Families Fighting for their Kids

It’s terrible time to be a teenager, or even a teenager’s parent. That message is everywhere. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all full of frightening stories about teenagers and families. They say that America’s families are falling apart, that kids don’t care about anything, and that parents have trouble doing anything about it. Bookstores are full of disturbing titles like these: Parenting Your Out –of- Control Teenager, Teenage Wasteland, Unhappy Teenagers, and Teen Torment. These books describe teenage problems that include apathy, violence, suicide, sexual abuse, depression, loss of values, poor mental health, crime, gang involvement, and drug and alcohol addiction.

Naturally, caring parents are worried by all this. Their worry showed in a 2005 national poll in which 76% of parents said that raising children was “a lot harder” than it was when they were growing up (“ A Lot Easier Said”). But just as most popular TV shows don’t give a realistic view of American teens, these frightening books and statistic do not provide a complete picture of what’s going on in families today. The fact is that not all teens and families are lost and without values. While they struggle with problems in our culture like everyone else, successful families are doing what they’ve always done: finding ways to protect and nurture their children. They are fighting the battle for their families in three ways: by fighting against the loss of quality family time, by fighting against the loss of community, and by fighting against the influence of the media.

It’s true that these days parents face more challenges than ever before when it comes to finding quality time to spend with their children. The economist Edward Wolff explains the loss of...

... middle of paper ...

... and relaxed, confident parents are so rare today. Probably most notable were notable were the long attention spans of the children and their willingness to sit and listen to the grown-ups talk. The family had a manageable amount of information to deal with. They weren’t stressed by more information than they could assimilate. The kids weren’t overstimulated and edgy. Nor were they sexualized in the way most kids now are. (107)

Pipher’s words describe children raised by parents who won’t give in to the idea that their children are lost. Such parents structure ways to be present in the home, build family ties to a community, and control the impact of the media in their homes. Through their efforts, they succeed in raising nurtured, grounded, successful children. Such parents acknowledge the challenges of raising kids in today’s America, but they are up to the job.