Why Parent Up?

Over the last few months a lot has happened with our youth across this country. From the beating death of honor student Derrion Albert to the youth who set Michael Brewer of Florida on fire, to the exploitation of Balloon Boy by his parents, it's obvious our youth are enduring what the Poet Paul Dunbar called the worst of times.

But if all you did was read the paper or watch television you would think there has been a total collapse on the parenting front and, in some cases, there has been. But in a lot of other cases there has not been. There are a lot of parents out there doing the right things and the best they can for their children but we seldom hear about them.

As such, I’m starting this blog Parent Up with the hope of addressing many of the pressing issues affecting parents today but also with the intent of highlighting positive parenting and the things parents are doing right so that those behaviors and ideas can serve as a source of inspiration to us all.

Parent Up, after all, is all about personal responsibility. As such it doesn't matter if you are a single parent, married couple, grandparent, aunt, uncle, whatever.....Parent Up.

If you are responsible for a child- take control of the situation, do your best and definitely do NOT give up on them. Our children need us and we can make this world better for them if we all work together.
It’s my hope that you will offer your comments and your thoughts about parenting and that we will engage in some critical but thoughtful discussions. We need to hear from as many voices as we can because let’s be honest this parenting thing is not an easy task.