THE ONLY THING THAT IS CONSTANT IS CHANGE....NEW AGE PARENTING FOR TODAY'S UNIQUE KIDS.

       Today's children are growing up in a world that is vastly different than any generation before in history.  Just within the last 10 years our technological world has changed more than words can say.  These changes in technology have changed the way that we humans communicate.  With so much stimulation for a child's mind to soak up, parents need to pay closer attention to how our children are interpreting and processing all of this information.  The right approach would NOT be to shelter them from these stimulations, but to acknowledge their curious minds. 
     
        We moved from the industrial revolution quickly into the information age.  Our baby boomer generation was raised in a time period where the "American Dream" was still a real concept.  It produced many successful citizens who now have "problem children"  The rapid change in our civilization from the baby boomer generation to generation X also required a change in traditional parenting, but many households failed to do this and many broken families remain.  The result; many of those children are now adults in their early 20's or early 30's, who still act like children because their parents still treat them like children.  Many of these baby boomers continue to try to help guide their children by imposing their will into their children's lives instead of letting their kids make their own choices and suffer their own mistakes.  From so many years of trying to teach, may have forgotten that people learn things through learned EXPERIENCE.  Without pleasure we wouldn't know pain, and without love we wouldn't know hate.  So when parent's take away their child's free will a child learns to blame their parents for the consequences in their life.  Just like discipline means something different than punishment, teaching is different than forcing.  The old saying goes: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink", and parenting is no exception.
     
        Parents today need to take a much more hands on approach raising their kids.  Every child is unique and special in their own ways and instead of trying to "guide" them to the life we want them to lead, we should pay more attention to their needs and interests, and help them to develop their talents.  When we understand what our kids are good at and what they ENJOY doing, we can make better choices on what directions to encourage them to go.  Instead of trying to pound a puzzle piece into the wrong spot.  Many of generation X's problem kids are a result of parents' "good intentions" gone wrong, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Let's right the wrongs of the past and LISTEN to our children, so that history does not repeat itself.  Take time out of our busy days to answer our kids' questions as best we can and ask them questions so that we can understand how our children are perceiving their worlds.  After all...perception IS reality, right?

-Ryan Mita