My Memoir, my story encouraged me to become an advocate for Dadhood
When the citizens of a society lack initiative to improve, and bad actors have few or no consequences to fear for their actions, any society is bound to fail.
Great societies come and go. The strength that made them great can be lost over the years, bringing them down. Why? Because success brings comfort, and comfort can take away initiative. The US is at a tipping point in this regard, but we can remain a great country, not so much through government, but through our families.
While the US remains a force in educating our youth, we are slipping in many areas. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021, which tests 15-year-olds on reading, math, and science skills, the USA ranks 19th in the world. How can we remain a powerful nation when our youth, our future leaders, are not competitive? https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
As I state in my book, The Power of Dadhood, the root cause of such ills as poverty, drug use, teen pregnancy, and so many others are the lack of a solid family. Here is just one fact; 85% if children who show behavioral problems and 85% of youths in prison are from fatherless homes! No school system, even the best, can overcome the shackles of students with no vision, values, or discipline. Those attributes best come from the family.
The facts regarding fatherless homes are undeniable; yet some in this fatherless situation escape the penalties. I, myself, didn’t fall into that trap, but most do--at least 80% of the time.
Initiative is taking action towards something you want or desire for yourself or others. It can be as simple as showing up, or as complicated as setting a long-term goal and sticking with it. Having initiative is a key to success, but where does having initiative come from? It comes from mentoring, encouragement, introduction to innovative ideas, people, and things. It comes from a supportive family. Lacking any of that, initiative will have to come from an inner desire to remove pain or improve unfortunate circumstances. That was the path I took.
A consequence can be good, like a pat on the back or a raise for a job well done. Or a consequence can be punishment or other negative feedback to an action taken. Without consequences we don’t learn, or we learn the wrong things. When you can steal $950 in goods in California without punishment, what can we expect to happen? When parents can’t or won’t punish their children for unacceptable behavior, they continue a path of misbehavior. It becomes too easy to get what they want without having to earn it, and there is no initiative to try.
How to create more healthy families? That is the question. One answer comes from a Brookings Institute study that found if you do just three simple things, your chance of being poor drop from 15% to 2%. Those three things are: This study also found that “unless the media, parents, and other influential leaders celebrate marriage as the best environment for raising children, the new trend--bringing up baby alone—may be irreversible.”
When young people are encouraged to take initiative, and when parents don’t ignore consequences, they will likely have success. It’s not difficult to see that strong families bring forth strong citizens, which brings forth a stronger society, bringing more strong, healthy families!
#powerofdadhood
Great societies come and go. The strength that made them great can be lost over the years, bringing them down. Why? Because success brings comfort, and comfort can take away initiative. The US is at a tipping point in this regard, but we can remain a great country, not so much through government, but through our families.
While the US remains a force in educating our youth, we are slipping in many areas. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021, which tests 15-year-olds on reading, math, and science skills, the USA ranks 19th in the world. How can we remain a powerful nation when our youth, our future leaders, are not competitive? https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
As I state in my book, The Power of Dadhood, the root cause of such ills as poverty, drug use, teen pregnancy, and so many others are the lack of a solid family. Here is just one fact; 85% if children who show behavioral problems and 85% of youths in prison are from fatherless homes! No school system, even the best, can overcome the shackles of students with no vision, values, or discipline. Those attributes best come from the family.
The facts regarding fatherless homes are undeniable; yet some in this fatherless situation escape the penalties. I, myself, didn’t fall into that trap, but most do--at least 80% of the time.
Initiative is taking action towards something you want or desire for yourself or others. It can be as simple as showing up, or as complicated as setting a long-term goal and sticking with it. Having initiative is a key to success, but where does having initiative come from? It comes from mentoring, encouragement, introduction to innovative ideas, people, and things. It comes from a supportive family. Lacking any of that, initiative will have to come from an inner desire to remove pain or improve unfortunate circumstances. That was the path I took.
A consequence can be good, like a pat on the back or a raise for a job well done. Or a consequence can be punishment or other negative feedback to an action taken. Without consequences we don’t learn, or we learn the wrong things. When you can steal $950 in goods in California without punishment, what can we expect to happen? When parents can’t or won’t punish their children for unacceptable behavior, they continue a path of misbehavior. It becomes too easy to get what they want without having to earn it, and there is no initiative to try.
How to create more healthy families? That is the question. One answer comes from a Brookings Institute study that found if you do just three simple things, your chance of being poor drop from 15% to 2%. Those three things are: This study also found that “unless the media, parents, and other influential leaders celebrate marriage as the best environment for raising children, the new trend--bringing up baby alone—may be irreversible.”
When young people are encouraged to take initiative, and when parents don’t ignore consequences, they will likely have success. It’s not difficult to see that strong families bring forth strong citizens, which brings forth a stronger society, bringing more strong, healthy families!
#powerofdadhood
