Website Reading and Writing For Our Youth

My Dad, a small animal veterinarian for nearly fifty years, rarely had time to spend with our family. He worked seven days a week taking but one vacation a year, the week after Labor Day. I can remember only a handful of times when we would have serious talks about life or growing up. One of those occasions was the night of my Bar Mitzvah. After a celebratory dinner with family and friends, he sat me down and asked me how it felt to now be a man.

I shrugged, “I don’t know––really.”

“Kenny,” he said. “In the next few years, you will make three important choices. Are you going to drink? Are you going to smoke? Are you going to college? They are important because those are the people you will associate with.”

Recently, I came across a newspaper article about a fifth grader who was recognized for reading her four hundredth book. Her parents are considering taking a second mortgage and placing her in private school. Of course, her younger brother is another story. Perhaps we’ll never know exactly why some kids turn out as they do, but one thing we do know is that literacy and success in life are more often than not complementary regardless of what path we choose. 

These past three decades we have witnessed the decline of many of our urban public school systems. Proficiency tests in English and math have shown America is well behind most Western countries and many Eastern countries despite several presidents claiming to want to make improving public education a primary goal.

It is no secret that children are easily distracted today. The lure of electronic devices embedded with addicting programming by a number of major corporations designed to appeal to juveniles is increasing, disturbing, a huge negative influence on millions of our youth and surprisingly, adults. This addiction combined with near universal access to street drugs threatens millions of our kids, the very fabric of our society.

Many parents and caregivers are frustrated, angry, and feel marginalized by a new wave of educators and fringe elements who claim they know what is best for our kids, even though often they barely know them, their parents, understand science, or even the community they teach in.

Additionally, children are exposed to the daily promotion of medications, junk foods, and Hollywood’s hypersexualized, anti-social, mega-violent, deviant, and drug-glamorizing productions. Boys especially are negatively influenced by viewing near-constant rebellious, anti-God, anti-society productions, while their brains are still maturing. There is now tangible evidence that boys have slipped academically for decades. Some educators are advocating that boys are so far behind girls that they shouldn't begin first grade until they are seven or eight years old.

A host of studies now demonstrate that frequent viewing of video productions including games results in mental sluggishness, and negative self-esteem leading to social isolation and anti-social paranoia. Juvenile loneliness has recently been cited to be a pandemic in the US. Cyberbullying has become commonplace leaving millions of children vulnerable to a sudden loss of their peer group. Opportunities for bypassing legal norms due to a breakdown of law enforcement in many cities along with a fascination for weaponry embolden many young adults, especially young men, who too often feel disenfranchised in their communities and attracted to gang activity. 

Poor reading skills lead to poor vocabulary. Poor vocabulary limits thinking, learning, understanding, and tolerance. This commercially generated electronic media designed to be addictive is uber popular with millions of kids. It seldom teaches new words or helpful constructive coping concepts. Testing children who spend a significant amount of time using social media shows there is often little benefit for the vast majority other than improved hand-eye coordination—a skill of dubious merit in today’s competitive marketplace.

Particularly concerning to many is the emerging concept of virtual reality, yet another fantasy world that can blur our children’s focus on meaningful real-world experiences.

No one can predict the future with certainty. Computing, AI, and other tech advances are not going away. However, suppose we continue on the path we have seen develop over the past forty years. In that case, it isn’t a leap to see how too many of our children will be poorly prepared to compete globally, ensuring them a life of despair, dependence, low productivity, and anti-social thinking. 

This downward spiral has led to dreadful consequences for our newer generations and our country. Youthful addiction, isolation, and suicide are all trending sharply upward to the chagrin of parents, law enforcement, and therapists. Something needs doing. We are in crisis mode, yet there is still too little attention directed to saving our kids other than band-aide approaches like dispensing Narcan. Our government, despite eloquent speech-making, has and likely will do little. Republican or Democratic leaders appear to be incapable of taking the lead to reverse these trends. We are losing more teens to suicide from drug overdose every year than we lost in the entire Vietnam War! Surely something can be done and must be done soon.

Parents: for an eye-popping read, please pick up a copy of “Behind their Screens: What Teens Are Facing” by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James.

It is inconceivable that answers are not out there. They are. Only when we join and communicate our concerns and suggestions will things begin to change. We didn’t get to this place overnight. We will need time to see the benefit of our efforts. But I believe our community of readers once unlocked can offer us our strongest opportunity for finding workable solutions and communicating the truth as it exists in our communities, and that we do have the power to help turn around what appears to be the biggest threat to our country’s youth since its inception.

We can defend ourselves from China. We can defeat enemies from without. America struggles with demons from within. Democracies can allow our kids to make choices their parents may not know about or be able to deal with. Ignorance, gangs, drug addiction, feelings of isolation, and a multitude of other issues affect millions of families in America today. Surely you have seen it. 

You have witnessed success as well. Individuals who have turned their life around. What did they do to make a difference? Why not share what you have seen and learned first-hand with our group? Together we can help some family to make a new beginning. Every child, every family, deserves a chance for a meaningful life. We have to start somewhere. Please join our group and share your story of success or failure. It could change someone’s life.

Let’s learn from one another. Let’s talk––now.  

Please go to the Comments Section to opine or send us your story of overcoming a challenge at home with your child. 

Thank you.

Ken