Just Say No!

Okay, yes, drugs are bad and continue to be a problem--old news.

What we need now is a national "Just Say No" program for parents. Daddy can I go to the mall on a school night with my girl (right) friends? No! Can I trash my perfectly good Iphone and get a new $300 Blackberry like the cool kids? No! Can I cuss at you in public and be as openly disrespectful as I want because you never built me a tree-house? No! Parents need to be the grown ups! "Because I said so" always was, and continues to be, a valid explanation for any parental edict. Yes, parents should be reasonable people, but they should not relinquish all authority and responsibility by "reasoning" with their kids. They're kids! A parent does not reason with a nine-year-old when it's time to go home. A parent says it's time to go. If the nine-year-old argues, the correct response is not,"Well, honey, if you want to go get ice-cream, we have to leave before 3:30." The correct response is, "We're leaving. Pick up your stuff or we're leaving without it." Anyone who has never dragged a screaming toddler out of a public place has not experienced parenthood.

It is every parent's divinely appointed responsibility to teach and protect (not protect and serve--that's cops) their children until they can be self-sustaining, fully-functional, contributing members of human society. Children are not fashion accessories; get a Bluetooth. Children are not toys; get a Dressy Bessy or a G.I. Joe. Children are not fodder for an insecure ego; get a dog. If your child is your best friend, or vice versa, you're doing it wrong. If you are that over-protective, unreasonable, out of touch, bossy #$*&*#% your children hate but run to whenever they're scared, hurt, or confused, Bravo!
A good parent knows that, to be the hero, you cannot always be the good guy.