No More Excuses

It's a cold rainy morning in February as I look out the window and see the rain running down the windows and see the tree branches with no leaves as they hang over the winding walk way. As I sit here I am thinking of how much things have changed in the last few years in the behavior of kids. It seems that so many of kids from early childhood to late teens are always looking for a fight or confrontations. There automatic response is "no" "what" "I didn't do it" "It wasn't me, I swear" and the list goes on and on. Most of the time these kids are simply wanting an audience. There are a lot of kids that do things such as drugs or other things and go around trying to act like they are normal but when an adult isn't looking they act a fool and sometimes this behavior continues. All for a "show" in front of their friends. Little do they know putting things like this in their body is only hurting them.

When all this is said lets ask ourselves a question. Where are the parents? So many kids have a bad home life due to parents not being responsible, not being home to supervise, not holding them accountable for their own actions. These kids that are left home alone while parents are away doing other things are not supervised and therefore they tend to find trouble, and in some cases they feel like they don't matter and they don't get the love and attention they need. They stay up all night, play video games, talk on the phone, listen to music, smoke, drink and no telling what else. Then get up and try to go to school and can't stay awake, and can't function normally due to lack of sleep. When these kids do this every single night they become worn down. Their grades are poor, they make excuse after excuse of why they are failing school, in trouble, poor hygiene, rotted teeth, dirty smelly clothes and the list goes on and on.... all for the sake of having a show for their friends and being the cool one that tried something crazy and stupid.

So parents, if your reading this it's time to crack the whip. Hold your child responsible, be home to supervise. Be on top of them, set boundaries, set rules and enforce them all the time. 100%. No slacking off or giving in. These kids will play you like a fiddle and give you every excuse in the world until you give in. If you give in one time they will continue to do it. If you say no, mean it and follow through with what you said you were going to do. Consistency and accountability is what needs to happen. Parent's if you get the attitude of I don't have time for this... well... this is what you signed up for as a parent. Deal with it, deal with your kids.

Jennifer