Kids Have Need of Parents That Are Aware- Parents that Care

As a Parent You Need to be Aware of What Your Children Do, See, and Hear

Children (more than ever before) are being shown images of violence, drug additions, and sexual intimacy� on TV, videos and computer games, and also through magazines pointed towards teenagers.

Nearly seven years ago, I nannied for a family with five daughters that were seven to eighteen old. The middle daughter was thirteen and she disliked my presence there.

One day we sat down together with her Seventeen magazine. There on the cover was a title that said "10 ways to give your man what he wants". We chose to look at that article. One of the "ways" explained, very explicitly, how to perform an oral sex act and astound him with a certain thing to finish it off. Right when I noticed what this article was saying, I quit reading and she commanded that I keep on reading. I was shocked and fully disarmed - I couldn't believe that a magazine for teenagers would have something like that in it. The knowledge presented in that magazine was something I'd never heard of and I was older than 30!

Well, the discussion we had when we read that magazine article was one of the most powerful and unforgettable talks I've had with a teenager. Because we read the magazine article together, we had the opportunity to really find every feeling and thought that the magazine article called to mind. She opened up to me, and I shared honestly with her. As a result of that unexpected encounter, she received me fully in her life, and continues to trust me and confide in me. She went from resenting my presence to valuing it.

I told her mother about this experience as soon as I was able to - revealing to her the content of the article she purchased for her child, and I told her how I handled discussing such a delicate and important subject in the moment. Some mothers would have been outraged and would have let me go on the spot. This mother was grateful to me and asked for my support in furthering her being available to talk to her children about things that adults would prefer not to discuss but know they need to do so.

The key in my mind to being a great parent to a daughter or son (no matter how old they are) is AWARENESS. This means being actively engaged of everything to which your kids are being exposed AND the things that go through their heads when it happens. With that awareness comes a natural desire to communicate and share with one another.

Children that know that their parents are there for them, believe that they're loved. They get the message on a deep level that their parents care. Children have to understand that what they feel and think matters, and that their parents are there for them in the times that they need them most.

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