Understanding Tough Love

Most Americans will agree that the future of our country is in the hands of our youth. After all, we of the older generation will not last forever. This means that what our children are learning and living will be with us for an extended period of time.Despite the fact that we live in a time when we are bombarded with facts of all kinds, we still have a few tangible truths hanging around which we should acknowledge. It is those truths which we need to inclucate in the thoughts of the next generation if at all possible. This means we need to search the literature of the day, and also give real credence to those among us who have been successful parents.Admitedly there are challenges of all kinds on every hand. We do not want to spend our time elucidating those things. All we need to do is to turn on the TV set any day, either morning or evening, in order to spell out some of those things. What I would like to do is to determine just how some parents have been so successful despite this day of drug making and other problems. As I mentioned, there has to be some things that do not change with the passage of time. These things could be labeled as simple truth. Of course what seems to be truth to one person is not truth to someone else. Let me present a definition of truth which I think will with- stand the ravages of time:"Truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they have been, and as they are to come." Since I have changed the actual quotation, I will not attempt to ascribe a single source. We speak in terms of principles when we want to describe something that has real meaning, and is meant to last. It is the intent of this writing to ferret out some principles that have worked over the years. This does not mean that nothing new will be discovered. It only means that certain things do stand the test of time. If we can determine exactly what those things are, and find a way to include them in what the youth of today experience, it will go a long way towards helpin

While Ralph G. Willie holds degrees from both Utah State University, and the University of Washington, his degrees were not in the fields of Psychology or Sociology. As you will find in this reading, experts in the field of child psychology are cited. Their experience stems from raising some 35 children in five different families.It is the author's contention that, "practice makes perfect". Any dentist or physician will acknowledge that he learned more from his practice than he did from going to school. Following the above 35 children are well over 100 grandchildren. Experience with this group has led to the answers included in this report.The main reason for this writing is that we live in perilous times. It is much more difficult to teach and train one's off spring today than it was some 60 years ago. As a result, parents are under greater pressure today to "get their point across". You will be interested to read how the use of the scriptures was helpful in teaching nine children belonging to Earl and Joan Wright. Their approach to child rearing is not included.While scriptural use is enlightening, it is also true that each of us has access to personal inspiration. It is that source which all of us need to enlist in order to meet the problems of the day.