By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

It's often difficult in this day and age, but we try to have some kind of routine at our house, especially in the evening. Our son's development depends upon it (not to mention his parents' sanity).

In the midst of getting his body bathed, his teeth brushed, and his toys cleaned up, Samuel has a nightly request from which he almost never wavers: "Mom, can I sleep with you for a little bit?"

Of course, this is not something that should be adhered to every night, but he typically gets his wish once a week or so. His mother often goes to bed early and invites him in to snuggle with her, especially if she has not seen much of him that day. Sometimes I will awaken in the morning to find him sleeping soundly in the middle of our king-size bed, since he can still fit between us with a reasonable degree of comfort as his fourth birthday approaches.

Recently we got a break from the sweltering Georgia heat and as nighttime approached, Kelly and I thought it would be nice to turn off the air conditioning and sleep with the windows open. As we reached that decision, Kelly said, "Of course, you know Samuel will have to sleep with us."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't activate the security system with the windows open, and he's not sleeping alone in his room like that."

I got the message immediately.

Danielle Van Dam. Elizabeth Smart. Samantha Runnion. The latest and most prominent members of a tragic fraternity of young people. All three were snatched from apparent security, with two of them apparently taken from inside their own bedrooms. Now we have a 7-year-old girl in Philadelphia grabbed off the street and held reportedly for ransom. Thankfully, she freed herself and got help, and now she is home safe.

That's the kind of world we live in today.

It's also the world we must raise our children in, and the situation is not likely to get any better in the near future, if ever. Parents who are not especially vigilant are prime candidates to see their children become statistics.

More than ever, parents simply have to be responsible for their children. Obviously, millions of parents are already doing everything they can in this area, but millions of others are not. But in 2002, no one can be too careful.

It's of vital importance to know every person who has regular contact with your children, because it's getting harder and harder to know who you can trust.

Just this week, USA Today ran the latest of many in-depth profiles of people abused by priests when they were children. The stories we have heard from the Catholic Church in the past year are far too numerous to mention. But the Catholic Church is not the only place young people have been at risk in recent years.

The August issue of Atlanta magazine delves into the rising number of reported student-teacher improprieties. Several teachers in the Atlanta area have been convicted in the past year for taking sexual advantage of their teenage students. That problem is certainly not confined to a single geographical area, so there is no telling how many young people across the country have been mistreated this way, some of them thinking that they knew exactly what they were doing. Many of them likely were escaping problems at home and thought they could find comfort in a place they should not have thought about looking.

As these scandals involving priests and teachers indicate, some areas of American life that for years were considered safe havens for our children have become just the opposite. The problem is compounded exponentially when one considers the untold number of psychotic predators lurking elsewhere in society.

There are no easy answers, but a few things we've heard before need to be repeated. Know where your child is at all times. Know the people he or she associates with, whether they be adults or members of their own peer group.

Listen to them at home. Make sure they know you are there for them. Hug them when they walk in the door at night.

Teach them right from wrong (you can't depend upon the government for that). Make them understand that actions have consequences, and wrong actions usually result in some level of pain, for them as well as those who love them.

Pray with them and for them. Place them in God's hands and plead with Him every day to watch over them and care for them. Because when you get right down to it, He's the only one who really can.

[Monroe Roark can be reached at mroark@TheCitizenNews.com.]

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