Article June 19, 2000 Issue

"Tell the kids I love them."—God

"When one of our children got into trouble, our main focus was to let this child know we loved him."

By Kay Ramsdell Olson

Sometimes children get into trouble. Then parents, teachers, police, are troubled and ask why it happens. Theories flow: television, video games, guns, movies, schools, parents, any negative influences in our culture.

The heart cries out, "What can we do?" Professor William Damon, author and leading thinker on the moral development of children, writes: "...some of our most noted authorities on childrearing have woken up to the glaring omission of spiritual messages from our children's lives" (Greater Expectations, New York: The Free Press, 1995, p. 82). He believes that it is not just the influences that children are receiving from the culture that lead them astray but the influences that they are not receiving.

There is encouraging evidence, however, of people who are determined to influence both children and adults in a positive way. An advertising company has provided billboards along major highways with messages like these: