Well, what do you say to that?

It was never easy, but it is particularly difficult to be a good parent these days. The temptations facing young people, the peer pressure, and the badges of perceived affluence make it challenging for parents to instill values in children and teens while balancing those values with opportunities that most parents today didn’t enjoy growing up.

As a very public, recent example of the challenges facing modern parents, President and Mrs. Obama sent Malia, their 13-year-old daughter, to Mexico for her spring holiday unaccompanied by either parent (though she reportedly enjoyed the company of twenty-five Secret Service guardians). I am unsure that most parents would have made such a choice, but then again, few of us travel with a security detail. So, where are the Obamas to look for guidance in child rearing? Should the President speak to Dr. Billy Graham, or Rev. Rick Warren or even Cardinal Timothy Dolan?

Fortunately, President Obama and Turkish Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have become such close friends that the prime minister is giving President Obama advice on raising his daughters. President Obama met with Erdogan on Sunday, March 25, at the nuclear summit in South Korea. According to a White House statement, the two discussed Syria’s civil war and the Iranian nuclear weapons program, but also talked about the president’s two daughters. President Obama said, “The bottom line is that we find ourselves in frequent agreement upon a wide range of issues… [and] because he has two daughters that [sic] are a little older than mine — they’ve turned out very well, so I’m always interested in his perspective on raising girls.”

HT to Touchstone for this...

I must admit that I am stunned by this... on one hand the sending of a 13 year old to Mexico for spring break ALONE... on the other, the parental support group that includes the Presidents of Turkey and the US...   I will leave this alone for your comment....