One day, when two of my children were only 4 and 3 years old, they wanted to play “let’s pretend” with their dad and me. My older daughter, as older children often do, declared herself the director.
“You and Dad sit over there”, she commanded. “Now, my brother and I are going to be the father and mother you are the day care center.”
With that, the two of them brought us a couple of dolls, kissed them goodbye and went to the next room.
“What happens next?” I called.
“Oh, you play with the babies and then we go to work for awhile and come back and give you a check.”
“And what are you doing at work?” By now I’m curious about where this is going.
“We talk to people and do stuff and get tired.”
With that, they came back in the room, handed us “checks” made of some coupons I had lying around and took their babies off for bath time and stories.
It was hard for my husband and me not to laugh. They were so serious about it. Ahh. A kids’-eye view of adult life. We go do something mysterious at this thing called work, get tired, and then collect them and real life begins again. That was my first indication that maybe we needed to tell our kids a little bit more about the work that took us away from them all day.
Isn’t anywhere safe anymore? 
“I’m 15. I have no friends. I’ve never had a relationship. One guy I thought was my friend has turned against me. I can’t bear the idea that I’ll always be alone. I’m feeling suicidal and don’t know what to do.”
I suppose it’s our fault — just because everything generational usually is. Too many of our kids expect life to be easy and give up too easily when it isn’t. Too many of them are quickly discouraged by setbacks and abandon a goal rather than change their approach. Why? I told you. It’s our fault. We wanted them to believe they could do anything. We wanted them to be happy.
Why would a woman stay in a relationship with a guy who puts her down, hems her in, and perhaps even physically abuses her? Why would a woman hold down two jobs to keep the rent paid and food on the table while her boyfriend sits around smoking weed all day? Why oh why would a woman allow herself to be emotionally blackmailed by her boyfriend’s threats that he will kill himself or her or both if she even talks about leaving a relationship that is going nowhere?