Anyone who has ever raised a child knows that at some point you just have to let them cry themselves to sleep. If you do not at some point just ignore them and let them cry it out, they will cry every night until they get your attention. They do not do it because there is something wrong, they do it because they simply want your attention and they will scream, cry, pout until you give them attention, or you make them realize that their tantrum is not the way to obtain your attention.
Have you ever been in a public place and seen a ten-year-old throwing a tantrum? This is the product of the infant that does not learn to cry it out. When you see this happening most of us feel sorry for the parent, but we also understand that the reason this is happening is the parents’ fault. If they had only ignored them and let them cry them self to sleep as an infant, they would not be dealing with it today. Instead, they learned another lesson because of their environment, if I cry and throw a tantrum, I will get attention, which is their ultimate goal. You see, just like when they were an infant, they do not need anything they just desire to be the center of attention.
During a previous career it was to often that some weary parent of a teenager that was not forced to cry themselves to sleep would darken my door expecting me to do something thirteen years to late. It was usually the same conversation, I cannot control my child, I give them everything they want, and they just will not do what I tell them to do. My response was generally “well that is because you give them everything they want”, which they generally followed up with something like, “so you’re not going to help me”. I recall one occasion when a representative from a government organization called my office and asked, “Did you tell a teenaged boy that he needed his but busted?”. It seemed reasonable and my duty to respond honestly to them that day as I did the teenager on the previous occasion, but obviously it was not the woke thing to do. I am willing to bet the boy that called me that day probably did not get his but busted and is somewhere today satisfying his desire for attention as an adult by complaining about Speedy Gonzales, Green Eggs & Ham, or a statue.
The problem we face today is that these infants who were not afforded the “privilege” of crying themselves to sleep are still a ”woke”, crying, and are now the world’s problem. Furthermore, society continues the child rearing mistakes that their parents made when they were infants. We as a culture continue to run to the crib every time, they cry a little bit. I beg of you, for the sake of humanity, stop tearing down statues and banning books every time they whimper a little bit. Let them cry themselves to sleep. As each of your grandmothers would have said “just ignore them, they are ok, and they will fall asleep when they realize that’s not how you get what you want”.
