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Teach Your Children Well......
Kids have always gotten into trouble. There is not a time in our history when this was not true. Whether they were just going through a phase, experimenting, fighting the system, or simply trying to find themselves; the end result usually is the same. They get themselves in a big mess based on their actions. But for many of today's kids, these "growing pains" antics that have been generational have taken on a level of seriousness, including acts of unprecedented violence, like we have never seen before. The days when a teenager would come home with alcohol on his or her breath pales in comparison to recent stories of murder and mayhem that seem commonplace in today's headlines.
How did we get to the point where a child would brutality murder her grandparents, who were apparently, the only people on this earth that still cared for her? How is it that kids taking guns to school is no longer a big story? In days gone by, arguments among kids were sometimes settled on a schoolyard with fisticuffs. We now live in a time where those same arguments are settled by drive by shootings. The Columbine High School shooting should have been a wake up call for all of us. But, despite the evidence that this incident has provided to all of us about the mindset of some of our children, many of us are still dozing in the comfort zone with a "my kids would never do such a thing" attitude.
Most of us who are over 35 or so were raised in manner that we did not necessarily agree with. In fact, how many of us have proclaimed that we would never raise our children the way that we were raised? Discipline has never been the best friend of a kid. But perhaps based on memories of our own childhoods, we have gone too far in trying not to become our parents. Have second chances, third chances, and even more in some cases that we never got, caused our kids to fail to understand that there is a consequence for everything that they do? Our kids are so used to these second chances, that they think the world really operates in that fashion. Maybe it is time to realize that our parents were smarter than we thought. We may not have liked it then, but maybe their philosophies are just what we need today. Maybe our kids would be better off with a mom and dad who tried harder at being parents than trying to be their kid's best friend.
There are many factors that are more prevalent in today's society that surely have led to the increase in crimes committed by children. Many are sociological such as the decrease in the traditional family unit, an economic strategy that includes two parents working which in turn has provided us with so many latchkey kids who are literally on their own for large parts of their day, and most certainly the youth gang phenomenon that has to be one of the greatest risks that our kids will ever face. Other factors such as the level of exposure to violence through television, movies and music, and life in general has to have had an effect on our young people. Violence that we see from around the world on our televisions every day, as well as, lingering 9-11 memories have to be dealt with when it comes to our children's comprehension of these atrocities.
This is not an easy time to raise a child. This is not an easy time to be a child. But, the situation that we find ourselves is not hopeless by any means. There are so many great kids out there who are doing all the right things and continue to give us hope about our future. This is a time where we can no longer afford to be absentee parents. It is imperative that you know where your kids are, who they are with and what they are doing. If we fail at this responsibility, and it is a responsibility, we know how tragic the consequences can be. All of the excuses in the world will not comfort us when the headline we read carries the name of our child.
For further information, visit www.voice4victims.com
If you are interested in having Mr. Hall speak at your next club or group meeting, please email contact information to:
SHallBadgeNotes@aol.com
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