(ThySistas.com) “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I want to be a doctor, a lawyer, an actor/ actress/ I want to be a teacher.”
This question is asked to children time after time when they are young. The inspiration of those dreams comes from various places such as: movies, magazines, and hardworking family members. There is an entire bulletin board dedicated to “Hopes & Dreams” for children in elementary school. Children have big dreams when they are young; they see their life bigger than what it is now. Elementary schools do a great job of reinforcing hopes and dreams. Making sure 
the child dreams stays alive. What happens to that dream when the child goes off to high school, or enters the real world? When I was a child the world was supposed to be mine. I was supposed to rule the world and dominate everything. What happened to me? As of now only I can only answer that question, but who is supposed to answer the question for the children that are on the brink of learning right from wrong?
When does a child lose sight of their dream? Has that question ever popped into your head? Hypothetically speaking, at your tenth-year class reunion you notice some familiar faces, the star running back on the football team, the leading point guard of the basketball team, or even the captain of the swim team and these student athletes didn’t quite live up to their fullest potential. Many work on jobs that make ends meet, but you knew they could have done better. Do you stop to wonder what happened to them after graduation? Did they attend college? Or did they just get a job to live and get by?
Parents your teenager needs motivation and inspiration as well. Hopes and dreams must be discussed daily for the teen to stay on track and focused. They must know that their dreams still matter, and that you are willing to help them fight for those dreams. A child’s dream remains a dream partly because it is not being enforced at home. Somewhere down the line they thought their dreams was impossible. Maybe it was because no one pushed them to keep striving, or they didn’t see people working hard to reach a specific goal. They can’t merely hear you…they must see you in action.
This generation of children and teenagers thinks the easier route is the way out. “I will go this route because it seems easier and it will save me time.” They might come to this conclusion because easy is allowed at home. Their perspective plays a big role in how they view their home situations. Some teens go the similar route while others go another route to create a better future. For example, if a child has a parent who has a career as a retail manager, and they are comfortable the child will notice. The bills were always paid, there was always food on the table, and clothes on their backs. The child never saw their parents struggle because the retail industry pays their parents well and mom and dad both seem to be comfortable and content with life, with that being said they may be thinking, “this is easy I can do this or my parents make good money they give us everything.”
The child is only exposed to what the parent is providing for them such as materials and luxury things. Sacrifice though goes unnoticed. The child doesn’t notice the amount of work that was put in for their parents to bring home the check. They didn’t realize that their parent had to miss a parent teacher conference to make sure the lights stayed on or that food stayed in the house. It is important that your child knows you work hard, and it’s not easy. Furthermore, they should be encouraged that they can achieve so much more.
Staff Writer; Sha’Nelle V. Harris
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