We keep acting like children are growing up in some gentle world where everyone plays fair, tells the truth, and respects human dignity.But lo
We keep acting like children are growing up in some gentle world where everyone plays fair, tells the truth, and respects human dignity.
BUSD Black Parent Affinity Group Sept 2014 031
But look around:
- violence is televised,
- lies spread faster than facts,
- predators have platforms and leadership positions,
- deepfake abuse is crushing young spirits,
- rights can vanish with a signature,
- and empathy for fellow human beings-even children (whether they should be fed, clothed, taught, cared for, housed)-is downgraded to an optional personality trait.
This is not a peaceful planet.
It is a pressured one.
And in a world like this, parents who refuse to let up are not the problem.
They are the firewall.
Parenting Is Misunderstood — Because People Forget the World We Live In
Some parents are not harsh for fun.
They are not demanding because they enjoy control.
They are not intense because they dislike ease.
They are responding to the world as it is, not as we pretend it should be.
They know:
- comfort can create complacency,
- complacency gets people hurt,
- and a child who isn’t prepared will pay adult prices for childish mistakes.
These parents don’t raise warriors because they hate peace.
They raise warriors because peace keeps getting interrupted.
The Unspoken Truth
People criticize so called “alpha parents” or “helicopter parents” because they don’t want to face what those parents already know:
The wolves have never gone away — some of us just stopped noticing the teeth.
The child thinks the parent is overreacting.
The parent recognizes patterns the child has not lived long enough to see.
The child wants freedom.
The parent understands freedom requires vigilance.
The child wants rest.
The parent knows rest is earned, not gifted.
This is not paranoia.
It’s pattern recognition.
We Don’t Get to Pretend the World is Gentle
Children today are digital citizens in a dangerous landscape:
- their names can be ruined in a screenshot
- their faces can be placed in porn they never posed for
- their private emotions can be turned into memes
- their pain can go viral while their truth is ignored
- they can disappear on their way to school
- they can be harmed just sitting in class trying to learn because the laws allow anyone to get a gun
- they can be harmed at a sleepover or at home by an invited family member or guest
- they can see, hear, or live through a moment that traumatizes them for life
Parents are the ones charged with strategizing around all of these things that prey on their innocence.
And yet, somehow, parents are the ones blamed for being “too much.”
No.
Too much is what this world demands if you want a child to survive it.
Parents Don’t Get Enough Credit for Seeing Ahead
It is easy to mock caution
when you’ve never paid the price of being unprepared.
It is easy to demand softness
when someone else is holding the shield.
It is easy to romanticize childhood
when someone fought like hell to give you one.
Parents aren’t getting it wrong.
They’re getting ahead.
The Real Story
Children may not understand the urgency today.
But one day, when they wake up, they may.
Because the world is proving, every single hour, that:
You can’t raise children to be fragile in a society that has no intention of protecting their fragility.
Strength isn’t a punishment.
It’s insurance.