Over the weekend I had the pleasure to listen to a friend of mine discuss how he almost lost it with his children? I simply asked myself does God deliberately try and test our patience for having    children. In my mind I could only think small kids, small problems, big kids, I don’t want to know. Therefore the point I want to make revolves around an article I took home last week from a local newspaper. The topic was  tanning beds and how a young lady who used them from the age of 16, developed skin cancer (melanoma) and was fortunate to rid herself of the disease. Now at the age of 21 she is trying to make the public aware that the  industry should not allow those under the age of 18 to use these type of services. Thus, armed with this great information, I came home to advise my family especially my eldest who I knew had occasionally been with her  friends. To my chagrin I was late as she had already pre-purchased a set of services. I was about to blow up yell and scream but after speaking to my wife, she  simply said, “let her figure it out for herself”. It made perfect sense for a guy who could only see  red. Now as the colour of the rainbow started appearing in front of my eyes, I tried to make myself available to discuss the ramifications with my daughter. When she arrived home, she smelled like an ash tray. Now I keep struggling to understand why many children in our society who have been given almost everything they desire, most of all, the privilege of education, why they fail to make the correct choices when they know of the fatal consequences of their actions. It disturbs me that the more opportunity our children are given, the dumber they become. In my opinion and possibly a result of my upbringing, if one does not suffer from  taking a bad decision, one will never learn. So why I toil in pain knowing that it is not only my children that will learn from their own mistakes; it is these inconsiderate decisions of playing Russian roulette with their  health which hurts even more; especially for caring parents who have best intentions for their kids in mind. Personally, I hope the day never comes when I have to say, “I told you so.”

Sincerely-Philip Magnoli, my friends call me Don Filippo-The FX Specialist-  Written For April 30th 2012