I heard about a feature one of the local tv stations did on corporal punishment, recently. I was surprised that so many people were shocked. I mean this is JA!! When did folks get all antsy around whooping parents? Didn't everyone get a good buss ass growing up? But with the great USofA influencing everything we do here, well, it is expected. Ok, honestly, I think tying your child to a tree is a little much though. And using a sharp weapon to beat a child on its mouth is surely reason to give pause. Thinking of those extremes took me back to a thought I have very often in my line of work..."If fi yuh muuma tan so, an do yuh so all di time, wha really so gud inna badniss dat mek you keep doing dese tings?" I remember my mom beating me exactly twice and those were enough. She used a regular belt and I held out my hand and got slapped a couple times on my palms. After those times, there was no more funny business on my part. Nope, getting a beating scared me. Yup, I was a good child, very good child.
But these children. Nothing scares them into anything. I remember a boy a few years ago. If anyone ever accused his mother of not trying with him deserves to go directly to jail for even thinking that thought, let alone saying it out loud. She did everything the teachers asked. She attended every PTA. She sacrificed to ensured that he was exposed to things outside of her scope of life. She got him extra help in areas he did poorly. She sat him down and had really good heart to hearts. She checked up on him. She did everything to help him in school. But dat pickney did everything fi get and stay dungse. She paid attention to his nutrition. She tried everything. He wasn't a bad boy. Polite, even tempered, pleasant...a nice boy but he had absolutely no interest in anything schoolified. She even tried to get him involved in learning a skill, which is fine 'cause is not all of us did meant to turn docta, lawya or Indian Chief. Nothing she did made a difference to this boy. We told her, at last, to leave him alone. See if that would do anything. She tried that too. Not a difference. Guidance Counsellor get call in and all these things. Nothing!
And this woman seemed the epitome of patience. I was impressed. Yes, there was grumbling and admonishments from time to time, but patience was in the top slot. Until...one afternoon when she came to school to check with the teacher. Teacher explained how she had assigned some research from nineteen-how-long and guess who did not tell his mother about it? When asked why he had not mentioned it, the young man, politely, stated that she would have had him go to the library and then he had the nerve to shrug!!! Well, Mommy got into one piece of rage and walked out of the school. A few minutes later, she returned with a piece of board. An old, rotted looking thing she clearly grabbed from a dumpster and whopped the boy a rahtid lick. Everybody stunned. Nobody moved for a few seconds and all of her frustration poured out through her hands, to the board and clobbering rained down on the boy. Head, foot, shoulder, back, shin, toe, chest...there was no part of him that didn't get at least two good licks with that board. Even the students who enjoyed witnessing a proper buss-assing stood there is stunned silence, immobile with shock. Nobody expected it. But the look on the boy's the face was priceless. He was so staggered that he couldn't even stagger. I am not sure how long it went on before one of the braver teachers ran in and pulled him away. However, in the minute or so, dat boy get some bitch lick.
I am sure you all know what a difference that whopping made. What impression it made on the boy...Yup!!! You guessed it. NOT A DAMN DIFFERENCE. He stopped by the school last year and I asked him how it was going. He said: "Mi still gimme mada a little trouble but not nuff, really. And she still deh pon mi case. She alright man." He smiled and went on his way, happily.
But these children. Nothing scares them into anything. I remember a boy a few years ago. If anyone ever accused his mother of not trying with him deserves to go directly to jail for even thinking that thought, let alone saying it out loud. She did everything the teachers asked. She attended every PTA. She sacrificed to ensured that he was exposed to things outside of her scope of life. She got him extra help in areas he did poorly. She sat him down and had really good heart to hearts. She checked up on him. She did everything to help him in school. But dat pickney did everything fi get and stay dungse. She paid attention to his nutrition. She tried everything. He wasn't a bad boy. Polite, even tempered, pleasant...a nice boy but he had absolutely no interest in anything schoolified. She even tried to get him involved in learning a skill, which is fine 'cause is not all of us did meant to turn docta, lawya or Indian Chief. Nothing she did made a difference to this boy. We told her, at last, to leave him alone. See if that would do anything. She tried that too. Not a difference. Guidance Counsellor get call in and all these things. Nothing!
And this woman seemed the epitome of patience. I was impressed. Yes, there was grumbling and admonishments from time to time, but patience was in the top slot. Until...one afternoon when she came to school to check with the teacher. Teacher explained how she had assigned some research from nineteen-how-long and guess who did not tell his mother about it? When asked why he had not mentioned it, the young man, politely, stated that she would have had him go to the library and then he had the nerve to shrug!!! Well, Mommy got into one piece of rage and walked out of the school. A few minutes later, she returned with a piece of board. An old, rotted looking thing she clearly grabbed from a dumpster and whopped the boy a rahtid lick. Everybody stunned. Nobody moved for a few seconds and all of her frustration poured out through her hands, to the board and clobbering rained down on the boy. Head, foot, shoulder, back, shin, toe, chest...there was no part of him that didn't get at least two good licks with that board. Even the students who enjoyed witnessing a proper buss-assing stood there is stunned silence, immobile with shock. Nobody expected it. But the look on the boy's the face was priceless. He was so staggered that he couldn't even stagger. I am not sure how long it went on before one of the braver teachers ran in and pulled him away. However, in the minute or so, dat boy get some bitch lick.
I am sure you all know what a difference that whopping made. What impression it made on the boy...Yup!!! You guessed it. NOT A DAMN DIFFERENCE. He stopped by the school last year and I asked him how it was going. He said: "Mi still gimme mada a little trouble but not nuff, really. And she still deh pon mi case. She alright man." He smiled and went on his way, happily.