Zoom-boing
Platinum Member
I 100% agree with that! Morality should always be taught to children, but on everything. I am still upset how the parents of the guy that killed in cold blood 4 officers and raped a 12 yr old, are making excuses for their monster son. Or the first reaction to the mother of the teenager that beat the shit out of his 80+ yr old bus driver, was to make excuses for her son.Yes it is but that's no excuse for parents to stop teaching morality to their children. The message gets through . . . . eventually. .
However, preaching mortality doesn't always have to stop at one point. I am going to preach to my kids not to drink, but in reality they will, so I will also preach to them what not to do when they drink. Trust me I am already preaching the value of waiting to my daughter, but in reality if she choose to be violated by a little punk then I pray to god she is smart about it. Funny thing I saw in school was the strict Catholic daughters turned out to be the biggest sluts!
Morality has to be taught to children. They may fight you tooth and nail but . . . they hear you. I try not to preach but to offer all sides of an issue and to listen, really listen, to what they are saying. Sometimes I just get a door slammed in my face (my youngest is 12 ) but sometimes . . . . I don't. Either way, right now at least, I know the message is getting through. Does that guarantee anything? Nope. But it sets a really solid foundation and that foundation gives them something to draw on when they do make their mistakes.
Don't be so sure about the 'but my kids will do this anyway'. I knew a family whose attitude was 'well, you're going to drink anyway so you may as well drink at home' when the kid was 17 years old. He's got a drinking problem now. Maybe he would have one anyway but had the parents set those boundaries and not condoned that behavior in their house . . . maybe he would have just experimented with drinking like other kids but not ended up having a problem later in life. I don't know. I think it's better to set boundaries. I do know that not all kids take that route; don't assume they will. All you can do is teach them well and be there to guide them when they make their mistakes. Some of the best lessons I've learned have been from my mistakes.
But in the end its up to the parents rather than society to teach your kids the "right" way.
Absolutely!! My kids will get mad at me and yell and say they hate me. I just tell them 'that's ok I'm not here to be liked, I'm here to teach you'. Then they get even madder at me. Parents need to step up and parent their kids instead of trying to be their friend. Sadly I find many parents today don't do this. They're doing a huge disservice to their kids.