I didn’t have a child back in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and so on. Technically, I have nothing to compare raising a child in the 21st century too, except for my own childhood experiences, but I would have to say that raising a child now is more difficult than 30 years ago.

I have to first start off by saying that no matter when you have your child it is not an easy job to raise the child properly. Raising a child in the 21st century is a constant challenge. How do you keep all the negativity that is on TV away from them while they grow up. It is good to know what goes on and I don’t want my kids to be “sheltered” but night after night on the news you hear about someone being killed. You hear about homeless people being beaten by punk teenagers for no reason, or elderly women being robbed and raped.

When I was a teenager I do not ever remember hearing of teenage pregnancies. There weren’t any in my school for sure. Now you hear about them far too frequently. The amount of crimes is much more than when I was a teenager, it seems. More importantly, the degree of the crimes is much worse. I got into some fights when I was in school but there were never any weapons involved. Now kids are bringing knives and guns to school. There are school shootings. Teachers cannot be trusted, priests cannot be trusted. The list of crime goes on and on.

As if just dealing with the crime was not hard enough, now you have to finance the child. Not many families can live on one income so both parents need to work. Now you have the added expense of daycare on top of the worries about the child being safe while in the care of strangers making $8 an hour. I can’t go to the supermarket without spending $150. Then there is $60 a month for diapers. I have a room full of toys my daughter doesn’t play with, granted we didn’t buy them all because most of them were gifts, but still.

My biggest dilemma as a father is finding as much time as possible to spend with my little girl. I know that all the issues and concerns previously mentioned in this article can all be combated by spending time with her and setting a good example. I am only 2 years into parenthood but I am sure of one thing, no matter who had it most difficult, me, my parents, or even my grandparents, I know that I wouldn’t change it for the world.

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