They say that the children are the future. Is this statement true? Yes, it is. Todays’ children can either be future leaders of tomorrow, or present criminals of today. An at-risk youth is a youth who is extremely vulnerable to the negative consequences of school failure, substance abuse, and early sexuality. Some may ask the question: How does a young person get to that point? It starts in the home. Most youths grow up in single parent homes where the stats largely show having no father figure present. This being so, this can have a negative impact on a young person. Young people need that structure, they need that stability of knowing that a daughter can look up to her father, and a son can be taught to be an honest man. Nowadays, young girls are being preyed on by older men, and young boys are taking on television lifestyles. There are few positive role models today for young people to look up to. We as adults need to show and teach these young people the values of life. We have to let them know that instead of aiming to be a hip hop star, they should aim to be a doctor, or another prominent position in life where a young person can prosper. I’m not trying to take anything away from the hip hop artists of the world, but a lot of the spoken words that come out of these artists mouths are either fictitious, or negative. Some artists glorify the world of drug dealing and violence not knowing or realizing that young people are taking what they say to heart. They are picking up guns instead of books, and it’s sad because I, myself see the potential in so many of the younger generation heading down the wrong road. When I look at television news, it’s either seeing youths getting murdered by other youths, or youths getting put in jail. The other day I dropped my fourteen year old daughter off at school and saw at least four young girls of the same age pregnant. It seems that todays’ youth are headed down the path of destruction. So what can we do to change this? What can we do to save the youth of today? Having both parents actively present, loving, and supporting their children is a start. I am so blessed that my nine year old has his father in his life to be a positive role model and to teach him how to grow into becoming an honest and hard-working man. We strive to teach both our children how to love and respect themselves as well as respecting others. But what about the other children? The ones with no father figures out there to teach them and protect them? What happens to them? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, and pray that they don’t fall, but RISE!
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