"Training"

Why is it that people get upset if you say something about "training" a child?  Why do they get offended and say things like "that is degrading; children are not dogs!"

What is training?  Is it not, at it's simplest definition, instructing someone or something in a particular area?

Yes, we train dogs.  We train them to not urinate or defecate in our homes, but rather do those sorts of things outdoors.  We train them to come, to sit, to stay, to walk politely on a lease.  We train them to not bark at everything under the sun.

We also train horses.  We train them to walk nicely on a lead rope and not bulldoze their handler.  We train them to carry riders, or to pull carts.

We adults typically are 'trained' when we start a new job.  We don't just jump full-bore into a new work environment without going through a training or orientation session first.

So why can't we refer to teaching our children as training them?  It's not diminishing their value to speak as such.  Nor is it degrading to their little psyches.  It's just the plain truth.  We are teaching--training--them how to behave in an acceptable manner in a variety of situations.  Otherwise, how are they ever going to know how to get along in this world?

I was trained. I have trained my kids.  I am training my grandkids.  I'm not going to put some other modern day mumbo-jumbo politically correct, don't-dare-offend-anyone sort of phrasing to it.


(End rant)