The Challenge of Christian Parenting in a Changing World

As a grandparent, I’ve watched things change dramatically over my lifetime. How can Christian parents raise children with biblical moral values in a world that has abandoned them?

The other day I was busy with a quilting project and had the radio babbling in the background. The topic was parenting, and specifically they were talking about texting.

This caught my interest as I have watched my granddaughter’s thumbs work their magic on her cell phone. How does that work, I’ve wondered, and do I really want to learn?

If I had children at home, it seems I would have to, as a mother on the radio program mentioned that texting has become the communication method of choice for teens. “They will not answer a phone call. I can only reach them when I text,” she commented. Texting is her way of checking in and keeping up—her electronic parenting tool.

We are in deep trouble!

Then the mother referred to a text she had received from her teenaged son recently. It was something like, Went to party. Yes Mom, took a condom, but I didn’t have to use it.

I stopped and looked at the radio. Did I just hear what I thought I heard—on national radio—from the lips of an unabashed mother? Did the panel laugh a little, as in “boys will be boys”? I think so.

Hmmm … texting is not all that has changed in my world. “Safe sex” has replaced the teaching I grew up with: Sex belongs in marriage—period.

We are in deep trouble, I thought to myself. We’ve got technology but we’ve lost our morality.

Read entire article here.

By Karen Meeker

Experts: Teen's Slaying Spotlights Dating Violence

The slaying of local teen, Lauren Astely, 18, that shocked the quiet Massachusetts town of Wayland over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, highlights a national problem of under-reported abuse and coercion in teenage romantic relationships, anti-violence experts say.

One in four adolescents is physically, emotionally, mentally or sexually abused by a significant other each year, according to national statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Likewise, 10 percent of adolescents reported physical violence by their significant other in the past 12 months, the CDC said.

In mid-June, the U.S. Department of Public Health and Human Services and the U.S. Surgeon General included a Violence Prevention Strategy for the first time in their annual National Health Policy Strategy, just about three weeks before Astley's death.

Astley's ex-boyfriend Nathaniel Fujita, 18, also of Wayland, was arrested and charged in her murder. He pleaded not guilty in Framingham District Court.

According to Vladimir Albin, Jr., a youth team coordinator for the Boston-based domestic violence advocacy support group Close To Home, the majority of teenage dating violence goes unreported or under-reported. The Community Advocacy Program in Boston states only 33 percent of teenage dating violence is reported.

Because there are so many different kinds of abuse and because teenagers have less experience in romantic relationships, a victim may not realize a relationship is abusive or abnormal.

"They're not always aware that what they're experiencing is teen dating violence," Albin said.

Read entire article

By: Allison Pickens, http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/28464644/detail.html

The Problem With Genderless Parenting

Read Entire Post here.

...Witterick and Stocker said they believe "it's obnoxious" that "parents make so many choices for their children."

But nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, the politically correct trend sweeping the U.S., and evidently Canada, is setting child-rearing on its head. Instead of teaching our kids right from wrong and the traditions and wisdom we have inherited from our forbears, parents are more and more letting their children make all their own choices --choices outside of any moral or practical context.

I'm sorry, but expecting a toddler to figure out what's best for him (or her) is absolute madness. And it's tragic. No wonder kids are confused! There's no one to teach them now to grow up and flourish in the world; how to measure their wnats against what is actually good for them; and how to choose to do the right thing over simply indulging in their every desire.

But this is where the tyranny of relativism has led us. If there is no such thing as Truth, if right and wrong are up to the individual, then of course personal choice becomes the highest good: Even if the choice theatens our spiritual, physical, adn moral well-being.

You've heard me say many times that God has written His law on our hearts. We know instinctively that gender is part of our God-given, biological design. And we should realize that when we try to deny or suppress or alter that essential part of our being, it's not good for us-- and especially not good for our children.

I'm not saying that all members of the same gender should be made to think and act the same way. What I am saying is this: Efforts to transcend or ignore gender are destined to be fruitless at best, harmful at worst.

A culture that tries to do this ends up far more rigid and judgmental than the culture it's trying to reform. And tragically, its children often end up feeling far worse about themselves than children who are taught to embrace God's design and purpose for their lives.

-By: Chuck Colson, christianpost.com

Decrease Increase Teen curfews: Protect teens, curb crime, or just peace of mind?

Summer months are here and school is out, leaving many a teen with time on their hands.

To some city and law enforcement officials, that poses a problem.

The City of Atlanta recently announced its intention to enforce a longstanding teen curfew ordinance, lest kids 16 and younger roam the streets in the wee hours. Under the ordinance, anyone younger than 17 can't be outside their homes without adult supervision from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from midnight to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Many cities and counties across metro Atlanta have similar regulations.

Proponents say the laws reduce teen crime and protect teens from danger, while critics believe the rules do little more than give a false sense of security to nervous adults.

"There's pretty much no question that [the ordinances] aren't effective in either reducing crime or preventing harm to young people," said Mike Males, a senior researcher for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, who has researched the effectiveness of teen curfews in cities across the U.S.

"It's basically designed to make people feel better about using a city at night, and it's an artificial thing," he said. "It’s a psychological law -- not an effective policy."

Read entire article here.

By Katie Leslie , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Teaching Teens to Refuse Alcohol

Recently I read an article about a new trend in America—parents allowing their teens to drink at home. Apparently, the idea behind this is that drinking in the home setting will demystify alcohol and help the young people learn to drink responsibly.

Before I tell you what I think about that trend, let me share this fact with you. 11% of the alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed by underage kids. That’s a staggering statistic. Alcohol abuse among teens is becoming an enormous problem in America.

With that in mind, here is my comment on parents letting or even encouraging their teenagers to drink at home. With all the kindness and Christian charity this Texan can muster I ask these parents: Are you nuts? If you follow that same line of thinking, then you’ll also allow them to have sex at home, take drugs at home, lie and cheat at home. That’s just crazy!

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By: Mark Gregston, www.blogs.christianpost.com

General Assembly Takes Aim At Cyberbullying and Teen Violence

There are three bills before the General Assembly that address issues associated with teen dating and associated violence.

HB 6629 would allow teens to secure a restraining order against an abusive teen dating partner. HB 6053 would revise the state's bullying law to include teen dating violence. And SB 1138 targets cyberbullying. The three proposed bills should get a floor vote in the coming weeks.

"The whole idea here is how teens can protect themselves through the legal system," said Bob Kocienda, chair of the Norwalk-based Center for Youth Leadership.

HB 6629 wouljd allow teens experiencing constant threat of present physical pain or physical injury, a pattern of verbal intimidation, threatening or stalking by family or someone in, or recently in, a dating relationship, to apply for a restraining order "regardless of the age of such persons."

Only two other states, Rhode Island and California, allow teens to get restraining orders against other teens.

Under the bill, police much inform victims of abuse about options, including restraining orders and where to find domestic violence help. The Judiciary Committee unanimously passed teh bill out of committee.

"Anything that strengthens anti-bullying efforts is very positive," said Dani Gorman, head of the Youth Services Bureau in Waterford. "A lot of young people struggle with healthy and unhealthy relationships."
Read entire article here.


By: Jessie King and Catheryn J. Prince, http://waterford.patch.com

Does Drinking With Parents Help Teens Drink More Responsibly? Not Really

When I was in high school, my parents laid down a few ground rules about exactly how “liberating” my teenage emancipation was going to be. No driving without an adult in the car past dark, no staying out past 11 p.m., and no, absolutely no, drinking.

Well, it turns out Mom and Dad were on to something (don't you hate it when that happens?). A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that teens who drink under their parents' supervision — the occasional sip at dinner or during holidays — are more likely to become problem drinkers a few years later than those whose parents, like mine, adopted a zero-tolerance policy.

When it comes to underage drinking, there are two schools of thought. Some are convinced that teens are too young and inexperienced to handle alcohol, and not ready to make decisions about how much is too much or how to drink responsibly.

Then there are those who point to cultures where alcohol isn't so taboo for adolescents, where adults allow their children to drink a little in their presence, and where alcoholism rates are no different from those in countries where underage drinking is illegal. By incorporating alcohol into youngsters' lives from an early age, and not making it a forbidden fruit, they argue, teens are less likely to abuse it as adults.

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By: Alice Park, www.healthland.time.com