Kids Don't Have The Answers, and Shouldn't Be Asked

It took me a long time in life to learn evil is a real thing that actually exists. Some people are evil. Some people have evil tendencies or evil ways about themselves. It is difficult to accept evil when you are genuinely not. Evil hides well and is easily camouflaged, but you best trust it is there. It is probably not a far drive from where you currently are.

I don’t know if it started in the ‘80s or if that was just when I came of age enough to be aware of it. There seemed to be this societal shift in thinking when it started to be normal to believe kids have things figured out. This real life theme is still often played out in television commercials. Kids are presented as having all the answers. The parents come across as regular dummies that would be lost and homeless if not for the kids they brought into the world.

To an extent it is simply advertising, but we do as a society tend to mimic this mindset. You can see it most anytime you go out in public and it is time for us to shift the other way.

When terribly tragic and horrific events such as the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, happen the children absolutely need to be heard. They need to be allowed to talk about their feelings and fears. And then those feelings need to be validated so that they can begin to process their emotions and hopefully begin to eventually spiritually heal. But they don’t have the answers as to how to stop evil. They don’t have a damn clue about gun control either. What are we doing even asking them? They need us to know. They need us to provide the shelter for them to grow-up safely beneath. We need to tell the kids to go outside and play with their phones and the adults of the country need to have backbone enough to make the decisions and laws without their input. They need to know we’ve got it.

I’m not being mean. I’m not saying that kids aren’t smart or capable. They are bright. Kids are exceptionally intelligent. And they can learn to dress well and express clearly the ideas they have been taught. But when was the last time as a grown person that you went to a teenager for advice on anything other than maybe how to erase the history on your phone? When have you ever asked a kid for life advice? Asked which accountant or attorney they would recommend? Or what they think would be the wisest investment in your property? Or which outdoor heating source they think would be best for the back patio? Hit one of them up to make your next mortgage payment and that should help sum up their total life preparedness. They aren’t. So what are we doing asking?

Children are able to become their best when the adults around them are living up to their full potential. Our kids are stronger when they know with confidence that we have our ends covered and won’t need them to act as our saviors. They know they don’t have the answers. That’s why they are all so anxious all the time, because they haven’t had any life experience. And that’s normal. That’s why they have parents. They need to be allowed to be young without our asking them how we should control evil and mental illness.

They are supposed to be learning the answers from the way we conduct our lives and run our government. It is how they will be equipped to one day make meaningful decisions for their own children. Or should they have kid expecting them to have the answers once they learn to talk?