Who is responsible for the violence of our youth?
Youth violence has gotten totally out of control, with no one knowing what to do or how to control what is happening with our youth. Everyone is pointing the finger at the other. If we could only stop for a moment, and take a good look at what is happening within our homes, schools, churches, work places and government offices, we will see the real enemy that has taken control and that is the old devil himself. Yes, Satan has gotten control of every avenue of our children’s lives and we all are standing around and blaming each other for all kinds of things rather than seeing the real enemy of God and that is Satan. Satan knows that by spreading his violence among our youth, he can begin to penetrate Gods kingdom by causing them to become addictive to drugs, alcohol, joining gangs, killing each other, killing their parents, then committing suicide themselves. You see Satan truly has his game plan together, while we are sitting around blaming each other for the many evil deeds that our youth are committing. Some of us are locking ourselves within our homes afraid of our youth, afraid we might be next. It is a sad day in America when we as adults have become so fearful of our youth, when our future lies in the very ones we are fearful of. I do realize that some of our youth have gone astray and it should give us a very good reason to pause and take a good look at what is happening within our society as a whole.
Stop blaming and start acting...
There is enough blame to go around when some say that it is liberalism that has caused the violence. Others say that it is the removal of prayer from our schools. Some say it is the steady stream of violence we see in the movies, on the nightly news cast, on all sorts of TV programs and especially the video games.
There are still others who blame the government for overtaxing us, and forcing parents to have to abandon their children for the workplace. When it comes to youth using guns to settle their differences, there are those who would blame the gun manufacturers and the gun dealers. But no where do we see anyone taking responsibility for what has happened. Not the parents, schools, churches, business, government or the youth themselves. No, everyone wants to place the blame on someone else. It is time that we as parents begin to accept the major portion of responsibility and take control of our children’s lives and get the government out of our homes and bedrooms. We as parents are responsible for raising our youth and it does take the whole community to be involved and always willing to lend a helping hand.
It’s time for Parents to take a stand and fight a good fight...
When I was a youth living in a small town, everyone knew everyone and no one was ever afraid to correct us if they saw us doing something wrong. Today, if you correct a child when you see them doing wrong, you will have the parents knocking at your door for chastising their child. You might even have the police come calling on you, if you are lucky that the child has not shot and killed you. There is something badly wrong with this picture, but it is a true one today.
Another part of this problem of correcting children is some of the abuse that some parents have perpetuated upon their children that has caused the government to get more involved in our daily lives. We parents are responsible for our children and we must shoulder that responsibility with love, understanding and patience. Children can be a problem. There is much peer pressure on them. They want to fit in with their friends, therefore as a parent, we must try to understand their changing life style, and their growth hormones as they experience adulthood. We must treat them with respect, try and understand that they too do have problems and they may not always share those problems with us. But we must always be willing to put our arms around them and daily tell them that we love them, even though we may not be having the kind of conversation we would like to have with them. But I tell you that there is power in love. When our youth can feel within themselves that they are loved, it brings a much different kind of respect from them.
We must Stop abusing our children
We must stop abusing our children at home as well as in public. They have feelings too, and when we disrespect them in front of their peers with words and deeds, it brings out in them a disrespect for us as their parents. I am not advocating not punishing your children. But there is a right way and a wrong way to punish them when they do wrong. I see some parents slapping their children in the face when they think they are in the wrong. No matter whether they are home or in the general public, this shows disrespect for your children. To me, there is never a reason to slap a child in the face. This only shows your anger and lack of self control. When you do this you are abusing your child. You should never hit your child when you are angry, this only satisfies your anger and does nothing to correct the child’s behavior. When your child does wrong, you should chastise them no matter where you are, but when they are teenagers, you should have so trained them in such a way, that you could let them know of your displeasure, for whatever they have done wrong until such a time you can speak to them about it, and punish them for the act, if punishment is call for.
The Bible tells us that, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.” (Proverbs 15:1-2). Let us parents learn to become wise in dealing with our children, because our children are much wiser today than we were when we were youth. Therefore, we must deal with them with a wise heart and the spirit of the Lord dwelling within us. We as parents are responsible for raising our children and giving them all the love they deserve. Without our unconditional love they will go astray, commit crimes, get themselves killed or locked away in the prison system for ever. How we raise them as little children will determine their out come as young adults.
