How Hollywood can help us keep our Children Safe

Ask any parent what is the number one responsibility of a parent and they will say to protect their children.  I know this because I have asked plenty of them and this was the same response from me as well.  I have recently discovered that this reason ad this reason alone may be the primary reason that so many parents fail and so many children are then lost to the streets.  A parent’s number one responsibility is not to protect our children, it is to educate them.

Now the title of this piece is how Hollywood can help but before we get to that, we need to explain why protection is not number one and education is.  Think on this; as a parent you set yourself to believe that you need to protect your child and when you fail to do just that, a world of misery is dumped directly upon you.  You feel inferior and weak because your child is hurting and there seems to be nothing you can do to ease or stop it.  You sit there with your head up your butt wondering what else you could have done to avoid your child’s pain and while you are dwelling on that, your child continues to hurt and you continue to provide a way out of their misery for them.  They come to you looking for a suggestion to escape the pain and you are so consumed with what you could have done that you fail again to help and only do more harm.  Now that too, sits on your shoulders with no visible means of easing.  This is the dilemma that you place yourself in when you begin to convince yourself that protection is your primary task.  A self-defeating prophesy as ever spoken because unless you are willing to stymie your child’s development by placing them a protective, plastic bubble, you will fail from deflecting pain and suffering from them.  This is the first step in realizing that your primary task is not protection but education.

The strongest muscle of the human body is said to be the eyes, many think it is the heart and even more may argue the muscles but in my opinion, all are wrong.  The strongest muscle in the human body is the mind.  The mind convinces the body and often times instruct the body what it should be doing at all times of the day.  It is the control center and which explains what I mean when I say that what is conceived, can be achieved.  Try this experiment.  The next time you feel a little pain, stop and say to yourself over and over again how the pain is not really there.  Before you lose count of how many times you repeat this phrase, you will notice that the pain is gone.  Why, because the mind has convinced the body that the pain does not exist and the body has sent this same command to the nerves endings which now stops the signal.

What does this all have to do with a parent’s primary job being education, simply, when any situation arises, before anything else is done, the mind must first figure out what is actually happening.  Once the mind had gotten an idea what is happening, it then searches for a solution and like a computer searches for a website, if there is a solution for this issue, the mind will find it and the body will react in that manner.  But, if there is no solution then the body will flounder around until the mind suggests something.  This is exactly what happens when you see people failing to react quickly or not reacting at all.  Here’s a test.  Ask someone what they would do if they were walking down the street and someone jumped out at them.  Allow them to create a plan and then make this happen.  Watch how they react because they will do exactly what they created since it has then become the website that the mind will find.  For those who do not make this plan, only God knows what they will do.

This is what we, as parents, must do for our children if we really want them to be safe and this is where Hollywood comes in.  Ever watched a movie and forgot that it was just a movie but got so involved in it that you found yourself yelling at the screen for the person not to go into the room?  Now take that and use it to ask your child a question of what do they think that they should do in that situation?  The answer you get will be the beginning of the creation of that website.  Now all we have to do is continue with that conversation until the child has an idea of how to handle that particular situation in the right way.  Once that is done, know that if your child ever comes upon that particular situation, they will react as discussed and if you did it right, your child will survive and be safe.  Now, isn't that what this whole thing was all about?

I say use Hollywood because there are so many different scenarios out there that there are no way you will be able to address all of them.  There are a few that you can quote from memory and if you now understand and accept this as your primary role, you will cover those.  Using Hollywood means that they seem to come up with so many other possibilities that you can prepare your child that much more than just relying upon your memory or past experiences.  If you educate, then you can feel confident that you did all that you could and when your child approaches you with a situation; you will not be so self-consumed and be able to better help your child find a way out of the darkness.  Just my opinion and I could be wrong so if I am ME CULPA, think about it.