Lately, I have been reading too many news stories about an old man man exhibiting the following behaviors: frequent temper tantrums, angry outbursts and irritability, argumentativeness and defiance, destruction of property, serious rule violations, arguing with adults or refusing to comply with adults’ rules, being resentful or spiteful, often deliberately annoying others or becoming annoyed with others, and often blaming other people for one’s own mistakes or misbehavior.
Interestingly enough, I gathered these behaviors and conduct problems from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 and from a hospital in Philadelphia2, both of which were focusing on children, of course.
All of this reminded me of a poem by my grandfather-in-law, Pedro Rodríguez Miranda, which some of you might remember from the series of poems that I translated and published back in 2024 and 2025. You can read those poems here.
Here is the translated poem, followed by the original poem in Spanish.
Love and Discipline If love and discipline Do not walk together hand in hand, Love goes to bed late, While discipline goes to bed early. This moral binomial, Joined together like brothers, Should never be separated In our daily lives; One should not stay up late If the other goes to sleep early. Parents and grandparents, Because they are overly indulgent, Raise spoiled children, Turning our values upside down. That we are loving toward our children, PERFECT… But we must teach them What is right and what is wrong. If we forget what is right Because we are loving, We will shape within our homeland A defective adult.
El Amor y la Disciplina Si el amor y la disciplina No andan juntos de la mano, El amor se acuesta tarde, La disciplina, temprano. Este binomio moral Que se junta, como hermanos, No se debe separar En el vivir cotidiano; Que uno no se acueste tarde, Si el otro duerme temprano. Los padres y los abuelos Por ser muy consentidores, Crían niños malcriados Trastocando los valores. Que seamos amorosos Con nuestros niños, PERFECTO… Mas debemos inculcarles Lo correcto y lo incorrecto. Si olvidamos lo correcto, Porque somos amorosos, Forjamos en nuestra patria Un adulto defectuoso.
And because this person is apparently a Christian, it is probably good to remember what Paul told the Christians in Corinth. Paul was talking about the permanence of love compared to spiritual gifts and said the following:
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” —NKJV, 1 Corinthians 13:11
So, because of a lack of proper discipline, the child became a defective adult, and we are now paying the consequences.
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