It Takes A Village

I’m sure you have heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It’s a proverb I think we’ve lost sight of in our culture these days. American families are autonomous – we worry about our own kids, our own lives, but not so much about others’. Oh sure, we might discuss other people’s lives, but do we actually share in the responsibility of caring for their children? Or disciplining them? Usually not.

This article addresses that topic extremely well. Take a look, parents. It doesn’t directly relate to teenagers and sex, but it does talk a lot about setting boundaries and enforcing expectations.

I believe the article is encouraging. It has some great practical examples of boundary setting to use with younger children, and my hope is that the practices mentioned can be transferred over to working with our teens as they deal with more mature discipline or boundary issues.

Basically, parents, it is okay – even good – to pronounce the, “When you’re under my roof, my supervision…” law with your own teens, as well as with their friends. Perhaps if more parents were unafraid to do this, we’d recreate the “village” needed to care for our kids.