Somewhere, somehow, as parents we lost something.
We lost something very important to our childrens’ futures.

Too many teenagers today are no longer inspired to achieve, they think work is a bad four letter word. They don’t have the hopes and dreams that we did. They do not respect their elders anymore, and see their parents as slaves.

Before you defend your ‘Johnny’, there are incredible exceptions, there are teenagers who are an inspiration to us all, but sadly they are in a very small minority. The high percentage of poorly motivated teens, becomes even more obvious in the lower income, or lesser educated, socio-economic brackets.

A cultural shift happened and we were so busy giving our kids a childhood, that we stopped doing our primary function as parents, helping them grow into adults and be independent.

What do you think would happen in nature if Eagle parents stopped encouraging their fledglings to fly? If those feathered parents protected the rights of their eaglets to remain children much longer, and kept them safely tied to the nest? Eagle populations would decline, parents would die exhausted from trying to supply enough food for their young adults, cleaning the nests would be impossible, overcrowding and eventually a weakening of the species with disease.

The first responsibility of any parent is to slowly, and without trauma, teach their fledglings the ability and desire to function as responsible adults. The second responsibility, is regardless of the circumstances of that parent, to inspire their children to dream – to want to achieve those dreams, and to do everything to encourage their children to fly.

Where did we lose it? Somewhere in the last two decades the western developed world changed. In an effort to curb child abuse, we went way too far! We stopped being parents, and started to become slaves to our children and giving them everything possible, whilst asking nothing in return. The developing countries did not, because they could not. It is indeed fortunate that we have not yet been able to replicate this insane parental paradigm onto the third world, or we would have an international disaster the size of which is unimaginable!

There is a difference between child abuse and child disciplines and responsibility. This has been often lost in modern parenting. Further consequences, are sometimes the lesson needed to help a child understand that what they are doing is wrong, or dangerous. The three times and you are out philosophy. After a warning, and a reprimand, there needs to be action if a child willfully continues to misbehave. This may be sending them to their room, or removing a pleasure like internet for a day, but it must be something that works.

There is a huge negative impact on children, and their parents, of overprotection and pandering to their every desire. As the children get older, into their late teens this becomes even more burdensome for parents, as demands increase, and behavior is very hard to change.

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