Self-esteem is how well you think of yourself. It is important to children and adults, alike. Self-esteem is believing and caring as much for yourself as you do other people. It is believing that you are competent and good. It's being as kind to yourself as you would be to someone else.

Some people care more for others than they do themselves.

Violence in the family is a major source of teen female violence. The future well-being of a society is directly linked to its ability to care for and educate its young. Families that cannot successfully care for their young, nurture the seeds of future violence and criminality. Until we learn this, we will continue to build more prisons at a much higher cost than treatment or prevention.

The headlines read: Eight Year-Old Kills Father and a Boarder. Was this tragedy preventable? If it is proven that the known causes of youth violence were there, it was entirely preventable. This is worse than a tragedy and it must be fixed.

Experts agree that most youth who become violent share certain elements in their histories. These include a history of trauma, such as child abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence, (especially as a young child).

This year, 2009, has started with multiple acts of youth violence. In February of 2009, 14 year old Brandon McInery killed Lawrence King at the Oxnard school. In the same month, police charged 11 year old Jordan Brown with shooting and killing his father's pregnant girl friend. A 9 year old Arizona boy pled guilty for shooting and killing his father and a family friend.

You have probably heard that for every action, there's a reaction that follows. For example, when Aunt Jenny smells a certain kind of flowers, she sneezes. When you don't do your school work and don't study, you get bad grades. When you are nice to your friends, you maintain those relationships. The reactions are also called consequences. There are good, bad, and neutral consequences.

Forty-seven people were killed in mass murders in the US in less than 30 days this year. Everyone is looking for reasons and to make sense of these tragic events because we all cope better with catastrophic events if we can make some sense of them or find safety for ourselves and our loved ones. Otherwise, terrible events seem out of control, overwhelming, and terrifying.

The future well-being of a society is directly linked to its ability to care for and educate its young. This task often falls to mothers and female caretakers. Women that cannot effectively care for their children without assistance can abuse, neglect or even kill their own children. The roots of this phenomenon must be understood in order to prevent it.

The majority of mentally ill people are not prone to violence. However, other background demographics (those who have been abused, neglected, or exposed to domestic violence in childhood, for example), in addition to untreated mental health and substance abuse problems, play a large part in the making of a violent individual. Mental health treatment is needed in the community, and we must make sure there is sufficient treatment for mentally ill offenders in the criminal justice system.

Michael Jackson must have been under tremendous emotional stress in recent years. He went through a difficult trial. He had a strained relationship with his father. Additionally, being in the spotlight 24/7 can put tension on your emotional state.

News reports imply that Michael may have had some chronic sleep problems. This would not be surprising, given his role of being one of the most famous entertainers in the world.