ROLE MODELS IN LIFE

Importance of Role Models in Life

It is very important to have role models in life. And it is also important to note who those role models are. When the child opens its eyes in a household, the first people that it learns from and generally copies are the parents. Most of the parents are perhaps unaware that a young child is very impressionable. Young children learn what they see. There first role models in life are their parents. As they are deeply impressionable, parents should avoid shouting and screaming at one another or verbally and physically abusing one another. It all has a very deep impact upon their psychology and personality.

Nowadays I find that mothers, especially working mothers don’t pay much attention to rearing up and spending their time with their children when the role of a mother is to care for, to teach and to provide for the well-being of the child. The personality of a child develops between the ages of 2 years to 7 years old. What I see across the globe with rich people is that they tend to appoint governesses and maids to rear the children whilst the mothers who should be spending quality time with the child are busy attending coffee parties, tea parties, committee parties or simply spending lots of time at beauty salons. Remember that the maid or governess is a
third party who would not really be able to provide the same amount of love and care that a mother can.

Today I find that grandparents often spoil their grandsons and granddaughters by catering to their every wish and desire. Like Santa Claus, they work to fulfill each and every wish and desire that they may have. And from a very early age the children are taught to associate happiness with the possession of material things. Therefore as these children grow up, they are already avid consumers and materialists. What parents miss out, is the spiritual or religious education that is necessary to build their characters and to inculcate within them strong values and ethics. As they grow older, they will suddenly be exposed to an environment where most the idols of most young men and women are actors, actresses and musicians.

Watching movies, they will be exposed to a lot of content which includes romance, drug addiction, sex and violence. A lot of the adult content in Western movies and Indian movies are enough for seducing young minds to experiment in sex. I remember seeing a movie named “The Last American Virgin” which toed a story line where a young male American is ridiculed that he hasn’t lost his virginity”. There may be hundreds of such movies with similar plot lines which actually support the idea of young people committing adultery.
It is estimated that young children see 10,000 violent acts on television each year. American children watch an average of 3 to 4 hours of television each day. Many studies suggest that violence in movies and television programs lend to aggression and anxiety in children.
Another study points to the fact that children under the age of seven may imitate cartoon violence as they are not able to differentiate between reality and fantasy.

Therefore it has been seen that television and movies can be detrimental for young children and adolescents.

Children across the globe particularly in the West seem to ape and idolize pop and rock stars. Many of them try to act like them or look like them. Others even go as far as experimenting in drugs. Why? According to a study, one third of pop songs contain explicit alcohol or other drug references. Another 24 percent of popular songs mentioned alcohol use.

Check the lyrics given below:
My heroine, my cocaine
My plum wine, my MDMA
I’m hopped up on it
It won’t go away
And I can’t wait ’til I get home to get you in my veins
– “Pusher Love Girl” by Justin Timberlake

A survey of more than 10,000 U.S. teenagers found that by late adolescence, 78 percent had consumed alcohol, and about 15 percent met the criteria for alcohol abuse. The survey also found 81 percent said they had the opportunity to use illicit drugs, and 42.5 percent actually did so. Among those surveyed 16 percent were abusing drugs, Health Day reports. The median starting age for alcohol use was 14. For teens who were dependent on drugs, the median starting age was 14; for those who abused drugs but were not dependent, the average starting age was 15.

More teens die from prescription drugs than heroin/cocaine combined.

In 2013, more high school seniors regularly used marijuana than cigarettes as 22.7% smoked pot in the last month, compared to 16.3% who smoked cigarettes.60% of seniors don't see regular marijuana use as harmful, but THC (the active ingredient in the drug that causes addiction) is nearly 5 times stronger than it was 20 years ago.

1/3 of teenagers who live in states with medical marijuana laws get their pot from other people's prescriptions.

The United States represents 5% of the world's population and 75% of prescription drugs taken. 60% of teens who abuse prescription drugs get them free from friends and relatives.


TEENAGE SEX

Fewer than 2% of adolescents have had sex by the time they reach their 12th birthday. But adolescence is a time of rapid change. Only 16% of teens have had sex by age 15, compared with one-third of those aged 16, nearly half (48%) of those aged 17, 61% of 18-year-olds and 71% of 19-year-olds.[1] There is little difference by gender in the timing of first sex.

•On average, young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, [2] but they do not marry until their mid-20s.[3] This means that young adults may be at increased risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs for nearly a decade or longer.

•Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males in that age-group had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995.

Now for the shocking statistic: Do you know that one million young women under the age of 20 become pregnant each year in the United States of America. That means 2800 teenagers become pregnant each day in the USA. Approximately four in ten young women in the US become pregnant at least once before turning 20 years old. Teen child bearing costs US Taxpayers 7.7 billion dollars annually for social services and lost tax revenues.

Another harrowing statistic: In the U.S., 1 in 4 sexually active teens become infected with an STD every year.2 Some common STDs are chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital warts (also known as HPV - human papillomavirus), and herpes. (Facts in Brief: Teen Sex and Pregnancy, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, 1996).


Children constitute the future of any nation. The state is responsible for the provision of an environment which provides for the welfare and security of its citizens especially the children. It is imperative for the government to pass tough laws which strives to uproot those elements and establishments in society that spread immorality and vice within a society. The youth should be provided sex education and parents should have a pep talk with their children educating them about the repercussions of sex especially unprotected sex and about sexual diseases. It is imperative for parents to talk to them about drug and alcohol abuse. Parents should play an important role in:

• Screening the friends that their children have
• Screening the programs that they watch on television
• Screening the sort of movies that they watch
• Screening the websites they visit on the web
• Screening the sort of music that their children listen to
• Screening the sort of music videos they watch
• Screening the sort of video games they play
• Ensuring that their children participate in sports and some physical activity
• Screening the sort of books and magazines their children read
• Ensure some form of religious education and instruction for their children
• Raising their children up to respect elders and people in general
• Instructing them in ethics and morality