Teach Your Children Well

The somewhat unorthodox state of Utah is being subjected to some not-so-subtle snickering over its recent attempts to legislate a safety net around its youngest citizens. Proposed laws would require written parental consent for participation in any extra-curricular school activity, or even visiting a tanning salon. But at the same time, the legal age for using a hunting rifle there would drop from 14 to 12, while driving off-road ATVs, previously restricted to those 8 and above, would now be permissible for six-year-olds. (Incidentally, protection concerns aren't limited to kids in the wide open West. New York legislators will soon be considering a bill to make it illegal for anyone to use a cellphone, an iPod or any other handheld electronic device while simply walking across the street).
Whether one judges these attempts to be foolish, or even illegal, a point can be made that technology truly is changing everything...and most troublesome, in the raising of kids. Let's face it--they know how to operate technology better than we do. And we know the dark side of the unseen online world that lurks just a few keystrokes away.
I raise this because of recent market research that shows that teens (to the surprise of absolutely no one) are getting 'older' a lot faster than they used to. There's simply too much of the adult world to protect them from. It's a losing battle.
The research confirms that teens appear and act older...and certainly learn things we wish could be saved for sometime in the distant future. But one thing remains constant--and it's the most important thing. A 14-year-old is still a 14-year-old on the inside. What they feel, and what they need from their parents and mentors hasn't changed at all. Teens are still in the time of life where they are making life-defining decisions about who they will be as adults. About how they see the world. And in pop-psych terms, observing the 'modeling' about what it means to be a grownup.
So, the bottom line would appear to be this: it's never been harder to be a parent. But therefore, it's never been more important.
Happy trails!

diderot

p.s. Those of a certain age will recognize the title of this post--Treat Your Children Well--from the title of a Crosby Stills and Nash song. There is great wisdom within, written in parallel verses from the viewpoint of a parent relating to child, and vice versa: "don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry, so just look at them and sigh and know they love you...". Remember when we listened, we always assumed the viewpoint of the younger person observing the older person? When exactly did we switch perspectives?