Have you had very many “what if” conversations with your teenage children? What if you are at a party, the parents are not home and everyone is drinking – what would you do? What if your best friend tells you she’s pregnant – what would you do? What if a friend asks you to help them cheat on a final paper – what would you do? Values are not passed on by osmosis. It takes hard work, lots of coaching and communication in relevant ways to instill good, godly values in our kids.
It’s not easy and the current of the culture is making parents and kids with decent values feel like they are swimming upstream. Some of the primary influences on our teens are their friends and the media – music, DVDs, video games and the Internet. It’s a bitter pill, but it is a reality.
The sad thing is that lots of parents have absolutely no clue as to what music their kids have downloaded to their iPod, what Internet sites their kids frequent and the trash talking that goes on in teen blogs like Xanga.com (Might want to take a peek at your teens Xanga journal for a real eye opener!)
Parents, you might be shocked to learn that your values have not been absorbed by your teen. Ask a computer geek how to check the history file and you’ll find every website your child has visited. AOL offers parental controls and they’ll send you an email every time your child has spent time online.
We’re still asking our teens … can you hear me now? Making the connection with our kids is huge and it seems like the middle school and high school years are the most vulnerable time for the great disconnect.
Beth
