There's Hope For TodaySample

Dave teaches middle school.

That fact alone would certify him for sainthood or lunacy by the application of most measures. Day in and day out, Dave slogs through the valleys and climbs the lofty peaks of the adolescent emotion, looking for teaching points and pointing kids in the right direction. I always enjoy talking school with Dave for the up-to-the-minute perspective he brings on family life in America.

“The top two struggles I see in the kids are the divorce of their parents, and the absence imposed by dual-career households.” In both cases, at issue is the loss of family security and connectivity. What kind of “family” will today’s middle-schooler create? What will result from hours that should have been spent with Mom and Dad having been spent staring at a smartphone? It’s a frightening proposition. How much sadder, the kids who grow up in a “nuclear” family and still miss the intimacy; the connection; the mentoring that should flow through a loving and involved family life.

In an age of isolation, parents must lovingly intrude in the lives of their children. Refuse to be marginalized. Parenting cannot succeed from a distance.