Times are Different

I saw this old Family Circus cartoon and it made me remember my grandmother.  Although, I too, had to walk all the way to the TV to change the channels. I've been a grandmother for over thirteen years now.  My granddaughter doesn't know a time without the Internet or Youtube and has never used a VCR. Times are different.

Does that mean that times are better or worse than before?  Or are they just as easy or hard but in a different way?  As an adult, I know that life is hard...and sometimes it's not.  But many children don't get to learn that.  We live in a society where parents shelter their children from failure. Some parents use technology as a baby sister, so children are learning about life from strangers and fiction on the Internet.  Children are exposed to so much adult information WAY before their minds can process it.

It's depressing them.  It's causing them anxiety.  Heck, it causes me anxiety as I try not to worry about them.  Lord knows, I do worry.  I bet that everyone knows someone who is related to an adolescent or teen who suffers from some sort of mental illness.  What is the solution?  Today I pray for all the grandma's who worry about their children and grandchildren.  I pray for all of people who work in the mental health or medical fields as they try to help more and more children suffering from the struggles of life.  I pray that we use, learn, and share the coping skills we have for making life NOT so hard. 

Count your blessings!  Even though they are different than they were when you were a kid.