As I think back to the 60s and growing up, I really don't have a recollection of facing the same problems that our young people face today. In my home my mother ran the house and my dad brought home the bacon. Today most families need two incomes to keep their heads above water so in many instances either the mother or father is leaving for work as the other is arriving home. These children don't have much of an opportunity to visit with both parents.

I think sitting around the dinner table with all the family present offers the best opporutnity to chit chat and share that days activities and problems. (a time to talk and listen). When I was growing up, sitting at dinner table for a meal was a requirement. It was no grabbing a plate and sitting in front of the TV or video game monitor. Although the dinner time may only last 30 minutes or so, the conversation and interaction between the family was important. We as parents need to know what each child is doing at school, what is his/her concerns or needs. As far as I can tell, in most cases, this is not happening today. I think finding the time to communicate with family members is very important.

I have noticed a difference in tolerance and discipline in many adolescents of today versus when most of us baby boomers were young. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't an angel and neither were my children but the peer pressure today is so much harsher. Experimentation with drugs is higher now then it was in the 60s. You read about a drug bust everyday. You see and read about young men and women of school age selling drugs on school campuses, carrying weapons to school and killing their classmates. The drug culture has become a way of life in our neighborhoods. The problem is a serious one. Here is a story I want to share with you with a little humor on our drug problem.

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, ''Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?'' I replied: I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me. I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profane four-letter word.I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flowerbeds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.

God bless our parents who drugged us!

Have a great day. Hurray for the 1960s!

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