EDUCATION, EDUCATION, AND MORE EDUCATION!!!
That is the key. May of my clients (mostly teen-aged African-American girls) are really and truly IGNORANT to the facts about their bodies, sex, reproduction. It's a shame. There are teen-agers out there (more than we even realize) who have self-esteems that are (forget about LOW) down in the gutters. There are parents out there who do not teach these children what they need to know about LIFE because the PARENTS don't know themselves. Many of my clients are SURPRISED at the information that I give them concerning these matters. As a matter of fact, one of my 16-year-old clients did not know the symptoms of AIDS or the long-term complications of the disease. And I often hear these girls say that they don't want to get on birth control because they don't want to get FAT. I say that is shameful given the fact that we live in the most advanced nation in the world. Many of these parents are so caught up in their own issues that they don't have time to cater to the needs of their children. Most of my clients have more respect for me than they have for their own parents.
I feel that it's my duty as a counselor to help them as much as possible. From then on, it's up to them (along with their parents) to make changes. And we need to realize that no matter how we look at it these people really and truly need JESUS in order to break many of the cycles in their families!!!
I always tell my clients that their situation and environment does not have to make them. Just because you were raised in the projects does not mean that you have to quit school, steal, do drugs, or have 50/11 babies. I also tell them that education is the key and I don't mean just finishing high school and going to college. But I also mean reading the news paper, talking to someone with a different background, looking and listening to the news, reading a book, volunteering.
These days the children are angry and confused. And as a result they are very, very impulsive and defiant. If we don't do all that we can to help them--continue to plant POSITIVE seeds, then we're going to be seeing grandparents even younger than that.
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