Think about this. Until a little over 100 years ago there were no teen-agers. Seriously. There was limited higher education opportunity, a more farm and rural-based economic reality, and most people were in the workforce by 14 – and often married by 16.
Our world is much different, and the preparation we give our kids is way more sophisticated. In short, parenting teens is rigorous, and once we invest our heart and souls in our kids it is time to let go. Not so easy.
This exercise focuses 7 more global principles to put in place and cultivate long before our kids head out. So much is relational. So much is spiritual. And so much we have little control over. And what about the transition from being Mom and Dad to encourager and friend?
Have these 7 conversations with each other, and bring them up with your friends who have teens. Parenting needs a Mom and Dad. It also requires God as well!
“…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
“As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
– Ephesians 4:13-16
There is a lot packed into that.