Statistics show a rising number in teen suicide. I would like to highlight the influence of parents on these statistics. There are many children feeling forsaken by their parents. Others feel they have been discriminated against or ignored.
Though every child would dream of being born into a wealthy home, the undeniable truth is that most heirs and heiresses of great fortune would trade all that wealth for recognition and love from their mommy and daddy. Children come home with their stories, successes, jokes, pains, failures, questions etc. hoping to share it with siblings and folks alike. Yet sadly for some, no one's home! A mansion with its glitter and glamour loses its splendour when void of its shepherd, and so it is many homes.
Fortunately for some children, they are able to amuse themselves by themselves while others see an opening to another world where voices are speaking. Now before reading any further, I must warn you that some may not have the stomach for what I am about to share. So consider yourself cautioned.
I will share with you an experience I had while in Chennai, India as a trainee for a church organisation. We had with us a group of boys from the age of 12 to 18, who were very helpful in short errands. Among them was David, about 18 years old, who had left his home about 200 miles away to come stay with us. Now most of the boys were just from around the area, so to have David come all that way, there must have been a story behind it. David was very helpful and implicitly obedient. The one thing that stuck out was that he always strove to impress us foreigners and we were all too ready to politely acknowledge.
Anyway, one night, at around 11pm, he came to my room and woke me, and what he said blew me away. He confessed to often having suicidal thoughts.
He told me "brother, please help me. When the water truck is reversing, a voice tells me, "put your head in between the tires"". He was referring to the ten-wheeler truck that shuttled water between our main centers. Guess what? - he had actually obeyed the voice twice but pulled his head out in the nick of time. The voice also condemned him as an utter failure and one that would amount to nothing.
I wasted no time and took him immediately to a senior minister who spent the rest of the night praying with him till that voice subsided.
It later came to our knowledge that, although David was from a very spiritual family, he desired from his parents a love and companionship they could never give since they were rarely there. They were too busy doing "the Lord's work". This left him with the scar of loneliness and drove him at times to wrong places until he came to the mission house.
This lad enjoyed impressing us because he finally found the audience his parents failed to be. I am happy to say that David now leads a happy and normal life with his new family.
But there are still children hurting and crying for attention, love, affection and time from their parents. I appeal to all such parents and guardians to act soon, because you are sitting on a time bomb. Take time and examine your attitude toward your children. If you feel pricked, it's never too late to be there for them.
Be there for them to hear their stories and jokes
Be there for them with their questions and doubts
Be there for them in their victories and defeats
Be there for them in their joy and sadness
Be there for them whenever they hurt, cry or call
Be there for them even if it means standing up to your employer
Be there for them even if it will cost you a few dollars at work
Be there for them though your buddies will call you the lady of the house
Be there for them even when they don't seem to need you
Be there for them before anyone else, yes even before the first tear-drop hits the carpet
For in being there for them, we lavish them with satisfaction that no amount money can buy, and no thief can steal. We may not raise Divas and Biebers, but our children are guaranteed a place of rest at the end of the day. They will whistle away and they stroll home "my folks are waiting on me".
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