If that is what you think well maybe you should think again. If as a parent you are not exhausted, constantly learning, or hearing or seeing your kids mad at you, that maybe you need to examine the methods you are using. I am only saying this as a mother of many, and the many methods of challenges that they are facing and that are derailing our children from success.
I’m not a doctor or a psychologist just a mom who almost 10 years ago desired to know more and do more to raise my children. I’ve always said that a child is born to be loved and if they are not getting that love that they need than they will find it elsewhere and usually it transfers into the forms of issues we talk about, eating disorders, substance abuse, self harm, and the list goes on and on. Over the years we have watched the trends, the devastation that have hit families and they are starting earlier and earlier for today’s youth.
As parents our children need us to be just that “their parents” not their friend. And they need our guidance even though it may not look like it- they need us to establish rules, keep them, and follow through with them.
The rite of passage thinking, when it comes to underage drinking and experimenting with substances is something as parents we have to erase from our minds- It still amazes me when I hear parents say” you can’t keep a child from drinking in high school or college”, it’s going to happen”. Or it’s just marijuana- To me when I hear things like that I think” so you are just going to allow that to happen and do nothing. Let’s remember it is illegal first of all. Sometimes it is easier to look the other way, but raising kids in todays world- the price tag is too high. We can’t be ignorant, negligent, or lazy… Today we know more- today we can do more, so why not. Aren’t we the parents, don’t we create the environment that we are raising for our children, don’t we pay for everything. By no means do I endorse helicopter parenting, just evolutionary parenting. Parenting that starts educating our children through the modern day challenges and preparing them. Doing our part by monitoring their social media, drug testing them, and establishing rules to protect them is just part of it. It is called parenting- it’s takes a lot of work. The question we should all ask ourselves is “what if” what if I do nothing.
Kimberly Cabral
Founder of MASK
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