For me as a child making the transition into my teens in a large family, competition between the 8 sons was fierce, as was family discipline for misconduct as dispensed with military regularity by my Mormon father with his belt. He took no joy in the procedure, and there was never any doubt that the beatings were well deserved.
So as one of the youngest sons, if it wasn't an older brother kickin my butt into line with their fists, it was my father with his belt. But at right about 12-13 years old my next older brother and I grew tired n sore from beating on each other and got into the habit of camping out in the local mountains on the weekends, and beating the local chaparral sumac bushes apart with bats at first, then machetes from the military surplus store.
There's a certain gleeful satisfaction derived from beating the holy hell outta something for a teenager, particularly a frustrated teenager IMO. Must be some kinda endorphins being generated in the brain when the beaten get to fight back n win, or something.
Teenage angst is most certainly nothing new under the sun, and neither are a few hyper and tightly wound elementary school kids IMO. I was one of them, crawling out doors and windows before I could even walk, stuttering when excited through all of elementary school, and getting in fights regularly when made fun of because of my speech impediment. But these were the 60's and drugs weren't dispensed to hyper kids in school, they just got their knuckles whacked with wooden rulers, their butts with paddles with consistency and regularity.
I guess the point I'm making here's that competition, even fierce competition that gets a little bloody's not necessarily a bad thing, perhaps even a good thing for a healthy hyper active child or teen. Physicality, who can jump the furthest, do the most pull ups n push-ups, box the best, climb the best, win the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
Let the kids n teens be kids n teens again. I believe they have an inherited need to beat the hell outta something, and depriving them of it can be detrimental to their health n well being.
What's your opinion, do we have an inherent need to smash things?
Jomo
So as one of the youngest sons, if it wasn't an older brother kickin my butt into line with their fists, it was my father with his belt. But at right about 12-13 years old my next older brother and I grew tired n sore from beating on each other and got into the habit of camping out in the local mountains on the weekends, and beating the local chaparral sumac bushes apart with bats at first, then machetes from the military surplus store.
There's a certain gleeful satisfaction derived from beating the holy hell outta something for a teenager, particularly a frustrated teenager IMO. Must be some kinda endorphins being generated in the brain when the beaten get to fight back n win, or something.
Teenage angst is most certainly nothing new under the sun, and neither are a few hyper and tightly wound elementary school kids IMO. I was one of them, crawling out doors and windows before I could even walk, stuttering when excited through all of elementary school, and getting in fights regularly when made fun of because of my speech impediment. But these were the 60's and drugs weren't dispensed to hyper kids in school, they just got their knuckles whacked with wooden rulers, their butts with paddles with consistency and regularity.
I guess the point I'm making here's that competition, even fierce competition that gets a little bloody's not necessarily a bad thing, perhaps even a good thing for a healthy hyper active child or teen. Physicality, who can jump the furthest, do the most pull ups n push-ups, box the best, climb the best, win the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
Let the kids n teens be kids n teens again. I believe they have an inherited need to beat the hell outta something, and depriving them of it can be detrimental to their health n well being.
What's your opinion, do we have an inherent need to smash things?
Jomo
