Still on about Daoism...

[woodf...@osu.edu]

I realize that we have basically covered every aspect of Daoism being
a laid-back, do-whatever-you-want kind of mentality. I was, however,
wondering how they discipline or even control their children if they
kinda just don't care what people do. The video that we watched in
class showed that one family with the "rocker son" and the mother and
father were ashamed of him. Do you think that Daoists would show some
sort of emotion if their off-spring strayed away from their beliefs
and concentrated on something else, say Confucianism? I'm not saying
that Daoists are some kind of emotion-less, empathetic sort of people,
but I was just wondering how they would handle a situation like that.
If they believe in "going with the flow," how would parenting and
child-rearing fit into this category in order to raise an ideal,
Daoist child?

[caldwe...@osu.edu]

Let him do things, with an eye kept on him, and let him learn from his
mistakes. People are much too over protective of their children these
days. My girlfriends mom basically makes my girlfriend a slave to her
little brother. She needs to get him water, lie with him before he
goes to sleep, even wipe his ass, and he is seven years old! As a side
note, I know for a fact he can do them himself. He is very lazy. I
don't believe what I see over there. If she doesn't do this, she gets
in trouble. Her mom tells her to clean the house, and when my
girlfriend does, she is yelled at for not cleaning it right.

Her mom is very controlling, and in the end, it REALLY hurts the kids.
Her brother might grow up thinking that women are slaves (Considering
he is the only boy in the house, and the women have to do his
bidding), or he could grow up to be even more lazy, etc. He tried to
get me a drink pouch in the fridge once, and accidentally knocked over
a glass of milk. Then him and my girl tried to clean it and got
yelled at for not doing it the right way. While she is certainly
entitled to raise her kids as she pleases, the little brother will be
lucky if he learns anything on his own. He is yelled at for doing
something himself, and his sister is yelled at for not doing it for
him.

Basically, back off of your kids. They WILL get hurt, they WILL get
sad, but dammit, they'll thank you a shitload when they're older.