At one time, family was the core of existence: to love, to procreate, to raise, care for and nurture; it was the foundation upon which our lives were focused. But now we are so busy rushing around in an attempt to meet all our obligations that it is often difficult to maintain focus on anything for very long. Just the cost of living in itself is an enormous burden on most people. The price of food, heating, heath care and education can be an incredible drain on families.
Most families must be two income families in order to maintain a middle-class home environment. In some instances, a parent must work two jobs in order to make ends meet. This can be extremely stressful, not to mention tiring and time consuming, particularly for single parents. Balancing work, rest and quality family time can become overwhelming. Societal pressures aren't the only source of fraying threads in the fabric of family values although it does play a large role. Drugs, alcohol and peer pressure weigh heavily on adults and children. Many people turn to outside substances as an escape from the daily bombardment of duties that come at them from what seems like all directions.
Although such behavior only compounds the problems, they do not see it at the time. Beside these outside influences are the results of root causes that stem from individual choices. Many children are brought into the world by parents who are not prepared to start a family. Indeed, some of them are uncertain as to whether they even want children. Their behavior is ruled by hormones rather than mental faculties. Despite increased efforts to provide our young with informed choices through sex education and planned parenthood, many children continue to be conceived by parents who are clearly not ready to be parents.
If we are to retain our family values and teach them to our children, we must continue to focus on the importance of what really matters. There is no need for children to be born to parents who do not want to be parents. There is no shortage of birth control methods. Not to mention, there are plenty of people out there who are more than willing and quite capable of providing a child with a loving and secure home but often adoption procedures are so long and tedious that prospective parents can be deterred. Of course, there is an enormous amount of screening in order to be certain a child is placed in a safe, loving environment before adoptive parents can receive a child. But at the same time, there are children who have been abandoned or are being abused. Such children need to be removed from a harmful situation such as those mentioned, unfortunately, the process is not nearly as easy as we would like it to be.
Maybe we can't change the world but we can do our little part to make a difference. We can educate our children in morals and values. We can teach them in ways that schools cannot. While there are instructors to teach them Math, English and more, we as parents are also instructors and we must ready our children for the families they must someday nurture. We can best do this by example. So set a good example and make family values a priority in your life.
Darlene Zagata is a freelance writer, editor and author. Her work has been published extensively both online and in print. Ms. Zagata is the author of "Aftertaste: A Collection of Poems" and "The Choosing." Both books can be purchased at Amazon.com. Ms. Zagata is the Managing Editor of RITRO.com and a monthly columnist for Moon Shadows Magazine. More of Ms. Zagata's work can be found at her website.
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