Parenting Advice: How to Look for the Warning Signs

By Greg Baer M.D.

September 3, 2024

Imagine that your children are playing on the side of a mountain.

Beautiful view, they’re having fun. 

Then the ground begins to tremble, and you get a message that the mountain is actually a volcano that’s about to erupt.

 What would you do? Say nothing? Do nothing?

Of course not. You would do anything to get your children away from the volcano. Let me help you do that.

Warning Signs of Volcanic Activity

On the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy, not far from Pompeii, there is a super volcano, one of the twenty largest in the world. There has been no eruption for five hundred years, but in the past three months there have been more than 2500 earthquake tremors, a sign of volcanic activity deep underground. One resident said, “It’s nonstop earthquakes here.”

For now the volcano is a cluster of quiet craters and surrounding rock peaks. The scent of fig trees blends with the smell of hydrogen sulfide, a product of volcanic activity that smells like rotten eggs. Homes, schools, and cafes line the edges of the craters, with some soccer fields inside the craters. Green grass grows 50 yards from vents that spew steam and volcanic vapors. A few years ago, one crater was closed after a boy and his parents fell into a sinkhole and died from inhaling toxic gases.

But people keep building homes. The view is great. Residents say they’re used to the earthquakes, and all seems to be well—for now. We all hope that nothing terrible will ever happen, but if it does, the cost could be unspeakable.

Warning Signs of Troubled Children

Right now, our children are living in a world that strongly resembles the crater floors of these volcanoes. Every day we see, feel, and smell the minor earthquakes of their whining, withdrawing, arguing, complaining, irritation, bullying, and cell phone addiction, social media, and porn. But we’re “used to it.”

Then when our kids become depressed, or fail in school, or demonstrate the symptoms of ADHD, or quit talking to us, or can’t function as adults at work or in relationships, we act surprised. Somehow we forget the 2500 tremors that warned us of the lava that would engulf our children’s lives.

We can do better. We can save our children before the eruptions. Learn how at RealLoveParents.com.

Want to learn more?

Eliminate confusion and conflict with your children.

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About the author 

Greg Baer, M.D.

I am the founder of The Real Love® Company, Inc, a non-profit organization. Following the sale of my successful ophthalmology practice I have dedicated the past 25 years to teaching people a remarkable process that replaces all of life's "crazy" with peace, confidence and meaning in various aspects of their personal lives, including parenting, marriages, the workplace and more.

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