I showed up at work a few days ago and saw a piece of paper placed at the back of one of the nursing stations proclaiming that it was that time of year. It was that time of year when America’s girls and their parents peddle boxes of cookies to neighbors and coworkers alike. Attached to the form was a little note that told all who gave in to their cookie addictions that the sale was an exercise in girl power.

I suppose that it would make sense that there would be a great deal of girl power behind the organization selling Girl Scout Cookies. I am actually all in favor of this. Who minds a little girl power when it gets us closer to a box of those delicious Thin Mints. Now, if only you could get a complimentary quart of milk with each box of cookies to wash them down. Ah, to dream.

Anyway, I have three sisters and I have three nieces who I want nothing more for than to grow up to be great women. Women who can do whatever it is they choose to do. Mak, Matti and Emme each have their own talents and their own unique way about themselves. Each will be wonderful adults and that is because they have had great upbringings. They have had great role models.

The same goes for my two nephews. These two boys are both self-assured young men, ready to take on what life throws at them. Grady and Jack have the benefit of seeing positive role models and have people in their lives who demonstrate to them what it is to be a good person, a great guy.

That positive role model, that great influence, cannot be guaranteed for a vast number of young people. Take a look around sometime at the young people you come in contact with. A large number of those children lack the sincere, positive influences that I, and I dare say you, the reader, took for granted.

Among my own children’s circle of acquaintances there are children of both stripes. These are really good kids. They are funny, they are thoughtful. They are making their way in the world but some lack a full compliment of the most important people in their lives, their parents. For whatever reason these children took a back seat to other parts of a parent’s life and were therefore discarded before they even got to know them. Sad, very sad.

While it accurate to say that any parent can become a single parent let’s not deceive ourselves by claiming that there is a vast number of single dads out there holding down the fort. When the point comes where only one parent is caring for a child, or children, it is often the mother that becomes the sole role model in that child’s life. A father is absolutely needed in a young person’s life, but all too often that person cannot be bothered to show up when they are needed the most.

Unfortunately, this is, by necessity, where girl power really has to come into the mix.

There is a level of accountability that needs to exist in society where we treat our children as the precious commodity that they are. Not only are they going to help choose our nursing homes in later life, but they are going to be the ones to build upon own legacy. They will be the one living monument that we leave to this era. Without giving them the proper tools, from two equally involved parents, we are only going to perpetuate the need for girl power in all of the wrong places.

That’s my two cents …

Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at j_ [email protected]