I was posed an interesting question recently...

What is the number one problem facing kids today, and how do we solve it?

I thought about it for a little bit, and this was my answer (of course!):
So many kids aren't taught to trust their instincts. When people trust their instincts, they have self confidence and self reliance since instincts are everyone's internal self protection system! Kids need reinforcement from all levels, parents, extended family, community, other adult role models other than parents (these are so important - more on that later...)- but the thing is, this isn't a judgment - most adults don't trust their own instincts either, so how can someone teach what they don't even know themselves?

Since my dad's a cop, he has razor sharp instincts, and passed them all down to us kids.  We were taught to look for things other kids weren't, because he had seen so many things in his career that he could bring home and apply to us.  Now most of it was:  If you do this, you'll go to jail!  If you do that, you can DIE!!  So for a while, I was like, HOLY CRAP!! What can I do that won't land me in jail, or kill me, or both!!  I had to learn to trust my own instincts, based on some outside information that at times could be pretty extreme.  I learned that everything I needed to keep me on the right path was right inside of me, if I just listened.  If I listened to that little voice inside, it would keep me sane..and interested, and active...while everything around me, other than my family and real friends was telling me something completely different.