Today's society is so driven by television and music that today's youth doesn't have a chance to "be themselves". Between what they see on television, hear in music and are being told by their friends, there is very little space or time for a young person to get to know themselves. They know who their parents want them to be, who their friends want them to be and who the television and music tells them they should be. Trying to figure out who "you" are in the midst of this chaos can be so challenging that many kids don't even try to figure out who they are until they are much older.

Parents need to encourage their kids to spend time by themselves. They don't need to have the television or music blaring every minute of the day. They need to have quiet contemplation time either through prayer or meditation. The biggest problem is that most of today's parents were raised in circumstances in which they had a lot of peer pressure and noise pollution in their lives and are not sure how to make their kids understand how important it is to know yourself when they may be just now figuring out who they are.

Schools should offer more time for kids to study or read quietly. There is such a push to cram as much information into our kids' heads as possible and pressure for the kids to be social that they don't have any time to be alone with their thoughts at school either.

Our society on the whole pushes all of us to conform instead of being individuals. We, as parents, have to encourage our children to be "individuals" in the midst of society at large.

Learn more about this author, Tina Brewster.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about What happened with "being yourself"??
We want to hear your view. Write now!