Raising children of today

What is first and foremost important when raising children is to somehow make sure, the children do not fall into a fundamentally wrong path. However, this could probably be done in a countless number of ways, many of which are not desirable. For example, it would be appropriate to make the children want to refrain from smoking or drinking alcohol. One can easily depict improper ways of ‘teaching’ them these messages, i.e. making the eleven-year-old boy or girl so heavily drunk so that he/she would never wish to drink alcohol again. However, I consider this method too dramatic and too infringing on the integrity of the child. It would probably be better to somehow verbally point out consequences of being drunk – also if it would de facto be less efficient.

I am sure that most parents in the western world do agree on the main objective above. However, some may argue that this has become more difficult due to the decline of Christianity here in northern Europe. This is certainly the case: In a deeply religious family, it is in many occasions a simple matter to point out what is right and what is wrong.

A secondary objective when raising children, but nonetheless essential, would be to give the child as many experiences from life as possible. Not tragedies in the first place, but many positive experiences like fishing, hiking in the woodland, travelling, reading, et cetera. But of course, there should also be time for computer gaming and watching television, but this part is nonnegotiably rather easy for most parents of today. There is nothing wrong with television and computers per se, but a teenager lounging in front of his/hers computer for several hours every day may not be very fruitful on the long term.

Finally, I would like to shortly stress one objective, which should not be part of raising a child: That girls and boys should do the same kind of things and play with the same kind of toys. This objective, though common in Sweden today, is not much more than unqualified nonsense. Boys and girls are, by nature, different – in their brains as well as in the rest of their bodies. This is not something that is possible to transform – nor is it desirable.