Problems with Teens and Young Adults

I have two children. A son that is thirteen and a daughter that is twenty-one. Both have been joys and both have brought a lot of pain and heartache. Not only do I worry about my children, but I worry about my friends children as well.

My best friends' son is nineteen years old. Over the years, I've watched him grow. I've changed his diaper when he was a baby, wiped the food from his face or helped to potty train him. Now, I see that there is nothing I can do to stop him from hurting himself.

For the past couple of years he has dated a girl that just brings him down. She is not a nice person by any means. When they were first dating, she told him that she was pregnant. Then by some form or another, she "lost" the baby. I never believed that she was expecting to begin with. For some reason, this girl did this in order to get attention brought to herself. At the time, she was sixteen years old.

After fighting all of the time and her little stunt, they split up. Now I find out that he has started dating her again. This brings up a lot of emotion in me and worries me. She has not changed a bit. Unfortunately, my friends' son did not learn his lesson the first time around. I feel he is in for another round of unhappiness with this girl.

It brings up the question, why can't teens learn from their mistakes? As we all grow up, we all make mistakes. The purpose of those mistakes is so that we can learn from them and not repeat them again. But more and more I see teens that keep making the same mistakes over and over. They don't seem to understand that it's okay to make a mistake, but it's not okay to repeat it. The lesson of a mistake seems to be a lost art in today's world.

Maybe it is the maturity level of our teens. Maybe it is because as their parents, we have not taught them to learn from their mistakes. Maybe it is because of the lack of common sense.

Whatever it is, it is very disturbing to see young people behaving so recklessly.

One friends' child has had two car wrecks in less than a year. Now, she wasn't the one driving, but to me it is a sign that she is not hanging out with the right friends. This is a child, along with parents, that have not learned from their mistakes.

As parents, we must make sure to show our children by example that mistakes can't be repeated. If you are to get into a car with a group of friends and have an accident, then they need to learn that it shouldn't happen again. But to get back into the car with the same friends and have another wreck shows that no one learned any new driving skills or safety since the first wreck. It is just a lack of common sense.

From relationships to driving to working to just everyday living, I feel our teens are just lost. They aren't learning the lessons most important in life. They are ignoring the facts and thinking it's okay to just repeat the same behavior over and over again.

So, my question is this, what will you do to change how our children are being raised?