What are our children learning at home? What are they learning from your marriage as they watch you and your spouse interact? Are they learning about what real love is? Are they learning that love is caring about the other person and putting their needs above your own? Or are they learning that life is all about getting what you want no matter who gets hurt in the process?
An article posted on the forums started me thinking about all this. The general attitude of society seems to be look after number one –yourself, and don’t worry about trying to help anyone else. Sadly one man that did ended up losing his life while trying to help another. It also shows the lack of concern of the majority as people walked past and did not help him.
Think about this quote ‘Aristotle’s famous view that if children did not love their parents and family members they would love no one but themselves, is one of the most important statement ever made about the relation between family and society,’ Brigitte Berger.
I believe this is true. Children need to learn at home to care about others, to put others first. What hope does our next generation have of making successful relationships if they are not seeing it patterned at home? If all they see at home is Mom and Dad squabbling because each one wants their own way. If they don’t see people within a marriage reaching out to help others in time of need, what are they learning about their role in society?
They are learning that it’s okay to take and not to give. They are learning to put themselves and their interests first. Daily we see the consequences of this in the stories in our newspapers about those who cheat, lie, steal, rape and do all sorts of things to their fellow human beings, all because they believe they have the right to take what they want. We see divorce statistics going up because people believe they have the right to have what they want, regardless of who gets hurt.
Yes, they see these so often patterned on TV and in the movies but they also sadly, see it patterned in the home and their own family as well. We all need to stop and take stock of the picture we are presenting to children and how it can be changed before the situation gets even worse.
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