I don’t know that I have all the answere but what I have observed is one, that by the time a kid is teenager they’ve received countless hours of indoctrination by a sex obsessed world and playing catch up is nearly impossible.
But parents can certainly examine their own attitudes and consider what they’re teaching that way. Honest and straight forward converstion is a help too however hard.
That’s one thing that religious instruction once provided, a venue for the teaching that some things were wrong because God said so, not just because “you’ll get caught!”
One huge problem with having fatherless families, is that the young men grow old without growing up. They never learn to become men. They see the caricature offered up by popular entertainment as a reality and normal family life as a myth or scam.
Patrick Moynihan made some succinct comments on where the out of wedlock birthrate in his day was leading and so it has. And the pathologies have followed predictably.
But I’ve also watched chidren I knew from birth to adulthood become truly successful people because they were taught what is right and wrong, and why it is. They became adults that had not spent a life filling their heads with nihlist pornography and violent entertainment.
There are things that work, I’ve seen it over and over.
“by the time a kid is teenager they’ve received countless hours of indoctrination by a sex obsessed world and playing catch up is nearly impossible.”
Parents have to parent from birth on. Outside influences are only as important and influential as they are allowed to be by the parents. And, even the best parents can’t control their teens/young adults. The best we can do is be an example and teach our kids right from wrong.
Fatherless families are a problem, I agree. Fathers are important and in some cultures in our society, fathers aren’t considered important. Maybe because the government checks have taken over that responsibility? Some cultures, and some families, have given up that responsibility. They aren’t victims, they chose to give that up to others, government, etc.
TV, movies, music, video games, all the new technology...all being used to blame the lack of responsibility and accountability. Parenting is tough. It always has been. When we allow kids to not be responsible and accountable for their actions and rather blame the parents or society or all the outside influences, we’re not doing them any favors in the long run.
Sometimes, parents do everything right and still their teens/young adults are going to make mistakes or choose to not follow what they were taught by their parents.
When we treat 16 yrs olds like little kids, what do we expect? Hell, 18 yr olds can’t buy a beer in some states. We’re making childhood, and now adolescence and young adulthood, not responsible for their behavior. A 18 yr old isn’t considered an adult in some things, a college student who is 20 is still considered a “kid.”