Kamishibai

A long time ago, society and parents guided their children with rules and consequences. Their hope was that even though they may not be the most popular parents in the world, maybe their offspring would still be productive members of society. Parents would admonish their young apprentices when errors in judgement were made and even people in public wouldn't hesitate to stop inappropriate behavior of adolescents. Society as a whole did not want anarchy and lawlessness dominating life and preventing communities from functioning safely and productively!

But, let us examine society in the year 2007 and a middle class family with a pre-pubescent boy. The boy, like most young people, felt the need to challenge society and boundaries on occasion. He would do things like draw pornography on school work and turn it in to the teacher or pilfer the occasional candy bar. Once he had been caught spray painting nonsense on the local sidewalk. The mother and father felt that treating this child as an adult was the best policy for discipline and they discussed his errors in judgement at length. They wanted to empathize with him and be his best friends and confidants. Why use discipline when he obviously is acquiring the body of a young man, he must have an adult mind already that can be reasoned with?? Drugs like Ritalin will help his behavior and jumpstart his drug habit right?"We are your peers young man" they would consistently demonstrate to him. "We can't control what you do and chose not to participate in guiding you down the right path of behavior. "We will give you free reign to roam the streets and learn about what life has to offer through your own means"!

"Good luck son"

One night, the parents went out on the town. They had very important business to attend to and did not feel the need to make sure that their headstrong son was involved in some community hobbies like sports,school work,religion,pets (have you noticed that kids prefer cold electronic comfort to the friendly furry type?),reading,mentoring etc...... Well, the young man was so grateful for this lapse in judgement that he gathered a bunch of his friends together with air guns and promptly, yet stealthily went on a rampage throughout the local community. They gleefully blew out the windows of several businesses and were even generous enough to pick some panes larger than others. In one night, they cost local business owners $1000's of dollars,copious amounts of valuable time, and grief (that the businesses probably would have preferred to spend on their own adolescent children)! A misguided young man is loose on the streets and the community is SHATTERED!!