This used to happen a lot:
Polimom (6:30 pm): Adorable Child (AC), I’ll let you watch television until 7 pm,, at which time you have to turn it off and do your homework. I won’t let you watch tv for the rest of the week if you don’t.
AC: OK, mom.
Polimom (6:55 pm): AC, you have five minutes ’til the tv goes off.
AC: OK, mom.
Polimom (7:15 pm): AC, it’s past time. I asked you to please turn off the tv and do your homework.
AC: But MOOOOMMMMMMM! It’s almost over!!! Five more minutes… please??????
Polimom: Sigh…. Okay… as soon as it’s over. (What time is it over?)
I’m betting every parent out there knows how the (lack of) technique described above worked out, and I’m happy to say it goes rather differently now:
Polimom (6:30 pm): AC, the tv goes off at 7 so you can do your homework.
AC: OK, mom.
7:00 pm: Silence from the den.
AC (7:30 pm): I’m done now with my homework, mom. Can you look it over, please?
This miracle in behavior did not come about because I continued to extend deadlines or overlook lines I’d drawn in the sand. It just doesn’t work that way. However, the battles that ensued during the brief time it took to correct her behavior were ugly.
Polimom (6:30 pm): At 7 pm, the television goes off and you do your homework. If the tv is still on at 7:01, the tv stays off for the rest of the week.
AC (7:01 pm): NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So what’s different here?
Rice, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said Washington would continue to push the world body to impose sanctions against Iran after it failed to heed an August 31 U.N. deadline to give up enrichment activities.
“The international community also has a credibility issue. We said as of August 31 suspend (enrichment) or we will pursue sanctions. We are talking to our partners about that course,” Rice said in an interview with CBS.
Or here?
The French leader is balking at the U.S. drive to sanction Iran for defying Security Council demands that it freeze uranium enrichment.
“Should they continue to stall,” Bush said of Iranian leaders, “we will then discuss the consequences of their stalling.” The president, speaking after his meeting with Chirac, said those consequences would include the possibility of sanctions.
Chirac proposed on Monday that the international community compromise by suspending the threat of sanctions if Tehran agrees to halt its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations. The U.S. and other countries fear Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its uranium enrichment program is to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
Answer: nothing.
Sadly, nothing. The U.N. is treating Iraq the same way the U.N. did Iran. Threat after resolution and threat with nothing ever done, forcing the U.S. and 30 other nations to band together to remove the crook from power. Of course, just like Capone in the 20’s, he’s paid off or threatened the judge running his trial. Let’s see how that turns out.
The U.N. no long risks being considered “irrelevant.” It is. And yet we pour more and more into that bottomless (and thankless) money pit! We should stop funding it and all the other money-sucking entities we fund.
Use the money and manpower to protect our borders; to get built the darn dikes protecting New Orleans; to feed and cloth our poor children; and to provide FREE education through four years at university. (If you want to go to Harvard or Rice, fine you pay for it but) EVERY CHILD in the U.S. deserves the chance to attend at no charge a trade school if that’s their calling, or university for a chance at an associate and/or a bachelor’s degree.
Stop lining the pockets of the crooks of the world and turn this nation back into the leader in higher education. Give our grandkids, and their kids more hope for education without having to have holes blown in them and be mangled to take “advantage” of G.I. benefits.
Sorry, it’s been a tough day. How can people not love, cherish, and care for babies, from birth through 21 years or forever if they are yours? All these babies born in the U.S., we have the resources to care for them and educate them. They shouldn’t feel pressured to turn to crime. Are those, our, babies not more important than these two-bit Napoleon or Saladin want-to-bes??
Edit first sentence to say: Sadly, nothing. The U.N. is treating Iran the same way the U.N. did Iraq.
No, the difference here is that you have the power to pull the plug on the TV. Your threat was not empty or powerless, as is the UN’s. Poor AC had no wild Koreans or Spamsnackistanians to provide TV access, as Iran would have from non-UN members even if somehow all the UN members managed to agree to sanctions. And AC did not have a collection of TVs stockpiled against the day when you might flip the switch on her.
Similarly, you had the *sole* power to pull the plug on theTV, and it was not a matter for debate in which a PoliOther might decide that you were being a bit harsh. This is the principle of parents sticking together on discipline issues. If Mom says “NO” and other parent/grandparent/babysitter/whatever says “Well, just this once but don’t tell your mom,” the whole power thing goes right out the window. Thus, the trick is to achieve group consensus before making a threat; do your debate behind closed doors and agree to agree on something, even if it’s a compromise.
World parenting skills…. Clearly the UN needs family counseling.