like a digression, but I relay this story only to emphasise my blissful ignorance.
Part of the 2.5 child generation, I grew up under the influence of such pop culture (the cavalcade of cartoons not withstanding)  as the "Brady Bunch" and "The Monkees" influencing my perceptions.  Now they say "It takes a village to raise a child" I have to add to that,  it depends on the villages priorities!  Somewhere along the line we have developed into a culture that not only tolerates children's disrespect, and delinquency, but promotes it!  As parents we have become TERRIFIED to discipline our children.  Long gone are the days when Mom or dad would swat the bottom of a tantrum throwing toddler in the groceries store isle for fear some well intended (but completely misguided) busybody would report the parent as abusive.  So what are we left with?  Tyring to shop whilst some 5 year old terror SCREAMS at his mom that "shes a bitch!" because she won't buy him chocolate covered sugar bomb cereal! (real story, fake cereal name) and the mom, appearing to be in a drug induced coma stares on. 
Promotes it you say? yes.  Look at our current mass media fare.  Long gone are the strong parental roles, influencing the children with wisdom and wit. Nope, we are now relegated to the back ground, confounded and clueless, often fathers portrayed as dimwitted, and mothers at their wits end (OK there is some truth in that last part) And the kids? trash talking, fad enforcing, fashion wearing gangsters.  (historical side note: this whole  overexposed fashion of men wearing there pants below their ass cheeks exposing their boxers?  Well that "fashion" was developed in our prison system.  It signified that the individual wearing there pants thus was the property, and there fore under the protection of another inmate.  In short, he was their "woman".  A fact that had not escaped the attention of some prisons, hence why many of them now clothe their detainees in 1 piece jumpers!  So I guess those of you wearing your pants this way are  "Looking for love in all the wrong places". )  It has become socially acceptable for our children to not only disrespect and argue with there parents but in most cases consider them obsolete and ineffectual.
See, growing up, I was no angel, but I knew the boundaries.  You didn't go in your parents room, (and in my case you NEVER went into the formal living room, without permission) there was an invisible boundary in our neighborhood that was never to be crossed!  And you just knew it!  Why? because all the other kids in the neighborhood followed the same unwritten laws!  And you knew if you pushed it your folks WOULD find out!  It didn't happen often for me, but every now and then, I'd get bent over dads knee, or get the hairbrush and that's all it took!  The fear of having to endure that (not to mention the fact that I HATED to disappoint my dad) kept me in line (mostly).  And I know that's what went on in other houses in my little "Cul-de-sac" life!  But as I said no longer.  States and agencies, psychologists, therapist and whinny talk show hosts have taken the control from the parents hands and FIRMLY placed it in that of the children.  "you spank me, and I'll call someone!"  But  those "experts" CAN NOT tell you how to discipline your children effectively, nor can they offer any help.  Their answer, blame the parents when the children get in trouble, then wait until the children hit 18 and screw up, then lock 'em away!
Well I'll take my cues from the Fonz in a poignant episode of "Happy Days" who informed Richie that in short "people have to KNOW you can fight to be afraid to fight you"
Now I will never win father of the year, but I know a few things.  It takes spending time with a child, taking interest in what interests them, setting examples "walking the walk" to show them the proper way to be.  And I rarely have to spank, because I already have, and they remember that.  They know "the LOOK" and heaven forbid dad or mom start counting to five. Fear.  Plain and simple. But...sometimes, all of that is not enough.  Sometimes, it takes "a trip to the woodshed" to bring the point home.
And that brings me to my point of all of this.  To hell with the establishment, sometimes the old ways are the only way.  Lately, when I get home I put what pocket cash i have in my "safe" place and think nothing of it, but a couple of days ago I brought  the money for the light bill home, planing to pay it in the am. The next morning whilst handing over the cash to pay I came up $20.00 short?  I knew it was all there wrapped in the bill the night before.  Maybe I miscounted.  Well that evening not being a very trusting soul, I counted my re-maining cash before putting it away, and wrote down the amount (I don't have the best memory) sure enough the next morning $20.00 was gone! I asked Angela if she needed to use any the night before, she said no.  Well being a sucker for punishment, I tested it again the next night, same result $20.00 gone!  Well needless to say at this point I went ballistic!  There is one thing I will not tolerate and that's a thief, especially one that steals from family!  So I went through the whole "I didn't do it!" "it wasn't me!" shtick, to no avail. Well I didn't have to wait long as the culprit was shortly revealed, by an unlikely source.  One of his "friends" happened to come into the shop looking to see if he could get a job here to earn the kind of money_____ earned!  My wife inquired as to what money, and he answered the cash that________ has every day.  SO, this has apparently been going on longer then I've noticed.  Well with this info in mind I "expressed" my disappointment.
Now I do not condone abuse or excessive dominant discipline, but sometimes you have to "show" them the boundaries, and when NOT to cross!
And to those of you who may display disgust at my methods or not share  in my approach I respect your opinion as your own.  However I have NO desire to have to visit ANY of my children through a glass wall, as they sit behind bars because I was to afraid, or failed to show them that "this is the line DO NOT cross it!