ANTHONY MARCEL BOOKS

I was asked what I wanted to achieve in writing this book, and my answer was simple, to get parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and coaches to think about what they say to children and how they treat them. These are the people who usually have an influence on children and the people our children look up to.
If we could get everyone, our children look up on the same page regarding how we would like to raise our children and the education we would like them to receive, that just could be something wonderful to see. To think of our children as promises as well as our future and not prepare them is neither intelligent nor beneficial for their future nor ours. If we could learn to read the expression on the children’s faces and afford them the freedom to be children and teach them to express themselves in a manner that enables them to express their concerns and feelings to the adults in their lives this would go a long way in helping with their communication skills now and in their future.

Parents – Our responsibility is to care for, clothe, comfort, feed, nurture, protect, reassure, and love them. Do we really care for them when we don’t put forth an effort to educate, or guide them? Caring for children goes beyond providing a place for them to sleep and eat or come in from the weather outside. There is a need to go the extra mile or two such as giving your full attention and helping them with homework, instilling a sense of pride in their personal appearance and building their self-esteem. Guiding them through difficult challenges to build their confidence in their own ability and increasing faith in that ability to achieve whatever they set their goals to be, which goes a long way in comforting them and making them comfortable in attacking the next challenge. Are we feeding the children a proper diet? Are we able to afford the proper diet? This should be a concern for not only the parents but society. There is a need for us, as a society, to understand the correlation between the proper diet and studying. It’s hard for a young child to be focused on the classroom when he or she has not been fed properly. I’ve seen this in classrooms as a substitute, where students weren’t focusing because of hunger pangs or lack of proper nutrition. Another nutrition our children need in abundance is love. Yes, love is a nutrient since it energizes children to want to do their best, believe it or not, most children want to please their parents. Not that the parents are controlling them, but out of the abundance of love the children see and receive at home they just can’t hold it in. Have you seen a child that’s bright eyed and beaming with excitement and joy, that is a child that is getting an abundance of love from his or her parents and their extended village.

The village I am referring to is that virtual village the parents have established that includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, and coaches whose responsibility is to work in conjunction with the parents to make sure our children are equipped to become the future. According to the lyrics of the song I Believe That Children Are Our Future, we are to teach them well, let them lead the way, show them the beauty they possess inside of them. Then we are to give them a sense of pride to make it easier. I’ve often wondered what the song writer was trying to say because the sentence ends at easier. Is the source of dealing with life’s challenges and problems a sense of pride? We also must assume the writer meant that this sense of pride is developed in the home and is a pride that allows them to be different if they choose to be, and a pride that is supposed to overcome peer pressure.
Marching to a different beat can sometimes lead to loneliness but teaching them to feel good about who they are through love and with that sense of pride, I believe our children can make it. If we want a brighter future as we walk into the fourth quarter of life our children must be equipped to take the baton and understand not just how to work and provide for themselves, they need to know about local, state, and federal government. They need to understand that there is a cause and affect syndrome in life and things they think don’t directly affect them really do. An increase in gas prices will affect the cost of food, and clothing as an example. Teach them diplomacy and how to compromise and be fair. We should really want our children to have a better chance at success than we experienced, and this is what will help make the world a better place. This is the why for writing the book. Just imagine that parent who had a stressful day taking a breath before lashing out at his or her child. That teacher who has made one group of children feel superior to the rest of the class, now realizing that this is hurting the children he or she has been given charge over. The coach who is under pressure to win, not blaming his/her players but coming up with a new way to coach his players that helps his/her players understand the game better than they did last week. Scolding players for not being focused, then turning and laughing with those players and helping them understand you have their interest at heart and are trying to protect them from serious injury. Imagine a world where children can not only dream but they have adults who want to help their dreams become reality. Imagine children being able to go to school without worrying about becoming victims of a mass shooting. Imagine a world where the adults actually prepare our children to be our future.