Salem-News.com Youth articles Page 38

Don’t Take It Personally

The true goal for a parent should be to raise independent human beings that can ultimately survive and thrive in the world on their own.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - I know my column is from my personal perspective, and often about my personal life. Yet I feel this topic is more confessional than many others and affects me too often.

Will the Kids Ever Leave?

This is Bruce's 25th article on Salem-News.com.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - What an interesting contemporary question: will our kids ever leave? I left home at sixteen to go away to college and never returned, except for visits.

I stayed close to my parents, and they did help me financially through college, though I worked every summer to supplement my education expenses and pay for my own spending. ShortRib (my wife) and I wonder when will our kids be independent enough to afford to leave?

Diversity is a Nine Letter Word

The challenges of parenting are never ending and never the same.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - Diversity is a nine-letter word; so is parenting. ShortRib (my wife) and I met a wonderful couple on our recent honeymoon that, at first, we thought and they thought represented the most diversity in a couple any of us knew.

In fact, they were written up as just such a phenomenon in a local paper in their hometown. David is a 55-year-old, liberal, white Jewish lawyer, while Farah is a 40-year-old, conservative, black Christian, non-profit worker.

Mother’s Day and the Women in Our Lives

Call me sentimental, but I can’t help but offer items of tribute to my mother, and just a few of the better memories.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - As Mother’s Day rolls around once again, I find myself reflecting this year on the different obligations we feel towards those mothers in our lives, at different times and passages in our lives.

As this is the second Mother’s Day since my own mother died, I can’t help but remember her with the fondest recollections, avoiding the sad, last, and declining years of her life when a stroke took away her sparkle and delightful personality.

Am I A Selfish Parent?

We give in to our children’s whims and complaints too easily. Sometimes, we as parents need to take care of our needs.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - It’s high time I wrote a column that stirs some reaction, creates some controversy, and isn’t so sweet and nice.

No gratitude for surviving what should have been a deadly car crash, no treatises on the values of volunteering, or even about the importance of spending more quantity time with your kids.

Paving The Way

What values are we teaching kids or do we teach them at all?

(AGOURA, Calif.) - Where do our kids get their values? Are you comfortable with the values they learn in public school?

How about on MTV, cable or other television? Are reality shows actually reality? Do you think modern music teaches them about love and romance? Maybe going to the movies is better and seeing Academy Award winning movies like “Slumdog Millionaire,” or “Departed” will teach them right from wrong?

Tracy Sunday School Teacher Arrested in Murder of Sandra Cantu

Police confirmed that it's unusual for the suspect in a crime like this to be a woman, statistically.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The suspect in the disappearance and Murder of eight-year old Sandra Cantu in Tracy, California is a Sunday school teacher who lives in the same mobile park, and whose daughter had played with Sandra before.

Police say 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby was arrested just before midnight Friday on charges of Kidnapping and Murder.

Gresham Woman Arrested for Sex Abuse Involving Minors

Any person who has information regarding this incident or believes they are a victim of Ms. Wells to contact the Gresham Police Department at (503) 618-2719.

(GRESHAM, Ore.) - Gresham Police Department recently completed a five-month investigation involving the sexual abuse of minors that led to the arrest of a Gresham woman.

30-year old Jennifer Lynn Wills was arrested April 8th and charged multiple times with Sex Abuse, Contributing to the Sexual Delinquency of a Minor, Delivery of Marijuana to a Minor and an Delivery of Alcohol to a Minor.

Violent Mindset Starts Early On

Oregon needs to address Domestic Violence and School Bullying as forerunners to creating the Military Mindset. "Let there be light," so it says in Genesis. We who proclaim to love Peace must not ignore the homefront.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Aggression and violence are not programmed at birth but we get contaminated by our social environment. Poor examples propagate and contaminate others.

As I write this editorial in early April, this week's news describes the violence in Binghamton, New York.

The Amok of Lovelle Mixon, Michael McLendon, Tim Krestchmer, Robert Stewart, Kerby Revelus and Travis the Chimp

Following an amok, the perpetrator is often confused and amnesic, and if not apprehended or killed, may commit suicide.

(BURLINGTON, Vt.) - Kerby Revelus decapitated one of his sisters, stabbed another to death, and injured a third. Robert Stewart slaughtered eight people in a nursing home, and wounded another three.

In the days leading up to the massacre of four police officers, Lovelle Mixon told relatives that he felt depressed and angry, an uncle noticing that he was emotionally withdrawn.