Seldom does a day pass without the publication of at least one article
or book lamenting the disintegration of the American family. News-
papers spew out article after article about elementary school children
who take weapons to class, and teenagers with nothing better to do
than kill (anyone) as the pastime of the 1990s. Children are angrier,
more frustrated, and depressed more frequently, at a younger age,
than ever before. Some researchers blame teenage pregnancy,
unwed motherhood, divorce, and television for the increase of drug
use, violence, crime and depression among youths. Other writers in-
dict the era of permissiveness generated by the sixties, self-absorbed
baby boomers and a "me first" attitude that has eroded the concepts
of family loyalty, enjoyment of work, and altruism. Whatever the
causes for the seeming decline in moral and social values, without so-
lutions and the people with the will to implement them, the values of
life in the United States are destined to deteriorate.

Perhaps most unsettling of all is the rapidity with which our
society changed; those of us born between 1945 and 1965 remember
how Mother kept a clean house and made a welcoming home. Father
worked during the day and came home predictably at 5:30 p.m.; he
found a tidy home, happy children and dinner on the table. We

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