top of page

Parental Advice

 

Warning labels are fire alarms that alert parents to content that could potentially damage the character of their child. Labels appear on media materials from CDs, DVDs, Games, etc. Introduced back in 1985, warning labels provide accountability between parents and the entertainment industry. However, there’s a bigger threat that parents ignore on a regular basis!

Advice Overload

Today’s youth are on advice overload. Everywhere they turn, they are receiving advice on education, sexual misconduct, what they watch and listen to, attitudes, who they hang around, and what comes out of their mouth. In spite our best effort to provide parental guidance, kids remain prone to playing the game of life on their terms. Many are determined to ignore warnings about compromising character in the above areas. Advice plays in the background while they consistently make decisions that exploit weaknesses in purpose.

I personally believe that many kids have good intentions. They don’t like disappointing parents, but something about human nature compels them to go for what they know instead of heeding the advice from parents. Secretly they know they can fall back on parental advice, but before they can stop the consequence train, mistakes are already made and parents are left picking up the pieces.

The Advisory Council

Many parents are doing their best to raise their child according to standards that lead to success. Parents are the first to trust the advice of teachers, school counselors, coaches, spiritual youth leaders, and mentors. They are on the front-lines of the war against bad behavior, but like parents, they fail to realize that they are simply contributors to advice overload. As a result, they blame the culture of the younger generation because they are feeling the disappointment of being high paid baby-sitters.


Getting a good education is a consistent theme between parents and the auxiliary team of advisors. In fact, America has one of the best education systems in the world. We boast the opportunity to provide an education to help youth develop marketable skills, but our success comes at the expense of a large dysfunctional youth population.

America continues to make up a small percentage of the world’s population, but house the largest prison population on the planet. We’ve created a system where education is king, but failed to realize that the glory of the king is a court that’s ruled by purpose. Instead of finding an alternative to youth dysfunctions, the village remains content with defining insanity. Everyone is doing the same thing expecting different results!

Warning Signs

It’s amazing how parents pay more attention to warning signs for entertainment, but ignore the warning signs from the game of life. They throw a fit if anyone or anything violate the moral compass of their child, but barely move the needle to support the moral compass with meaningful excellence. One of the biggest warnings for parents is that America boast some of the largest churches in the world, along with well-known thought leaders. However, our country remains one of the most dysfunctional nations on the planet.

Eventually most kids figure out that the advisory council has their best interest and pursue the path for good education. They pursue a trade or sharpen skills through higher education to obtain a secure job, only to find out the ills they face in the world are bigger than marketable skills that lead to money. Unknowingly, they repeat the same pattern like their parents by ignoring one of the most important warnings for playing the game of life.


Kids receive a lot of advice about education, but meaningful excellence is rarely a subject of conversation. Many parents rely on spiritual youth leaders, but even they are lean on providing insight on the sophistication of purpose, and its role for modifying behavior, and building a bridge for their future.

The irony in education are complaints about bad behavior, but educators continue to ignore the role that purpose plays in academic excellence. They are too busy helping kids develop marketable skills to keep the economic engine of our country running, which make the institution of education an unreliable source for meaningful excellence. As a result, we are sending kids into the world with education on how to get a job, but none on how to reset the check engine light that lead to dysfunctions. Many countries are not only outperforming America in educating youth, but outperforming us in minimizing dysfunctions among its citizens.

Check Engine Warning

The missing component for parental guidance is how to service the engine that drives the human soul. Without proper service, it will break down under the harsh driving conditions of demands for good education, pressure to compromise sexual purity, content that violates the moral compass, foul attitudes, purposeless influence, and unfruitful words from the mouth. These are major concerns for parents who provide relentless advice on how to overcome obstacles, but advice is going in one ear and coming out the other. At some point, parents must realize that advice without insight to drive the human soul with meaningful excellence, is like servicing the engine without checking the code that’s keeping the check engine light on – INSANE!

The above concerns lead to what I call Purpose Deficit Disorders™. Unfortunately, parents, and their extended team of advisors are not fit for dealing with this problem. Parents play a major role in resetting the check engine light, but many are too busy to position themselves as the go to resource for eliminating Purpose Deficit Disorder™. They will spend a mint on games and sneakers, but spend very little money or time on keeping the engine serviced with meaningful excellence. Kids in America revel in getting a new pair of sneakers, but many will fail to know the value of how meaningful excellence can take them further than the latest shoes on any day.

Anne Sullivan was Helen Keller’s teacher and she stated, “The advancement of a society always has its commencement in the individual soul”. If it wasn’t for her willingness to service the engine of Helen Keller, this great story would have never made it to the pages of America’s history. Parents must follow her lead and become active participants in helping kids find meaningful excellence. By doing so, they will discover that where advice stops, purpose will take over to prevent kids from becoming victims from playing the game of life.



Click the picture below to show your child how to be the ruler of a different court by taking my PurposeFit™ Parent Challenge


2 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page