Know difference – when to protect and when to punish

When do you protect your kids and when do you punish them?

Parent of the year #1 Jane Hambleton

Ft Dodge, Iowa

Son got car – 19 – 2 rules

Keep it locked and no alcohol in the car

Mom found booze – sold the car

Son hacked off – was not his booze, disrespect, etc

But Mom held firm in withering criticism

Parent #2 – Brian Blank

Son Joseph, 17, and 5 other kids broke into 150 cars over Thanksgiving weekend

Took all kinds of stuff

Brian found the stuff in son's possession – and some came clean

Poured out his heart

Brian told him he had no choice – come clean to the cops

Now faces 11 felony counts and 5 years max for each of those

Lots of press in Atlanta – letters and blogs – crush the boys

They are white, upper class, athletes – nice suburb

Folks want blood

But what interests me is that these stories got press coverage

Parents actually did right thing – held kids accountable

And it made news ! Are you kidding?

Is it that rare now to set standards and then enforce them for kids

As pastor, seen it millions of time – kid arrested for drunk driving and parents get lawyer to obfuscate, obstruct, sidestep, loophole, pull favors

Instead of holding kids accountable

When kids mess up, time for parents to step up

Time for their character to show up and shine through

But somewhere along the way, most parents have become wusses

Not sure if they want to hide the shame from themselves

Or shield kids from any harm or punishment

Or don't want their own names sullied as if they could control everything their kids did

But holding kids accountable, letting behaviors have consequences not only helps kids, it makes them better

Protect them all the time, shield from consequences, gonna end up with self-entitled, self-absorbed jerks who go through life doing and taking as please

When do you protect and when do you punish?

Have you seen this happen in your own life?

Should these 6 boys face punishment or have they been punished enough?