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Generation "Friend Me"

AuthorHouse

Contents

Introduction...............................................................xi1 The Most Precious Gift in Life...........................................12 Growing Up in America as a Baby Boomer...................................53 A Parents Biggest Nightmare..............................................154 "The Big 3"..............................................................195 Is "Sexting" Child Pornography?..........................................376 The Statistics Don't Lie.................................................437 Chat Rooms...............................................................578 Social Media.............................................................619 Facebook, Love It or Hate It ... It's Here to Stay!......................6710 What Is the Role of Our Schools?........................................7311 Can You Change the Culture?.............................................7912 The "New" Birds and the Bees............................................8713 Is This Big Brother?....................................................9114 What Do I Do Now?.......................................................9515 Tools for Parenting.....................................................10116 Cloud Parenting ... A Call To All Parents!..............................10717 Cloud Parenting.........................................................11318 8 Points of Light.......................................................11919 A Final Word to Parents.................................................125Acknowledgements, Disclosures, Sources, and Commentary.....................131

Chapter One

Over my adult lifetime, I have traveled over one million miles on airplanes, have been to all but four states in the USA and have spent time in over 20 countries. I have met and spent time with billionaires, CEO's of public companies, presidents of universities, teachers, pro athletes, politicians, closely held business owners, government officials, hourly plant workers, unemployed workers, the homeless, non profits, entrepreneurs, and of course other moms and dads.

I wouldn't say that I have seen it all, but I have certainly seen a lot ... from the poverty of the outskirts of Egypt to the amazing riches of all that the America has to offer. I have seen the best life has to offer and also the worst. I have owned and flown on private planes and golfed some of the best courses in the world. I have hoped my checks would clear some weeks to just pay my bills and make ends meet. I have seen cancer take loved ones far too early and I have seen friends celebrate their 100th birthday.

But, with complete and total certainly, there is one experience in life that far surpasses all others and that fabulous joy is watching the birth of your child. Antonietta and I have raised three fantastic boys, all of whom were born in the same suburban hospital in an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. I was blessed to be there front and center for all three deliveries. Each one had it own sense of drama and excitement, but at the end of the day, watching our young baby slowly come out of the womb, with all of the anticipation and emotions, and then breathe his first breath ... WOW, that is one experience that will forever top the rest and I one that I will never forget.

There isn't even a close second. No vacation, no trip, no enchanted land, no luxury house, no fancy watch, no boyfriend or girlfriend, no fat bank account, or any other material possession or life experience, will ever come close to that of watching the miracle of a child being born.

God absolutely knew what he was doing!

Today, throughout the world 380,000 are born each day and while 10,000 are born in America alone. There are approximately 25 millions teens between the ages of 13 and 19 and there are 15 millions "tweens," that is kids between the ages of 9 and 12. All in all, that means in America there are 40 million young children between the ages of 9 and 19.

As a parent, there was no greater priority than to do whatever you had to do to care for your child as you watched them grow from that young infant through the adolescent years and then on to adulthood. You sacrificed personal time, sleep, financial resources, emotional energy and so much more to make sure that your children had a roof over their heads, were nurtured and cared for, had clothes and food, and were properly educated.

You read books to them at night, changed their diapers, cleaned up their messes, and even talked to them about the birds and the bees. You braved the terrible two's, took them to soccer tournaments two states away while sleeping in the car, and held your breath as they learned how to drive the family car. You drove them to their first homecoming or prom date, went to hundreds of sporting events, and then sacrificed to save enough money to pay for escalating college costs.

And then, before you knew it, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, they were gone and you were empty nesters. Well, not all of you are at that stage in your lives that Antonietta and I are, but if you have any kids of your own, I know that you can relate to one or more of these pictures in your own minds eye.

Simply put, there is no greater gift and no greater responsibility that God has bestowed upon us as parents than to care for and raise up our young sons and daughters. From the moment you learn that you're pregnant, then on through birth, young childhood and through the adolescent years, there is no greater sense of joy and satisfaction than having children of your own.

Chapter Two

(And Italy too!)

Today I am squarely in the middle of the baby boomer era. I grew up in the very comfortable suburban neighborhood of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Located not too far from downtown Cleveland, our lives growing up as young kids were a blast. We walked to school every day, played kick-the-can and capture the flag with the neighborhood friends in the afternoons, and went on "bike hikes" with our shiny new 10-speeds on Saturdays.

During the summers we played little league baseball from sun up to sun down. Shaker had a great baseball league program for young kids with dozens of teams, which made for healthy competition and enabled pretty much every boy with any level of skill to fit in and play.

In fact, when I was just ten, one of the great recently retired ballplayers from the Cleveland Indians, Al Rosen, was my little league coach. Along with my dad and Ed Brandon, who later on became the CEO of National City Bank, I can remember experiencing one fun moment after another.

For example, after each game, win or lose, we would pile everyone into our brand new Ford Mustang convertible and head to the one and only McDonalds in Cleveland for a feast. Times were amazing back then. Hamburgers and fries were about 18 cents apiece and a coke was a dime. We would pull up to the outdoor window under the golden arches and order the same thing each time.... two hamburgers, two fries, and a coke. And believe it or not, we would get 18 cents back from our dollar as that entire order only cost us 82 cents. Amazing isn't it when compared to today?

In those times, there were no cell phones, no computers, no game boys, no X-Box 360's, no internet, and, from my...