Parents, It's Now Or Never

I watched the much hyped About Our Children program facilitated by Michelle Bernard and Bill Cosby on MSNBC last night. While I thought much of the show was a simple recitation of the same old statistics and issues most of us already know, the one thing I commend the show for is reigniting the conversation with respect to our children. The hurdles our youth face are so challenging that the time is now or never to address the issues.

While there are plenty of things society can do to help address and alleviate the issues, I believe that conversation has to begin and end with our parents, who are or need to be their child’s greatest advocate. As a mom, I recognize that I’m part of the 100% Club. This means that I am 100% responsible for vesting in the success and promise of my children. It is my role to be and remain committed to their success and it is certainly my role to stand up and fight for them.

It’s our responsibility to ensure they are getting a good education and to challenge anything that prohibits them from getting one. It’s our job to instill them with a sense of spirituality, religion or just plain hope that their lives could be better than what it is or that they can be whatever they want to be. It is our job to help them understand the importance of a work ethic and about integrity and character. Most importantly, it is our job to have high expectations for them, even if others have none for them, because we know and understand that no child rises to low expectations.

Sometimes we fail to be good advocates for our children. This is true sometimes because we don’t know how, or we don’t know where to start, or we simply led hectic lives. Despite any of those things, the truth is we do have the power. Ben Austin, Executive Director of the Parent Union noted Revolution noted, on the program, the revolution starts with us. We know what’s best for our children. So no matter what type of parent we were yesterday, we can start a new today, right now so make the pledge right now to be the best advocate for your child because the time is now or never. After all, it really is all about our children.

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