A great big thanks to Nashville’s Sylvia Russell for today’s post. It appeared in The Tennessean, Feb 15th. Unfortunately, I do not know her and was unable to get her approval to reproduce her fine work. If you know her please let her know how much I appreciate her and what she does. Here is her complete unedited post. Enjoy and if you are a parent heed her advice.
What about personal responsibility
Everyone is finding blame for anything that happens instead of personal responsibility. How about reverting to the old days.
The days when there was very little middle class; church and school were the center stones of the community.
1 Raise your kids yourself, and don’t expect the school system to do it.
2 Pray at home. Raise a child in the way they should go, and they will not depart from it.
3 Don’t smoke in front of your children so they won’t think it’s normal.
4 Interact with your kids daily and get away from the television, computer and phone so they will feel like they are the most important part of your life.
5 Assign chores to your children so they will learn they have to work for a living.
6 Discipline your child so they will learn there are consequences for behavior. Acknowledge good behavior so they learn good from bad.
7 Stop having adult conversations, especially gossiping and being negative about others, within earshot of children.
8 Have honest discussions with your children even if something is against your personal views. Look up the facts with them to teach them how to form opinions. You may learn something, too.
9 Learn who your kids’ friends are, how they met and their common interests. Remember, you can’t deal with a problem you don’t know about. Be nosy.
10 Our kids don’t know what color they are until we tell them. Let them be kids for as long as they can.
This is where our society begins and ends for good or bad.
My mother was a single parent and worked full time. My father was not always around and would not have won the father or husband of the year award, but he told me this: You were born black and female. Use neither as a reason to fail or succeed. Learn then earn your place in the world.
Let’s learn from the past, own the part we play, and work harder for our future.
Sylvia Russell, Nashville 37218