Why We Have a "Drug Problem"

 When we lived on the East Coast we had a colorful church leader.

Our family sorting donations at a local men's shelter

He was actually an auctioneer.  He could talk ten million miles a minute and he had a lot of good down-home advice.  One Sunday he came to our congregation to speak.  He shared this advice from something he read and it has always stuck with me.  I found this on a website from  Missouri's Liberty High School:

The Drug Problem in America

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine

lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked

me a rhetorical question, ''Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I

were growing up?''

I replied: "I had a drug problem when I was young":

I was drug to church on Sunday morning.

I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.

I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

...

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I

uttered a profane four-letter word.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs

out of dad's fields.

                              

I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor

soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood;

    

and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness,

she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins, and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say,

and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had

this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.

~author unknown~

I loved this salty wisdom.  Sometimes our kids don't want to go to school or church.  Sometimes they don't want to do their chores.  Sometimes they don't want to help a neighbor or even to be kind to them.  And I see too many parents today wringing their hands and saying "I wish they wouldn't make these bad choices, " or "I wish they would choose the right thing."  As if their kids are naturally motivated to do something else. Entropy is the law of the universe.  It's up to us to overcome it.  I'm not saying this is foolproof but all kids need a healthy dose of vitamins "No" and "Go."

I don't see anything wrong with having requirements in our homes.  Otherwise, our kids would sit on the couch, play video games, and get fat.    YOU are the parent, it's up to you to provide the motivation.  And you need to get creative because corporal punishment isn't okay.  Neither is yelling and screaming.  Having toast for dinner, or not being allowed to play video games or to do stuff with friends probably is.

SO, take a stand.  Set some standards.  Being a parent is hard work, but it's worth it.