The Need for Parents

So, I watched the movie Running with Scissors, last week. It is based on the memoir of Augusten Burroughs. As an adolescent, Augusten's life was turned upside down. His mother, dealing with depression and other mental and emotional disorders, began to rely on various drugs for help and escape from what she perceived as her painful reality. Meanwhile, Augusten's father, an alcoholic who used his work and his drinking as an escape, left the family.

Eventually Augusten was sent to life with the family of his mother's psychologist, a family who can best be describes as wacky. Augusten's upbringing was colorful, to say the least. When he finally leaves his adopted 'home', we want to cheer. Finally, Augusten has the hope that something good can happen. Without the crazy grown-ups in his life, perhaps he can make some decent decisions about his future. What Augusten needed, all through his young life, was parents.

Here is something; the biggest need in the lives of every student of all ages is parents. Many of these young people have individuals in their lives who are technically their parents, but the need is for adults who take an active interest in their lives. This means that they need adults who care about them, talk to them, spend time with them and participate in their lives. This sometimes involves discipline, direction and decision-making with and on behalf of a child, teen or young adult.

Some examples:

• The group of adolescent girls at the mall wearing skirts that are too short and shirts that are too tight. These are the girls- at 10-14 years of age- who are advertising their bodies as objects for fantasy or sex. A parent needed to provide correction and direction before those girls left home in the morning.
• The young man who falls for a girl because he needs stability. Although she consistently causes difficulties and stress, she seems to care for him and need him, two emotions that he has never experienced before.
• The teen-aged girl who gives herself to a boy because he 'loves her.' She justifies her actions because no man has ever told her that he loved her. No father has ever told her that she was pretty.
• The 'jocks', boys and girls, who work too hard at their sport, have hopes that are too high for their future, who cheat in school to stay on the team, all because they hope their parents will pay attention to them if they excel at athletics.