The other night, after consuming far more than the recommended serving size of an edible, I started to reflect on some of my recent articles. In my cloud of high and very judgmental thoughts, I came to the conclusion that I've been getting soft. I write one piece on the evolution of the Instagram model, get 1400 views (half of which were most likely bots), and all of a sudden, I think I'm hot shit.
It's time that I get back to my roots. I didn't get into this business for the fame. I started this mediocre passion project to give the people what they need - the hard truths of life. I'm addicted to gathering and dispersing information that would otherwise go undiscovered. I'm also addicted to drugs and alcohol, but I'll save that for next week's meeting.
The point I'm trying to make is that I've lost that gritty, investigative journalist side of me. To change that, I decided to put on my big boy journalist pants and dive back into the trenches.
I wanted to have this story be both hard-hitting and something that could resonate with the common folk. More importantly, I wanted to get a feel for how people were adjusting their parenting during this time of COVID-19.
I don't have any kids of my own, but I have had my fair share of close calls. I learned that no matter how far past the 72-hour limit you are, the right dosage of Plan B will just about always take care it. Despite this, I still wanted to understand the perspective of a parent. So, I hatched up a plan to go undercover in the world of parenting.
In order to infiltrate the subject matter, I knew I would have to make it believable enough that I had kids. I created an alter ego in the form of a second Reddit profile, because what better way to get a feel for common folks than Reddit? My biggest problem, though, was my lack of Karma points. To mask the smell of narc, I built the perfect parent profile:
I then found a subreddit dedicated to parents raising children. My goal was simple: Create an environment where people felt comfortable to discuss the topic of bullying your own children. It’s a topic that the PC journalist community refuses to touch, but why? Bullying is just as much a part of school as the curriculum they follow. Sure, some parents are covering the homeschooling aspect of things, but what are they doing to make sure their kids don’t become soft as pudding? After taking to the streets of Reddit, this is what I found:
As expected, I was immediately met by the PC parenting police who were there to pass judgment on alternative parenting.
After being attacked, a reasonable person finally came out of the woodwork:
She made a valid point. Maybe I was overthinking bullying my non-existent children. Perhaps there was a better way to go about this. But how? Luckily for me, my questions were answered:
So what did I learn in my investigation? First, I think I provided an incredible mental exercise for these parents. Their mob reaction proved that each and every one of them still had an inner bully. Chances are they were already subconsciously bullying kids, but if they could just channel that into a more conscious effort, the next generation's mental would be Teflon.
Second, were the foster kids. Do it yourself, and people will certainly attack you. Why risk jail time when there's a much more efficient way? By taking in a couple of fosters, you become the neighborhood hero while simultaneously outsourcing the bullying to a 3rd party; A party that can teach your kids a lesson on what a tough life actually looks like. In the end, if I can help just one parent, this will all be worth it. If we continue down this path of participation trophies, more and more apps like Tik Tok will become successful. For future generation's sake, I beg of you to please bully your children.
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