Dear Friends,
My message this week is a little different from usual. A little deeper thought. Yes, I know you’re not accustomed to receiving that from me, but I felt led to share it. So here goes…
Yesterday, Mother’s Day, we went to our favorite winery and celebrated with five moms in our immediate family.
I started thinking about how many of our wonderful traditions (like motherhood and fatherhood) have been denigrated and diminished over the last few years.
My thought is that this happened under our noses and is also our fault—I’m talking to us baby boomers and the young parents after us.
We’re missing the law of actions and consequences. We want our kids to have it better than we did, and many of us (and I’m one of the worst offenders) have been afraid to provide consequences of sufficient discomfort to our kids when they need it. If they don’t pay a price for bad behavior, there’s no deterrence to prevent a repeat offense.
As I watched the recent demonstrations on Ivy League campuses, I remembered being in college in the 1970s and being all in for the causes.
Today — 50 years later — I have a new perspective.
Being young and full of passion is a good thing, and kids today may know more than we did at that age, but the lack of enduring consequences leaves them vulnerable. Consequences make you wiser and more discerning.
They want good things to happen, but they don’t know what they don’t know.
Without the experience of consequences, they will believe someone they think they can trust, but they aren’t wise enough to smell a rat.
It appears to me that the lack of consequences is everywhere. Politicians tell bald-faced lies and get away with it. People steal from stores and even beat up cops, and they’re out of custody the same day.
Our children (and we) desperately need consequences.
I hope you’re having a great week. Keep in touch!
Cheers and Regards,
Kim