I saw a staggering report on the news of a nationwide bust of teen and CHILD SLAVERY AND PROSTITUTION. Defining characteristics and reasons for a youth to run away varies but reports are that runaways represent a full range of backgrounds. This includes all ethnicities, single and two-parent households and all socio-economic brackets from privileged and middle class to homeless families.
I had NO idea this problem was so large in this country! We’re talking over 2 million children and teens a year! I understand now why some parents of missing children ‘hope’ their child is at least still alive and, at worse, in some slavery/prostitution situation! It’s a fricking ‘way of life’… it’s own demographic!
Knowing where your child is at all times does seem to be a tall order especially if they have determined they want to run away but I beseech parents to give it all you’ve got and to pre-emptively strike against these outcomes with the emotional love tether of the parent/child bond. This tether, if weak now, can be strengthened with an ongoing, STRONG verbal and non-verbal communication program of BALANCED praise, discipline, affection and attentiveness. Twenty percent of teens running away or being asked to leave the home is OUTRAGEOUSLY weak, lazy parenting!
Some teens feel they simply must go because of abuse and/or neglect… That’s understandable but we simply MUST shore this problem up. We are the guardians of our future (our children), the direct descendants of God.
If there is a hell, do we really want to go there because we took our role so lightly?
What is the importance of having your kids ‘do it now’ when you ask them to so something?
Doing it now trains them to respond in the moment. Responding in the moment sets them up for success in their eventual academic and professional endeavors.
They’ be auto-responsive to deadlines set for educational and professional assignments. They’ll be auto-responsive to the needs of their loved ones.
Ex. "Do I get a job now or manana?", "Do I get up for work now or hit the snooze button 4 times?", "Do I pay my bills now or wait past the last minute?"
There are serious repercussions to "I’ll do it later" when important issues are at stake. What do you think about this?
While we’re on the subject of ‘Work’ aka ‘Creating’ let me briefly remind #17 of my ’20 Tips for Better Management of Your Teen’: ‘Explain why ‘work’ is to be an expression of their Joy and NECESSARY for their happiness. Plant the seed of creating as a means of happiness in and of itself rather than doing it just for the money.
– It will strike a chord for them because they will feel the truth of it intuitively from their own limited experience.
– Creating their own enterprise (which is how this country was built and the direction to which it is returning) will be a natural alternative and – NECESSARY for their happiness because creating is inherit in the character of a being human. We are creating at all time anyway, may as well be something that gives them(us) Joy AND money.
Like the ‘sex talk’, the ‘creating talk’ needs to be ongoing and woven into the fabric of your conversations with them periodically. How good are you at these conversations? How good are you at seeing the Joy in your current working, creating situation?
Sex Sells Our Young Fledglings right down the river. Our brilliance as humans is dusted over by the call of the wild. Sex is our brilliance handicap.
Don’t get me wrong. I totally understand how important procreation and recreation is. I simply object to the dumbing down the sex hormones play on us…starting at puberty.
Here, again, at puberty, is the time to remind your child of how brilliant they are and how this stage of their development is to be ‘mastered’. Emphasize how important it is for them to remain conscious and vigilant to protecting their intelligence. In these young developing years, their brain is producing hormones of all kinds and growing like crazy.
Explain that sex, though important, appeals to the very lowest base of our grand existence and does not serve their ultimate brilliance… their highest calling to reach the pinnacle of whatever profession they eventually choose. The dumbing down of America can be found in many places; one is the constant onslaught of sexual images, over sexualized pop stars and media.
Have them BEGIN NOW to take the reins of what they will let in and internalize. Have them let in and internalize their growing excellence in compassion, sports, academics and classical arts.
It’s OUR duty as parents to intervene and redirect. We’re working through excessive hormones, I know, but it’s worth it.
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