Frankly, I am glad I am not a child. Oh, don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed my childhood. I carry fond memories of carefree times, waking up with the feeling of freedom and anticipation as I knew play was my only agenda that day. I went to a public school where the Bible was taught and most of the children claimed to be Christians. By my teenage years, I was aware that some students were involved in drugs and sex, but these were the ‘oddballs’, a group apart from the mainstream of students who were basically moral. I enjoyed television, movies and music, but most of the entertainment was fairly innocent by today’s standards. There seemed to be a conspiracy to promote good values wherever I looked, be it at home, school, church, or the media. Children were largely protected from the immoral trends that were building up momentum in the adult world. 
Times have changed. As a Christian psychologist who interviews children and youths for a living, I am struck by the changes almost daily. For many children, getting an education at school is a goal secondary to protecting themselves from violence. Being’ good’ is something that will likely bring ridicule from peers who exert pressure toward experimentation with alcohol, drugs, sex, truancy and deceit. The media has found a wonderful market in children and teens, and exploits their sinful desires to sell products, cleverly managing to wrangle money from the hands of disapproving parents. Yet many parents are not so disapproving. These actually promote the cultural rejection of moral values or at least remain quiet on the issue in order to protect the self-esteem of their children from those who might harm it by correcting their behaviour. I am embarrassed to say that fellow psychologists are largely to blame for paralysing parents’ moral impulses by (falsely) warning them that responding negatively to the behaviour of their children will strip them of good feelings about themselves.

2006 Issue 1 - Christian Parenting in a Hostile World - Counsel of Chalcedon PDF

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