Choices and Children

Choices; we are faced with them everyday.  What should I wear?  What should I eat? Where should I live?  How should I raise my children?  The list is endless.  Choices can be easy to make or many times they are tough.  As parents we try to teach our children the value of good choices.  We try to guide and steer them in the direction of being honorable and upstanding.   ‘Do the right thing’ even if it is uncomfortable or not in your own best interest.  Religion is built upon the notion of spiritual guidance to justify our actions.  Right from wrong, good from bad.  What happens however, when wrong choices are made?  It happens all the time.  When we make a bad choice, hopefully we learn from it and therefore will not repeat that behavior.  What happens though when as an adult we make a bad choice only because we put our own self-interest first?  What example do we set for our children when we don’t do what we are supposed to?  Is it any wonder that children who get the mixed message of ‘do as I tell you and not as I do’ face a troublesome future.  The basics of respect, honor and behaving responsibly are lost.  Like ships without a rudder to steer and guide them, there is an entire group of young people whose beliefs are based upon narcissism and self-preservation at all costs.  They cannot be blamed as their role models failed them.  The people surrounding them who were suppose to teach them right from wrong, spent so much energy practicing selfish behavior that now these young people are living their lives the same way.  Children learn what they live and never is this more apparent in the life of a child without a positive role model who learned to make good choices.   As adults these children are faced with more difficult times trying to fit into a society where most people try to behave kindly and responsibly.   As adults and civilized people we all have an obligation to help those who lack guidance.  Although it is not easy, our actions will speak louder than any words.  Hopefully, we can set an example of how  good choices can help to achieve a good life.

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