I came across a tweet the other week that stirred up quite the storm.
The post showed a bunch of stats that didn't bode well for Gen Z, including some of the following (and I’m not kidding):
77% admitted to bringing a parent to a job interview
53% of parents spoke with a hiring manager on their behalf
73% of parents helped complete work assignments
45% regularly have a parent talk to their current manager
If these stats are true, then yikes.
How will the world look once these lightweights occupy positions of power?
Or maybe I’m overreacting.
Perhaps they’ll go on to do fine things like shut down nuclear weapon sites, call long-time enemies to the table, and sing Kumbaya that ends world conflicts.
Until it's been tried, there's no way of telling, right?
Sarcasm aside, like I said, this tweet attracted a lot of attention and among the hundreds of angry replies was an acronym that I had never seen before:
FAFO
I didn’t know whether this was Twitter-bro speech for something crude or an actual thing, so I did a sneaky Google search and very quickly learned what it stood for:
F**k Around and Find Out.
And going by the slew of videos and articles, I hastily learned it’s a style of parenting that does exactly what it says on the tin. However, instead of advocating physical abuse or backhanding, it encourages what it calls “an anti-coddling approach.”
Example:
If your kid refuses to wear a coat when it's raining?
Fine, get soaked then.
If they don't want to eat that home-cooked meal?
Fine, no dessert for you.
If they don't want to do the house chores?
No problem. Kiss bye-bye to TV time.
It's the style of parenting I personally grew up with, which was — admittedly — far more lenient than what generations before me had to endure. It's also the style of parenting Lady Laura and I had always intended to adopt for Master Liam and Master Nathan long before we learned of this FAFO malarky.
Some might see this as abuse or an overstep of power.
To those fine folks, I politely say this:
Piss off.
What we do with our kids is none of your concern.
We don’t want to raise keyboard warriors who cannot argue without getting the shakes. No, we want to put out two competent, capable, and compassionate men into the world that go on to do good work wherever it leads them — and I sure as hell won’t apologise for that.
One way or another, kids will be humbled.
It’s unavoidable.
I’d just prefer it if some of that humbling comes through parents, as the greater world at large will not give two figs about their feelings, whereas we do.
Life will surely dish out its licks still, but at least they will have skin to withstand them.
What does all of this mean for you, my ever-loyal Legionnaire?
Honestly, that’s up for your interpretation.
I will leave you with this, though:
FAFO finds us all eventually — kids and adults alike. But it also finds characters in our fiction as well (albeit, in the worst imaginable ways, otherwise it would bore the socks off of us).
Darius in The Divided Region is no different.
Sure, awful things happen to him that have nothing to do with his actions (like Chapter 1 of Exiled).
Life happens, after all.
Then there are the awful things that occur because of his choices, like those in Chapter 14 of the same book.
I will not spoil it for fresh recruits, but I’ll say that what ends up happening in this chapter is the ultimate form of FAFO anyone foolish enough to be a thief could encounter in a medieval world where hands are chopped off for less.
Curious to read more?
Head on here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/Exiled
DJJW