DAVID'S DREAM
David Dooley
David Dooley teaches
sixth grade math and science at
I had a wonderful dream last night. I dreamt
of a world much nicer than our own. The inhabitants seemed kinder. Few people
had crippling personal problems. Newspaper headlines didn’t scream crime and
mayhem. In this world, I didn’t hear much about drug abuse, family violence,
child abuse and neglect. Most people seemed to be leading successful,
constructive, fulfilling lives. I was intrigued. I wanted to live there. I
wanted my family to live there. I asked a lady standing nearby what it was that
made her world so different from mine.
She replied, "Our world used to be like
yours, but we came to realize that if all children were raised by caring,
competent, responsible parents with good parenting skills much that was wrong
with our world could be eliminated and much that was right could be enhanced.
We began teaching good parenting skills to children so that when it’s time for
them to begin families they are prepared from a skills standpoint and aware of
the enormous responsibility and sacrifices they must make."
I looked at her in awe mixed with disbelief.
Could such a simple strategy truly have this effect? She could see I was
skeptical.
"Think about people you know." she
said. "Responsible, caring, competent parents with good parenting skills
usually raise responsible, caring, competent children. Irresponsible, uncaring,
incompetent parents with poor parenting skills tend to raise emotionally
crippled children who behave irresponsibly and/or criminally."
"Hmmm. That’s true." I remarked.
"I can think of several examples from my own experience. So why are
children taught parenting skills? Why don’t you just teach parenting to
parents?"
She replied, "In our world parents are
free, and in fact, encouraged to take parenting classes, but as you’re probably
aware it’s very hard to change the behavior of an adult, especially if that adult
was raised in an abusive home where poor parenting skills were used. We
reasoned that we would be most successful preparing children for their future
role."
"I see your point. When do you
begin?"
"We start when they’re nine or ten and
they get parenting instruction every year all the way through high school
age."
"That seems a bit much. Do you really
think eight years of parenting instruction is necessary?"
"Well, what value do you place on the future?
How children are raised will directly affect the quality of your life and your
children’s lives."
I
couldn’t disagree with her. I thanked her and strolled away. "Improve the
civility of our society and quality of our culture through the teaching of
parenting skills to children," I thought to myself. It sounded like a
crackpot’s notion, but if there was ever a dream I’d have come true this would
be the one.
