With graduation approaching for many teens, I begin to wonder what kind of world we are passing on to our young folks. I worry about the condition of the world around us when we need to be concerned about the quality of our air and water, our depletion of the ozone layer, and the threat of tragedy at every turn.

Adults pass on the situations we created to our children with an avid hope that they can fix them. We want them to undo the bad we have done. We wish they would be able to reverse the trends of deterioration in the life we all live today.

If we truly want them to succeed and flourish, we must give them more than this warped, uncaring, perverted element in our society. Adults must counteract all the damage being done by educating our kids in the best way possible. Parents must give them a strong family base to stand upon and a spiritual life to draw from. They need the tools to do the job their uncertain future requires of them.

In addition to education through our school system, we, as parents, must begin again to teach life skills and common sense to our kids. Parents must look at our children as the future that they are and protect them, nourish them, and work to save all that is good about them.

As parents we share an awesome responsibility in making this world a better place for all children. We need to fight for those issues that help families and youth.

Credits: Jo Ann Wentzel