The children’s out cry for love at home

Billy Graham tells a story about a college girl who was critically injured in a car accident. As she lay dying, she said to her mother, “mom, you taught me everything I needed to know to get by in life- low to light my cigarette, how to hold my cocktail glass, how to have intercourse without getting pregnant. But you never taught me how to die. Teach me quick, mom, because I’m dying.”

The police arrested a 17 year old boy and sent him to a detention home to await trial, where he suddenly went berserk. He wrenched a piece of radiator pipe loose, broke every window he could reach, and then banged on the pipes for four hours, until when he was subdued by tear gas. Later, when questioned about his spree (action/ misbehavior), he said, “I had nothing to lose. I have already lost the only thing that could have kept me and this was my parents.”

 Another boy writes, “I’ll tell you why teen-agers grab our drinks and craw into a bed with a girl. You parents start wars and set a terrible example regarding morals and honesty, yet you expect us to be angels. We are only copying you. Why don’t you practice what you preach?”

A girl collapsed at the counselor’s office. “I’m the saddest girl in town,” she mourned. “I go to work, come home and have nothing to live for. I have to keep my parents from killing each other and my baby brother from beating up my sister.” And with tears she added, “We used to have a happy home. My dad went to church with us, and we got along fine. Then something happened to dad. He got tired of it all and bored with mom, so they started fighting. He began to drink, and she went out with other men. Now I hate being home, but I feel I have to stay to keep everybody from killing one another.” Adopted from: Train up a child, pp15&16 by Nancy Van Pelt.

The above paragraphs are carrying a message to parents and those who are up coming. A parent teaches her daughter to light her cigarette! What for? The boy detained by police finds no reason to behave well because he had no parents to care for him. Teenagers grab drinks and drugs and sneak into bed with girls because their parents do the same. A child has to stay home to settle her parents’ disputes. She even has to stop them from killing each other.

Now what kind of parent are you? Or which kind of parent do you want to make? Because you have read about the children’s concerns to us, let us determine to be the best example that the can emulate. Children learn much more from what we do than that we say. We need to develop a strong moral code in them so that they will find peace in the homes. Our children admire peaceful, lovely homes. How is it in your home?