- You should know where your kids are at all times. With cell phones as cheap as they are there should be no excuse to not know where they are. Due to some peoples opinion, you as parents have a right and an obligation to check up on them if there is even a slight doubt. Their right to privacy takes second seat to your obligations as a parent.
- You should know who your kids are with. You should meet all friends they are hanging out with, and preferable their parents also. As kids they are subject to all sorts of peer pressure just as we were as kids; do you not want to know who is putting pressure on your son or daughter. Again, you are the one in control of them, you are the boss. When your child tells his buddy he can not hang with them because of _______, and other parents are doing the same, it causes that one bad seed to re-look at himself and become affective by positive peer pressure.
- Keeping them in school. Education can not be stressed enough, it is true that knowledge is power. An educated and informed mind, makes educated and informed decision. I have shown my kids that no matter what job/career they choose, that a college level education is a must: ranching=Ag business or ag science, fireman=fire science, military=engineering, political science, management, etc.
- Enforce value. Live your life like you are under the microscope. I think we as parents tend to forget that we are our children's biggest role models. We all know what is right and what is wrong, how we should act and not act and to remember that little things count as a role model; i.e. *clerk gives you too much change, let them know they made a mistake and return it. Is taking something that does not belong to you stealing? *Treat people with respect, sir/ma'am, especially our elders. What I practice is, I treat everyone I meet as a person who deserves my respect until proven otherwise; whether they are a panhandler or a businessman. *Be charitable. Although I do not usually hand out money to panhandlers, I do keep cans of Pork-n-Beans in my truck to hand out. There is an old saying that you should not judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. Everyone deals and handles dilemmas in their life differently, so am I to judge. Maybe giving a can of beans to someone is not much, but maybe that is dinner for them tonight. Plus the lesson it teaches my kids.
- Living responsibly. Show your kids that good old fashion hard work is the most rewarding way to earn things in life. Nothing comes easy. In early American, there was a lot of farms where kids could learn the ethics of hard work and the rewards for it. As we become more of a nation of city and urban dwellers there is less for kids to do around the home, but it is still no reason to just give everything to our children. What I am about to say is truly going to shock a lot of people...around the home cell phones, Internet, televisions, game stations are a luxury, that are not a necessity. We can use items as these for rewards for keeping their room clean, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn/lawn work, good grades. When a person has earned an item or reward they are more apt to take care of it and willing to work for more. I have taught my kids their whole like that there is consequences for all decisions they make in life; there are good consequences and their are bad consequences.
What does all this have to do with the reduction of drugs, it is about getting down to the grass roots, our children. Staying involved in their lives. No matter what your socio-economic backround is the important thing is being their parents and role models, not their buddy; or occasional parent. If we keep them on this path, they will learn through us that drugs are not an answer.
Americans have been given one vice and that is alcohol in all its' various forms, we do not need anymore. Getting America away from
No comments:
Post a Comment