Raising Kids in the 21st Century

As parents and soon to be parents we have to make decisions on how to raise our children and how to set them up to be successful in the future.  This past weekend I was speaking to a good friend of mines about baby names since he is soon going to be a father.  He told me about how he wants to name his son something uncommon yet he doesn't won't his sons name to come across as too ethnic.  He was concerned that when his son gets old enough that people would automatically categorize him as something he may not be just because of his name.  Will my son be able to get a job interview because of his name?  Will employers automatically disregard his applications because they know he is a minority because of his name?  It's a shame that still in this day and age as soon to be parents these are things we have to worry about.  Is our society still that shallow that they would discriminate on someone just because of their name?  There are situations such as these that makes it so difficult to become a parent.  It should be no problem for this man to name his son whatever he likes without having to worry about the backlash of what could happen  in the child's future.

There are also situations that we have to deal with as parents that are raising kids.  In this day and age we cannot give our kids the same life lessons that we learned as children because some of them do not apply and others simply could cause more problems than anything.  I asked myself the question of , How do I go about teaching my son to defend himself?  Back when we were growing up it was always if someone hits you, you hit them back.  You get in a fight one person wins and it's over with.  However these days it doesn't work that way.  These days even young teens are carrying guns to school with intent to use it on the first person that steps on their toes.  By teaching my son to fight back I risk the chance of him fighting someone who doesn't want to lose or be embarrassed so his next result would be to shoot someone.  This is the age we live in, so as fathers and parents what do we teach our children to do in these cases?  It comes down to teaching our children to deal with situations without losing their tempers.  We have to teach our children to be able to talk their problems out and be aware of the situations that they could be put in.  Nothing is worth losing your child over, so teach them how to work out situations instead of making bad ones arise.  As parents it's important that we understand that parenting isn't just about taking care of your child, it's about teaching them valuable life lessons that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.  It's about making sure that they can take care of themselves in just about any situation.  Bottom line is when thinking about having kids and raising them think a little more about how their lives could turn out, not just about what they will do to your lives.