Quote From: shelly_80I completely agree with you. It truly is pitiful the way todays society has turned out. It really depresses me to think how things are now compared to what they were when I was little. Keep in mind I will be 26 in a couple monthes but my mother was a 'stay at home mom' and my dad made our living. I guess you could say we were the exception. My two sisters and I had both parents in the home so we didn't have the issues of growing up in a broken home. But in most cases today the parents are split up and the mother gets to raise the kids. Or both parents are still together but work 24/7. In both cases the kids are forced to raise theirself. It is pathetic how both parents are basically forced to work just to make ends meat. The cost of living has sky -rocketed even in the last 10 years. I believe that if parents were given the opportunity to spend more time at home raising their children then we would not have as many kids feel the need to run away or get hooked on drugs and alcohol. But then again that is easy for me to say because I'm young, single and don't have any kids of my own. But I know what I see and I see a society spinning so far out of control and the kids are the ones reaping the consequences. How on earth did it come to this? I agree, something needs to be done. Society needs to slow down and spend a little more family time.
You are making excuses for probably 50% of the people, but I agree with much of what you said.
Here's where we disagree; most people are not working because they have to. Many are, but still many are not. I am upper middle class and just returned to work part-time (our son is in 1st grade and our daughter is in 6th). We CHOSE to go w/o vacations and new cars and shopping trips so our kids could be rasied by US (and not some daycare). However, many of our friends (who make $100,000 yearly or more) CHOOSE to work full-time because they want all the "stuff." They would rather have STUFF than to spend time with the children they brought into this world. I know there are other high school teachers as good as I am, but my children cannot have another mother. I am the one that God entrusted them too and it's my RESPONSIBILITY (and my husband's) to raise them the best way we're able.
Nowadays, the kids getting in trouble are not just the poorer, unsupervised kids from broken homes...they're the wealthier kids who have very little time with their career parents (who seem to value work over family). Many of these parents feel guilty so they buy their children everything. Sadly, love, affection, guidance, discipline and all that other QUALITY stuff cannot be bought!
Our children are paying the price for our adult selfishness and greed. Sadly, society will pay the price, too.
