By Roy Douglas Malonson
In today’s society, families are being divided more and more. Abraham Lincoln stated over 100 years ago that, “The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come”.
I was thinking the other day about the shape and condition of the future of our community when something suddenly dawned on me. I was a bit taken back by the fact that it is seldom that you find a child that says, “I want to be like my mother/father, grandmother/grandfather when I grow up.” Sometimes it is because the parents themselves don’t even want to be what they are. As parents, we should strive to be a role model for our children and those in the community as well. In the event that you are not able to, the least that you could do is take out time to stir up the best that you see within your child.
The thing is we have given our job over to television, internet, video games, and most of all the entertainment industry. Far and few in between are children succeeding in the industry of which their parents pursue. I’m not sure if this is accidental or a result of parents just being pure old lazy! It is something going on in our community; and the results have already created very harsh and damaging effects. Children have it a little too easy now a days. But I don’t blame them, it is the parent’s fault. Children can only do what they are allowed to.
Parents spend more time, money and energy investing in materialistic things, people, and otherwise when investing in the future of your child is far more rewarding. I was reared in an era where the elders had very little educational knowledge to pass on.. Wisdom is something that cannot be taught or passed down. Therefore the elders shared with us the knowledge, training, wisdom and understanding that they did have. Start showing them the value of money by making them work for it; in which case they will appreciate it more. Rather than just giving your child whatever he or she asks for just to get them out of your space is just not enough.
