Teach Your Children Well

I remember an old song recorded in the early ’70s  by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. The song was “Teach Your Children”, and the shootings at these schools in the past few days resurrected a verse from this song in my mind.

Teach your children well
Their father’s hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick, the one you’ll know by

We’ve all been fed the regular dosage of the solutions to these tragedies, and the prescription prescribed is usually in the form of more gun control and more government intervention while making no mention of responsibility. Do I have a cure? Hardly, or I would be high in demand and my pockets would be much deeper. However, I do have an idea as to the cause of much of this. For many years, the government has the habit of treating symptoms rather than the disease. If you are honest with yourself, you will admit that since people have been allowed to sue institutions and people over the silliest of claims, things have gone to hell in a handbasket. For instance, when a certain group of people decided to end school prayer, they filed a lawsuit. When someone wanted to outlaw prayer at high school football games, someone filed a lawsuit. When someone didn’t get their way regarding not being allowed into a private organization, they filed a lawsuit, and on and on it goes.

As you can see, lawsuits are easy to come by, and as frivolous as most of them are, they continue to drain us of every right granted under our constitution and Bill of Rights. It’s much easier to sue than to admit or assume responsibility for your failures. In our society today, we have single-parent households, which is no crime, but some are producing crime and criminals. I don’t think one can argue that a good, solid set of parents is more beneficial to a child than a single-parent environment. Of course, we have our “rich Rosies” to debate the other side of the coin, but every single parent is not rich. I am not saying that a single mom or dad cannot do an outstanding job of raising their kids. I understand that in some situations a child is better off being with only one of the two parents if one of them is abusive or harmful. What I am saying is those having children need to spend some quality time with the children and teach them well.

Many in our society today are just too busy to be distracted by their children. You know, more important things in their lives, such as careers, clubs, friends, shopping, drinking, gambling, and other things. Children, for the most part, are products of their environment. Whatever they’re surrounded by is what they will become. Example: if your child has a friend who happens to have a contagious disease or illness, would you allow your child to be around this kid until he or she is free from this disease, or bug? If you answered no, then I ask question 2. Then why do you allow your children (not all, but some) to be engulfed by kids who are more likely headed for trouble?

When I was a kid of about 8 years old, I had a friend who was from a broken home. His mom was a prostitute and his dad was in prison. He stayed with his grandmother, who was in her late 70s at the time. My friend had all the discipline that his grandmother could muster, and at the age of twelve, he still could not read or write his name. He could work on lawnmowers and bicycles like a trained mechanic, but couldn’t read his school books. He was also pretty well gifted with “the hand is quicker than the eye” syndrome, having learned from a dad who was in prison most of the time. My friend and I would routinely go to a little neighborhood store and get a soft drink and a pack of nabs, and while there, he would conveniently “swipe” a pack of cigarettes. I thought at the time that this was cool. So, even though I knew it was wrong, I decided I had to try it for myself. Upon our next visit to the store, I figured I would try my sleight of hand trick, and I was promptly caught. The man who owned the store called my dad on the spot, and I was punished big time, I never did anything like that again. So you see, even if only briefly, I had become a product of my environment. Had it not been for a dad who loved me and disciplined me, I could have just as easily been a thief today and be in prison. Or maybe worse, I would have been a politician.

I realize this is not a popular subject and many will disagree with what I say. But the point is this: until parents begin to put their children’s well-being at the forefront of their priorities, the school shootings will not cease, and crime will not be deterred. Also, until we are truly free to have prayer available to our children again in every aspect of their lives, we won’t see a drastic change for the better in this country. You don’t believe it? Well, allow me to toss this challenge out to you. As you begin each day, whether you have a child or not, start your day in one of three ways, and see which brings the most positive results. Try it for a week, even e-mail me to inform me of your progress…and be honest.

Okay, for one week, start your day or your child’s day with one of the three options below:
1. Ask the Federal Government to watch over you and your family today, and keep them safe, and thank them for their blessings.
2. Ask your state and local government to watch over you and your family today, and keep them safe, and thank them for their blessings.
3. Ask God to watch over you and your family today, and keep them safe, and thank Him for His blessings.

“Who ya gonna call”?