Punish Child? Upbringing

An interesting question came up...
The asker was very sincere, concerned and genuine.
The question was,
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgDE6s6_K0bN6puVws06pYDsy6IX?qid=20060727073832AAvL3pn
"How do I get my 9 year old son to listen?
He is a good kid at heart, however, he is very stubborn, argumentative and has a hard time following rules. And when he is punished he can't stick to his punishment.What would be good punishment? How do i nip this in the bud? "

My answer:

"9 years is not a bud ! It is half way through. Not like old times, the child-like innocence is lost very soon in this generation. No harm really, but parents are on a real fast-fast-forward, as far as nipping at the bud is concerned. And the sprawling media content offers tremendous transparency regarding many things that hitherto youths could find for themselves only when they are on their own.Punishment would only foster hatred. The vulnerability of society for a city bred child is by itself a punishment in many ways. We have to participate meaningfully, intensely, wholeheartedly, communicative, and cheerfully, as much as possible (that is if children are really our priority !), in all their activities, and suggest options, explaining the consequences of their choices, and not in the least of all, admit our ignorances and failures, honourably and gracefully. "

Please give your comments ...

Eye ? Aye, Aye Sir !

As I write this blog, I feel really excited...
A question came up , which I awaited for a long time....
I enjoyed replying, and wonder whether I took care to ensure that it must evoke further queries, because, I do enjoy discussing it often !
I quote below the question and the answer I gave:

Question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060704055704AALZxYu&cp=2
Is it the eyes or the mind that see?
Lets assume eyes work the way science says. Surely your conditioning, knowledge and capacity for critical thinking reveals different aspects of simmilar input from person to person.

Answer:
I was really awaiting to 'see' this question, and was on the 'look-out' not to miss 'viewing' the question!! Thanks for asking....Also, a parallel question, where do you "hear" ? Well the answer is the same. The clue first.. (the clue would help really 'seeing/perceiving/looking-at/... the answer)... When you fall asleep, (mind you, some people CAN sleep with their EYES OPEN), how do you fail to hear(& perhaps see)?Now the answer... It is the energy in us (call it by any fanciful name like 'life', 'soul', spirit . .. anything), that actually enables us to use the organs to allow information to reach within us, where, as you rightly said, science will tell you which nerves etc will translate the message and compare it with your 'cognitive' faculties, compare / contrast etc with memory bank, and deliver it to the mind for its "judgement"(also called thoughts!).And shall I further raise a quarrel? A loose theory then(as I would like to call it!)......... What you ACTUALLY call as green MAY be my RED (as I see it) but we are comfortable, because all are TAUGHT to 'call' it so since we were toddlers !

Save a life or Lifetimes ?

One of the questions that tempted me to answer....
Quote:
have you ever saved anyones life?

My answer:

"Yes , it gives a tremendous boost to our ego..... But if you look deeper, real saving of anyones life happens when you help that person to understand(having understood for yourself first), the true purpose of life and help that person , persuade the person to work towards fulfulling it. I think this would save that person's MANY LIFETIMES (instead of just this life)!