I was at a symposium recently and as usual, when the speaker was done he gave room for the audience to ask questions. A well dressed young man in the front seat with a nice hair cut looking all dapper was the first to put up his hand. Wow! I was impressed.
Until I saw the most shocking thing ever. As he put up his hand, the first thing i noticed was his bright green finger nails. I’m talking about a proper manicure. Her HIS fingers were not only painted bright green they were also neatly groomed!
The things our children are exposed to in this generation are quite overwhelming. There are a lot of trends on social media that challenge family values. Social media makes it okay to be a cross dresser. When a boy acts like a girl or vice versa, it’s “cool”. And it appears reputable companies are not helping matters.
Target recently came out with a new back-to-school collection. Not only does it include gender neutral items, but this items are meant for kids. In their own words, they “designed the collection with diversity and inclusivity in mind”. The whole idea is that boys can dress like girls and vice versa.
Imagine your son in a skirt! Diversi what?? How is that diversity?
[How to be a 21st century parent]
As parents, we need to be aware of all the trends in society. We need to be social media savvy so that we’re not left in the dark. If we don’t know these things, there’s no way we’d be able to correct our children right from when they’re young.
It’s not when they’re older and exhibiting some funny behaviours that we will start screaming our lungs out and correcting them or we start wondering “who we offended”. We have to instill the right values in them right from a young age.
The situation I mentioned above is a good example. If you see something like that on TV or social media, talk about it with your kids. Let them know that it is wrong. Not only that, tell them why it is wrong.
When children grow up with the right family values, new societal trends will not faze them. They will always be aware of what is right and what is wrong. Most importantly, they’ll be able to take a stand against something they know is wrong.
Don’t let social media train your child! Be Intentional about parenting.
