Protecting Teens More and More Difficult!

Hello to all the parents of teens out there!

I always try to make everyone laugh with my blogs! Today I am very concerned about some things that are going on in the world today and would like to address one of them.

As parents trying to be good parents we try very hard to bring our kids up right. We try to make sure all their needs are being met, they are warm enough, get plenty to eat, have a safeplace to go to (home), take their part when need be, make sure they have nice friends to hang around with, give them a spiritual foundation by going with them to church, and have us to talk to if they want to talk!

That last part can be really tricky, though. When our kids are teenagers they don't always want to talk with us about certain things. If we try to pry things out of them, they will often clam up even more.

Recently I had a talk with one of my friends who is a spiritualist. She has always been a dear friend of mine, and I believe she meant well. The last time we saw each other, however, she grilled me for 2 1/2 hours about how my daughter was putting herself in a dangerous situation each time she spent the night with one of her best friends who is a Wiccan. I am not here to judge the Wicca religion. I don't accept it as my own, however. I don't believe the way Wiccans do. I have always tried to teach my kids to be accepting of others but to understand and be responsible enough to know that if they feel something is wrong they should not take on that person's lifestyle as their own (no matter what that lifestyle may be)!

I am proud to say that I am a Christian work in progress! There are days when I know I haven't done very well at it then there are times when I know I have made God much more proud of me than the other times. My relationship with God is very important to me. I talk with Him everyday. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believe without ever seeing Jesus in person, but I believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost because of what I see when I go outside everyday! I have a strong faith. There is beauty everywhere both in many of the people I encounter and in the things that grow from the soil! I see miracles being performed in people who are getting well from a serious illness - or - in other prayers answered. I even thank Him for the end results when He says, "No" to my prayers because he must have had a good reason for handling things for me the way He did!

The problem with today's world is that we have made our children afraid to say they are Christian. The media has thrust so many bad things upon them through music with hateful lyrics, violent films, and even in so many of the books. I can remember growing up and being fascinated with Ouija boards, fortune tellers, and mediums. It's not anything new! I never realized the dark side of it all, myself, until much later down the road. I grew up! Today's teens are still in the process of growing up even though they have so much more technology that can either help them or hurt them!

A friend of mine I used to work with years ago told me once, "Don't mess with the spirit world if you don't know what you are doing"! That's been good enough advice for me for years! Now I find myself, however, in a position where I am trying to protect my own daughter against the dangers she may encounter while checking out Wicca, the occult, and being confused about her own religious beliefs.

Her facination with these things is so strong. God and Jesus seem boring to her when compared to white and black magick, Tarot cards, and new and different rituals. While the rock groups of my time were risky enough singing about free sex the rock groups of today go much further. There is one group (among several who do the same) whom my daughter enjoys who sings songs about death, the "beast", and oral sex; writes comic books that deal with killing one's own children to save the planet (for the good of all), and includes Tarot cards in with their latest CD!

Many of today's parents are clueless as to what it going on with their children! The media and the Internet are raising their kids for them! I don't know everything there is to know (this is something my daughter tells me all the time)! I do know this--I have a bad feeling that we will all pay for this kind knowledge later on down the road in one way, shape, or form! We must all hope and pray that the good values we tried in instill in our kids will help them to get through this stage they are going through and the quicker the better! Keep talking to your kids and be open minded but not blind and mute!

Burning up the phone wires!

When I was a kid I used to hear the adults say, "She's burning up the phone wires"! That meant someone was talking on the phone for a long time. Well, today one of my dear friends sent me a blog he had written based on a true story he had read about a man whose back pocket in his knit trousers had caught fire with his cell-phone in it! Now how exactly does a cell-phone catch fire in the back pocket of your pants in a bathroom?? Men's suits don't just ignite by themselves even if they are made out of polyester! I do know based on what a friend told me that you can put two cell-phones together and generate enough microwaves to warm up something in between them! So, I guess anything is possible especially when polyester is involved! I remember taking the kids to a Haunted Hot Dog Roast once down in the olde village. There was a man who came to it right after he got off work. He stood dangerously close to the big bon fire built to roast the hot dogs. I can remember thinking how it could be possible for his fine business suit to burst into flames at that particular time, but I dismissed it.

Cell-phones are wonderful for the kids to use to let us know where they are or the other way around. They are great for emergency retrievals! There are even some that can take pictures of crimes in progress which is helpful to the police. Like with all other gifts that we are given, however, somehow some of us manage to abuse them in the end.

If I go out to eat with someone at a restaurant, I don't like it when they are texting or talking with their other friends while I am trying to enjoy my time with them! Hearing someone talk on one during a concert, movie, ceremony, or a funeral should just be considered a crime somehow!

I work at a deli. I am in charge of setting all the food out to display it in such an attractive way that people will want to come by and buy it to take home. Everyday I look over the counter to watch people with cell-phones go through this ritual. They look over the counter. They get out their cell-phone. They call their wife, husband, or significant other then they proceed to walk the entire length of the display case telling them what's in it! I want to yell out, "Take a picture of the entire case, put in on your refridgerator then come to the store with your grocery list"! Unfortunately, they can't read my mind, so they hang up the phone. They ask me a question about something they would like to see in the case. They get back on their cell-phone. They later hang up (maybe) then tell me what they want me to get for them out of the case!

When I see people walking around the store with their cell-phones I also have to wonder about how many screwballs there are out there walking around talking to themselves (no one is on the other end)??

Now more and more I see people wearing the cell-phone in their ears like some type of Star Wars communication device which brings me back to the burning pants scenario. To have your pants catch on fire due to your cell-phone is one thing. To have your hair catch on fire in public would be quite another and something most people would probably find embarrassing, I would think.

And lastly, if microwave ovens aren't safe to stand in front of why would I want to attach a cell-phone to my ear?? On a more serious note, I have to wonder if we won't be seeing more cases of brain cancer in the near future. Technology is good, but it comes with a price!