The final contribution to the question, What’s wrong with
these crazy kids?, would be grown ups.
Yes, adults are what’s wrong with these crazy kids. While we find ways to blame the crumbling of
society and social institutions for this mess, we fail to see our own miscues. Let me give you a micro example of what I
mean. Recently, Gov. Pat Quinn signed
another bullying bill into law. More
regulations for schools that have little to do with what they are supposed to be
learning. All this government
intervention when the predominant risk factors for one to become a bully are
found in the home, not at school.
Factors such as seeing abuse in the home, permissive parenting, and
enduring sibling bullying are key predictors.
Despite this we take aim at our legislatures and simply provide them
with something to chat about come election time. When will we look in the mirror?
Lets take a look at some data trends concerning the
behaviors and attitudes among young adults.
You know, the ones that will have children. In a national survey conducted as recently as
2011, 77% of women felt that having a child out of wedlock was okay. 70% of men felt the same way. This is a growing attitude despite what we
know about how well kids do in two-parent households. More kids are raised in poverty in a single
parent household and are less likely to be read to as a small child. Shouldn’t the percentage of the not okays be
this much? The percentage of women who
are married at the time of their first born is down and the number of women who
are co-habitating is up. That’s not to
say that the child is not being loved and supported but the institution of
marriage is not perceived as valuable as it once was. We know what the divorce rate is but do we
know the consequence of it? Only about
75% of men reported that they contribute child support regularly. That’s the response from the men. I would have loved to see the response from
the women if I could have found it. It
is also reported that 1.9 million children live in homes that are headed up by
a relative that is not the child’s parent.
Our homes are breaking. You can
blame it on the economy but we have been on this slide for a while now.
What is it that will
not allow us to look at ourselves before we lay blame on the government, or the
schools or whatever comes along? Is it
easier to lobby a state legislature to pass a law that is vague before we form
family support groups in our communities?
I’ve said before that we need to keep our eye on the ball. The stakes are higher when it comes to our
kids. To keep with the same analogy, why
worry about who makes the ball and not worry if we are swinging at the right
pitch. These crazy kids need us to
parent them and be champions of the values that help them to be better
kids. If we don’t have our house in
order, they won’t either.
http://www.childstats.gov/index.asp
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