Dave. I can relate to this post. I was raised with an alcoholic father, and was well on my way to becoming one myself. When I became a man, I learned that I had to think like a man and not as a child. I vowed that my kids would never see me drunk and that I would be at work every day. I have lived up to both of these vows. Romans Chapter 1 states that as in the days of Noah, it will also be in the coming of the son of man. It is true, that today people would rather believe a lid than believe the truth, and it is also true that they blame others, than taking responsibility upon themselves.

Hello Dave, Most Excellent Forum and Subject!!! I agree with it all here but have to say everything Shannon wrote, would have been everything I would have wrote down here. She already read my mind, LOL!!! Thanks Shannon. Thank you Dave. Warmest Regards,

Hi Linda, ------------------------------------------------------------------ ...arewebitchen? ------------------------------------------------------------------ I think so! :-D ------------------------------------------------------------------ don't know that I agree. Some parents can work a job and still raise their kids to be decent human beings, while others are such lousy parents that even staying home full time wouldn't help them parent any better. In most cases, lousy parents had lousy parents, and their parents' parents were lousy parents, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree with you. The parents (and I think the majority are in that position these days) who work outside the home and still raise great kids obviously have to have someone looking after their kids during the day, but they still spend as much quality time with them as possible whenever they can even if they're tired. It's also true that lousy parents will be lousy parents no matter what. Furthermore, it is a fact that one generation of bad parents usually creates another generation of bad parents. That's why it's so important that we teach people to be responsible for their own actions. The only way that a multi generational character flaw can be dealt with effectively is for someone with that fault to realize that it is a fault and to take personal responsibility for doing something about it. Finally, yes, successfully accomplishing something that you had to work for is one of the best ways to make you feel good about yourself. Our schools should be looking for the strong points in each child and helping them to achieve excellence in that area, rather than simply lying and telling them that they're great in everything they do. It's very unfortunate that modern schools give everyone who runs a race at the school sports day a ribbon for "participating" leaving no one with any motivation to win. While it may be a nice thought to stroke everyone's ego whether they try or not, it won't work in the real world when they get out of school. In my opinion, the whole point of school should be to prepare kids for the cold reality of life as adults in a world that has always run, like it or not, right or wrong, on the idea of survival of the fittest. God bless, Dave http://watchthegojimovie.com

Hi Lee, Great minds think alike? :-) God bless, Dave

Hi Dave, Wow!! Not only a catchy title, but great content and awesome responses from everyone! Personal responsibility is something our girls learned at home. It is one of my pet peeves, and we, as parents, did our best to make sure our girls learned about taking personal responsibility for their actions. Lawyers?? Well, we do need them at times for the real issues. However, I believe our judges have a responsibility to society to throw out frivolous cases. Lawyers need to be held monetarily accountable for wasting everyone's time, and costing us money through our court systems. I like Linda's "UNcommon sense"! I also agree that good parenting is not unique to the stay-at-home parent (some dad's are now staying home). We have a very good friend who came from bad parenting, and is now a wonderful parent. Never looked back! It's scary to think about this upcoming generation replacing an aging generation in the workplace (or not). I think our youngest working generation is easily dejected because of this whole self-esteem thing. They cannot handle a truthful evaluation of their performance if it has constructive criticism. It's really a shame. Dave, thanks for this great forum. The exchanges are wonderful. :)