Branching Out

I ran across a forum for depression and late night meandering found me reading through posts of people telling life stories that simply squeezed my insides.  The ones that simply plumbed my soul were posts by kids.  Teens talking about being kicked out of their homes.  Thoughts of suicide and worthlessness.  Worries of where they were going to live and not many choices.  Replies from people asking if they talked to the school and the school brushing them off.  Families torn apart and a parent's new boyfriend taking precedence.  In my mind I'm sure there's more to be said from the parent's point of view, because a troubled teen is not a picnic, but these are their kids!  It bothers me to my very core to see everywhere a society that boasts of excess and advancement of the self... and then reading that means at the expense of one's own child.  Where is the dedication to parenting plastered on magazine covers, seasonal marketing signage and Mission statements of Nonprofits?  We hear so much about how important toddlers are and the problems of bullies.  You know, when it comes to teens and the media, all that comes to mind is bad press.  Teen pregnancies.  Gangs and the decline of values.  The press I hear drops the burdens of what society deems teen problems to be just that:  them.  What?  It translates to me that a bunch of parents just drop the ball and blame someone else.  Blame the schools.  Blame the media.  How about dropping that smart phone and realizing that the ball of hormones that happens to be your child isn't a problem unless you tell them they are.  Surround a kid with negativity and what are they supposed to believe.  My friend and I were talking on the phone and she said she could not believe all the mothers in prison for harming their kids... it takes my breath away.  These are people that got caught.  Then I read this forum and hear these kids with no answers and no parents, and to them, its normal.  They think they are the problem.  How ludicrous.