Youth and Family Values

Youth and Family Values

(Can we have fun teaching this?)

Do today’s youth know the values that we have taught them?

Are we praying, yes and I mean intensely praying, for the future of our youth? Some of the youngsters nowadays have us scratching our heads. What happened to their values? Look at the bright side, we didn’t raise them but where have adults gone wrong?

Do parents still take their children to church? 

Dr. Ralph F Wilson from http://www.joyfulheart.com, states, “Our children also bring us back to church.” 

This tells me we can bond somewhere besides over dinner or in the mall.

We feel, that sometime in our life, we need to bring up our children the way we were brought up, no matter what the consequences were in between our childhood and our children. At this point, we will feel that we have done what we were meant to do.  Teach your children well…..

When the young ones can’t sit in church, there are nurseries and helpers tending those nurseries and the adults can relax for an hour.  We have the age that can draw on anything within distance of their hands, and they do, so churches have left those precious envelopes in the slot for others to draw on.  There are, “quiet bags”, these bags are filled with coloring books, crayons, picture books and puzzles for children, available in the back of the church to help parents to cope.  Now the confirmation age is supposed to taking notes on the sermon but they are in actuality writing notes to their friends.  But, the concept is taken to heart and embedded into their routine.  Get up, eat breakfast, go to church, possibly Sunday school, your job is done for Sunday.  Ok, so you do have to sing at the Christmas Eve program.  If you are lucky, you get to attend camp where you do have to worship and have Bible study but you get to swim, camp out and canoe on options time. After the holidays and before camp, are the kids active in a positive after school youth group? There are people that you can contact for local youth group or better yet, start your own.  Is there a church or a basement close by for table games, books, and friendship? Remember, we are talking about youth, kids, preteens and such so PLEASE, remember the snacks.  People, organizations, and a church will donate occasionally for good cause. Make the surroundings as homey as possible, and yes a DVD is allowed but monitor what is being shown.  Pastors can make the call and you still look good in the eyes of the students, Right?

Stoves, refrigerators and couches are all in and not only in but highly recommended.  Once again, the congregation can come through.  Best of all, keep them talking and planning and excited to host a cook out, a hayride, and a bar-b-queue and keep the cell phone handy to call parents, NOW.  Keep it meetings rolling with ideas and keep those ideas happening.  Know the people that will be the ‘doers” and those that are positive about helping.  Once people are caught up, keep them rolling.

         Our camps have a great idea.  Short bible study, medium life applications and communicate, communicate all the while.  The leadership courses I took in my adult life are being applied to the confirmation age.  This encourages them to show their know-how, take lead and teach and it raises their self esteem.  They will remember the lesson if they feel good about themselves.  Meanwhile they have fun.  Important word there, FUN!  So, here we go, back to by-the-book, learning in Sunday school and confirmation class, right?  Can you say BORING? Ok, so know it takes one person and a carry-all car, jeep, vehicle to transport these kids to some kind of a show good stuff, animal place with interactive events to keep their interest. This is doable.  If you can combine this with a once-a-month community service, the church loves it, the elderly love it, the youth group will stand for it and you can show, show, and show them how to be a good citizen without losing interest.  Mix that with a really good concert once every six months like Casting Crowns and you are in. Take a group to a school function and keep the language, behavior and situation under your control, but relax, they want to have a good time being out and about.

You can go out of the church area too.  The better you behave in society situations, the more your student can learn from a role model.

Television and internet, and games have all contributed to our children’s loss of values.  This media needs to be kept to moderation.  Michael Foster from

Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina tells me, “the problem is that parents don't actually manifest the values they want the kids to hold, like teaching kids to respect others.  Telling kids to "do as I say not what I do" is just completely pointless and ineffectual.”

Parents have or take little time to interrelate to their kids so this is a major issue.

“Yes, that's a problem.  In the end, though, what seems to matter for kids is less quantity of time than quality of time.  Again, it's the quality of relationships that matters. Running kids from activity to activity is not a substitute from actually listening to what they have to say and respecting it.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7”Memorize his laws and tell them to your children over and over. Talk about them all the time, whether you’re at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night or getting up in the morning.” (Deuteronomy, 1995)

         We could be on the right path; we could have hope for the future.  What do you see in your child’s eyes? What do you feel in your heart?

         Positive futures start at home.  Love, cherish and nourish the time you have, busy as we all are, with your children.  You will learn a vast amount of education from your kids.

         My kids told me to buckle up, don’t smoke, look both ways, and slow down.  Slowing down was not necessarily what I did in their childhood  stages but that doesn’t allow them to forget that I really, really tried, cross my heart and hope to die, step on a crack and break my own back and learned to love. They understood, they are making mistakes and they are praying, oh Lord, so am I.  Are you learning from the ages?