As a parent I thought it was my job to shelter my children from the evils of the world.  There is so much wrong with the world we call our home, so many bad people doing so many bad things.  I keep my kids safe.  I keep them cozy in their warm beds.  I keep them away from all harm, but in doing so I think I also keep them from fearing the evil in the world.  They have never had to worry about the real boogeymen that lurk in the dark.

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This is where I think that I have failed as a parent.  This is glaring back at me today.  While sheltering them from the evil, I feel I have given them a false impression of reality.  I have also sheltered them from bad consequences.  They don’t know what can happen to an adult if we do drugs, or if we don’t pay our bills, or if we lie, cheat and steal.  They haven’t seen someone truly down from those bad decisions.

But yet my oldest is almost 17 and she has no clue if she makes bad decisions what can come of it,  and that scares me.  This is what is keeping me up at night.  If my children don’t know what could be then they might try those things and end up in that world.  If that happens then as a parent I will have failed.  I have a job to raise them to be responsible knowledgeable adults.  Yet she is almost grown without knowledge.  I only have so much time but I must as a parent right this wrong. Today I wish my mother was alive.  She faced all the consequences of her bad actions, and she could tell my children the horror stories of her past.  If that were the case then maybe  my children would realize the path they could go down and see what lurks in the night.

But then would they make wise decisions to keep themselves on the right path?

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