The Depreciation of Family Values in America

Family values have certainly changed over the years. Once upon a time the word family represented a tightly knit unit that worked together and had respect for all members. We still see that unity in many families but times are constantly changing and so are families. In our hectic, fast paced society it is sometimes difficult to get the entire family together for dinner. Many parents work full-time jobs and are unable to spend as much time with their children as they would like to.

Violence has invaded schools and other places we once looked upon as safe. More parents have turned to alternatives such as home schooling in order to protect their children as well as educate them. Children and teens are continually faced with the temptations of drugs and alcohol. Logic has become illogical as some parents even drink and do drugs with their kids at home. They rationalize such behavior by saying the kids are going to do it anyway so they would rather allow them to do it at home where they are safe rather than to engage in such behavior elsewhere where they could get hurt. Where is the logic in that kind of thinking? I don't want my kids drinking or doing drugs period.

I'm sure that most teens are going to try alcohol or marijuana simply because of the enormous amount of peer pressure if for no other reason. After all, I wasn't born that far back in the Stone Age; I was a teenager too. I keep telling my kids I didn't just appear out of thin air as a middle-aged woman. Anyway, the point is that I'm not going to give my kids permission to drink or do drugs just because they might decide to try it or I figure they're going to do it anyway.

It also seems that there are more and more teens having babies too. Studies may show that teen pregnancies are down but there are still plenty of young girls having babies. Although some young people do the best they can to be good parents, others leave their children to be raised by the grandparents. Of course, that's a much better choice than dropping them in dumpsters or garbage cans as we read about periodically in the news.