“Awake from your slumbers, arise from your sleep, a new day is dawning for all those who weep…” This song pleads with us to wake up and help usher in a new day.
A refreshing day for society will be when families won’t be accosted by evil; parents won’t feel ineffective and impotent when raising children and teens; teens won’t be driven to accept dangerous catch phrases, notions and philosophies; and spirituality will be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness.
A major network carried the story about two teens (age 13) living in Massachusetts. They were videoed having sexual relationsby a third party. The vidoegrapher shared the cell phone- generated, home-style kiddie porn video with an entire school community. Several things come to mind: where were the parents? What are they teaching their children regarding morality, sexuality, faith, and one's duty to God and their fellow man? What was the videographer thinking? How old was this person? When will the parents wake up and realize that their communication and dialogue about sexuality, morality, ethics, authentic love, self control, faith, and self discipline is vital, and it can’t be limited to “the talk" or passed off to someone else.
Recently I gave a talk about this to a group of adults and I expressed my concerned about parents for a number of reasons. Parents cannot wait for or expect that someone else should/will inform their teens about sexuality, personhood, and faith and morals. Parents must not hope that someone else will teach their children -- including teens. They cannnot rely on the Church to be the sole and primary educator of their children! They certainly must not depend on the child's grade or high schools to teach morality, ethics, authentic love, and the other areas mentioned earlier.
While schools, religious educators, clergy, can certainly support parents’ efforts, formation, and education, the parents must form, teach, instruct, love, support, and protect their children. Parents must impart the faith to their children. These efforts must take place on a personal level.
Parents must awake from their slumbers and step up to the plate; they must lead the dance that engages their teens and pre-teens.
Daughters Forever, Sons Forever is the curriculum that helps parents to exercise this duty. The curriculum offers a text, working workbooks for parents and their teens, DVDs and CDs, prayers for teens, and more. It is inexpensive and easy to implement.
Visit http://www.fortifyingfamiliesoffaith.com/ to order. Companion works will soon be ready also, including: Black and White: An Examination of God’s Moral Laws and A Book For All Seasons.
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