It Takes Who To Raise A Child?

"It takes a village to raise a child," says Hilliary Clinton. Yeah right. That is just an excuse to let parents believe it's not their fault their kids are growing up to be hoodlums and gang-bangers. It's a term to push the blame off of the parents and push it on to society. Society has failed your child? Give me a break. It's clearly everyone else's fault but your own that your kid is the reason I lock my car doors at night and deadbolt our house.

Believe it or not, I don't blame the children (as much as the parents) for behaving like idiots. Look at what their parents aren't monitoring. I challenge anyone to convince me that what our children see on television does not influence them in any way. The television, video games and internet have taken over playing baseball and building forts. Everyone loves their digital cable with hundreds of channels and their internet that allows them to browse from one website to another in a fraction of a second. What parents don't realize, is that when they use those to "babysit" their kids instead of playing catch or riding bikes with them, their kids are watching programs that even they wouldn't want to watch because of the vulgarity/sex/violence. The video games these days have ratings that explain exactly what kind of content is in them. Do you think parents even look at the rating of the game when purchasing it for their kids...I think not. Take notice of the amount of kids that play Grand Theft Auto, and still tell me that their parents monitor their activities.

Kids don't have real role models any longer. The role models I had while growing up consisted of Michael Jordan, Nolan Ryan, and yes even the President of the United States. Kids today think President Bush is an idiot and a liar. Yup, their parents are teaching them that the president of the greatest nation in the world is an idiot and a liar. Who do kids these days idolize? Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Hugh Hefner and Britney Spears. Hollywood drama and smut have taken over every news channel, television station and internet site. You can't look anywhere without hearing about Lohan's drug problems, or flip through the channels without seeing Hugh Hefner exploit all of his girlfriend(s) on national television, or even go to your favorite search engine without seeing some article about the next tragic event in celebrity X's life. Why is this? Is it because America is so indulged in our pop culture, that this IS who we want our kids idolizing. I for one, do not. I couldn't care less about Anne Nicole Smith or even want my kid to know who she is or was, much less hear that name every day for 4 months. I don't wish death on anyone (maybe every terrorist or dictator in the world), but when you live a lifestyle like she did, you can not feel bad for her. Her death was front page news for months...why? You mean to tell me that there was no more important news to report than the death of Anne Nicole Smith for 4 straight months?

It is definitely harder today than ever to raise your child. There is no question about that. It takes a lot of dedication to make sure your young one isn't exposed to the things that he/she shouldn't be exposed to. That's what being a parent is all about however. Teaching your child about what's right and what's wrong is very important. God knows that there are plenty of examples out there of what's wrong. Teaching your child how to make the most of himself/herself is what will ensure their success later on down the road. Unfortunately, I have seen horrible parenting in our society. Some things that I have seen just out in public are enough to confirm my thoughts on that.

It doesn't take a village to raise a child. It takes parents to raise a child. Teach your kids right from wrong. Spend time with them. Love them and give them morals. Show them what it means to be good citizens. Don't pawn them off every chance you get. Monitor what they are doing and watching. If this is too much to handle, then by all means, do not have children.