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Today's youth are taught nowadays that you're weak if
you show compassion. They let their peers and sometimes
their environment define their compassion. Which for a
youth the pressure is overwhelming because, they haven't
learned to tap into there discerning spirit yet, to the
fullest. Youth's are mimickers that's just a part of

there traits. But don't get it twisted it can be
learned behavior from parents. If parents lack compassion,
do you think that their parents are capable of instilling
that characteristic in that youth. Sometimes it's not
the parents it's the child themselves. The television
and the media has shown our children nothing but their
is no such thing as compassion, not to media these
so called rappers who claim to be all about kid's and
wanting to be a good role model for the kids. But as
we can tell they are not, they are putting things in there
music in lyrics that have I kids thinking in a thug
mentality. I have three teenagers and they are boys,
and I can tell you this much. They aren't allowed to
listen to that mess in my presence. They don't play
rap music in my house with all that profanity and explicit
nonsense in it in my home. I tell them, I can't control
you out of my presence, but I can have an impact on you
out of my presence, through my teaching as a parent.
When My kids watch certain things I watch it with them,
and at the end of the movie we discuss it. Case in point,
We watched a movie called "State Property." This was
a movie that had drugs, sex murder, robbery, bullying,
this movie was outrageous yo. I was just surprised
by the plot of the movie. All of my children watched
it even my nine year daughter. Some may say are you
crazy, for letting a nine year old watch that. My
answer would be no, and she will she more than that
watching the news, or out in the streets. But what
even amazed me more was the conversation with my
kids after the movie. But through out the movie,
when ever they did something bad she would say.
"Ooh, they are going to go to jail, or they're
going to get themselves killed. She knew what
they were doing was wrong, at nine years old.
But during our discussion after the movie,
I explained to my children that what they
saw was enhanced by Hollywood to make more money.
They were also told that people who sell
drugs and kill wound up in one or two places
dead or jail. I made a special point to tell
my daughter that when she grows up stay away
from men like that, and try very hard to save
herself until she's married. and that living
a life of crime and chaos is not the way to live.
Now my three son's I approached them differently.
They had to be told that, living that life
is a good thing, and that you always have to
watch your back. That when you are a big time
drug dealer like these guys were that you
can't even trust the ones that are working
for you or around you. They were also told
that in that game that you are guaranteed
two things, death on the street in a horrific
way, or life in prison. My last point I made
to my son's was that the women that were
with them while they were living large, when
the gravy trained stopped they would lose
them to. I'm saying all this to say, educate
your children on the street life, because
that can save them from the streets. Because
what you don't teach them about the streets
the streets will and it won't be pretty.

Learn more about this author, Helen Bradley.
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