Encourage teens to overcome negative rebellion

To the editor:

If it is true that a natural response to puberty and its hormonal changes is a process of questioning and challenging authority, and if this process -- along with all the other life lessons that come from parents, family, school and friends -- helps enable our young adults to move from youthfu l dependence to adult independence, then how should we deal with it?

Rebellion is inevitable and sometimes is the catalyst to forming bad habits that last a lifetime. Our pop culture, liberal educators, social legislators and even some parents are encouraging unhealthy, immoral, anti-social, dangerous and foolish ideas for immature and easily influenced youths.

We are seeing our traditional values abandoned, including real mom-and-dad families who stay and work together and self-controlled students who have a goal for life and are enabled to know the difference between right and wrong and who can choose to say no.

I'm thinking of an educational philosophy of not only teaching excellence in learning and athletics, but also teaching the higher lessons of moral truth and the wisdom of following basic rules in the common interests of self and all.

We need to portray life as it is, yet promote the positive emotional, physical and spiritual consequences of right choices, good morals and God in the lives of teenagers.

It's time for adults to quit feeding the negative aspects of teenage rebellion and begin to encourage our children to overcome the inner urges of negative rebellion.

BRUCE COLLIER

Cape Girardeau