Ever had a change of heart or mind about something? It’s safe to say that we’ve all had regrets about things we might have done, but sometimes you may look around the world today and say to yourself, “If I was doing things again, I might … “

It’s all about moving on and learning from our mistakes and making things better in the future, but think about how much the pace of changes we encounter today are markedly different before the advent of immediacy.

Prior relationships, a party you should have avoided, or a person who you thought was your friend all might warrant headspace for a do-over, but what is really at issue are the things that have had lasting effects on you — your family or your culture. We know hindsight is 20/20, but in our capacity to glean truth, it’s important that we understand patterns because they point to movements that can take hold and have serious outcomes.

Smartphones? It’s amazing (and disturbing) how much we have learned over the past 10 years about the negative consequences of their use and the effect social media is having on young minds (to say nothing of the old). As an educator for the bulk of my professional career, I can see the effect that the malformation of basic human relationships has had on so many young people. Take a look around your community or your family and there is no avoiding the very real fact that people’s time and attention are so buried in a device that what’s going on in their immediate reality has become their alternate reality.

Something happens and many people don’t think about how they might help, but instead think how fast they can capture the event for immediate posting on the site of their choice. Maybe the age that we allow our children to be exposed to a smartphone is something we might want to reconsider. It’s never too late to take action or make an adjustment, but the scurrilous pressure put on parents by those who boast about how much safer and more informed you can be about everything (including your child’s whereabouts, habits and friends) sows seeds of mistrust in our ability to protect or parent our children.

Maybe reconsider how much we think we aren’t protecting them and consider how much we allow unfettered access to an online world that is very likely bent on taking advantage of them in other, potentially more harmful, ways.

Freedom? Really? Does it mean the functional understanding that what we do has consequences and might result in something not of our immediate or preferred choosing? As a nation of freedom preachers and protectors, certain portions of our culture are squarely aligned to the proposition that freedom means doing what you want and, if caught, aligning consequences with a convenient and hastily evaluated social disorder or mental health condition. Many mental health professionals in our country have gone out of their way to excuse the vices and give voice to excuses leaving our moral agency out of the equation.

Mental health is a billion dollar a year industry in the United States, but by just about every metric, kids don’t seem much better off and the mental health business model invites everyone to get a check on their mental and emotional health because everyone can use a good dose of counseling — right? The social and emotional health of our children is held in more serious consideration than striving to earn good grades or getting through tough circumstances to enable children to become more resilient.

Maybe reconsider the magnitude of the perceived personal and emotional issues and focus on helping our children toughen up, accept responsibility, and just help them get over some stuff. The constant rumination on their feelings and problems only serves to make things seem worse than they really are.

I’ve often said to my colleagues that, “despite our best efforts, most of our students turn out pretty well.”

Reconsidering how we treat our children simply means that we aren’t afraid to take a few steps back and choose a different path. That’s not defeat — that’s wisdom. It’s never too late to reconsider.

Lance Scranton is a career educator and has made his home in Moffat County for the past 25 years. He offers his views and opinions as part of the ongoing conversation about our community, country and world. Reach him at lance.scranton@consultant.com.