In first grade, I thought sex was when a man and a woman literally wrestled under the sheets. I told my classmates what I thought to be true. Eventually my parents were contacted and I was told that maybe I shouldn't be saying such things to my peers. Some years later, my parents brought it up as a funny little anecdote from when I was young.

I don't remember first grade. I can vividly remember crying everyday in kindergarten because I missed my cat, my mother or something that was not surrounding me at that very moment.

Almost all of my childhood memories are positive. I can remember how my classroom smelled, what perfume my second grade teacher wore and when I used to hide from my father to delay saying goodbye to him in the morning. If I didn't say goodbye, he couldn't leave.

Point being -- I could not have asked for a better childhood. Granted, I've had my fair share of cuts and scrapes, fights with friends and let downs -- mostly provoked by not getting Malibu Barbie. But all in all, I could never complain. I was very fortunate.

To me, childhood and adolescence were merely a streamline of schooling, sports and playing. I was happy, and that is what I remember.

However, this is not what I see in the youth of America. I see children becoming sexually active before reaching high school, more common drug use and violence that has invaded our schools. I see young, impressionable eyes being exposed to corruption in every aspect of their life. Who or what is to blame? Do we point the grandiose finger at the entertainment industry for rewarding explicit sexuality and forthright alcohol abuse? What about the violence in video games that continues to be such a hot topic?

More people would readily place blame upon the parents. I believe, to a certain extent, that control is in the parent's hands, but with my own eyes, I have seen situations where power is out of the guardian's control.

I will not pretend to talk as if I know the first thing about parenting. The task is no doubt a daunting one. I have visualized the idea of having a child who would rely upon me for guidance in every aspect of its existence. I have thought about how to raise a child, what to allow them to take part in, what ideals to instill and what opinions of my own that I should never allow to be exposed. But maybe that will ensure that I am a more qualified parent, because I have thought about these things.

Perhaps it is the parents who have made a "mistake," or do not wish to raise a child, or worse yet, do not think of how to enrich a child. The problem lies in the descendants of these people. The assumption that these people, as children, were not allowed, not given or not capable -- which will suffice for their children.

I come from a school district that was split evenly between underprivileged children and those who would be classified as middle- to high-income families. I can't help but examine the possibility that exposure to children less fortunate than me could have had a negative effect. My parents kept a tight watch on me, but perhaps these children's parents did not. It would also be presumptuous of me to not keep in mind that exposure to those children also made me more of a well rounded and conscious individual.

I imagine that our parents and our parent's parents all felt the same way about their subsequential generations.

Personally, I believe that America is becoming a continually inferior setting for raising children. Maybe I am wrong and it is the world in general that is becoming a harsher environment.

The most daunting fact of the matter is that there is little that can be done. We could teach, lecture, punish, supervise and scrutinize all we want, but these children will do as they wish. That is why we continue to have runaways, juvenile delinquents and teenage mothers.

All we, as onlookers, parents and rolemodels, can do is stand by, teach, encourage and catch them when they fall; and pray that we are capable of raising a generation that will become a ray of light, in what feels like an ever-darkening world.