The Source for Parents

Posted on: 11/8/10 8:32 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Okay… I’m getting excited… because our THE SOURCE FOR PARENTS page is almost completely finished. www.TheSource4Parents.com

Let me tell you a little about this fun little project… then I’d love your feedback.

Many of you have already popped over there and snuck a peek at the page recently. It’s been up and running… it’s just had an “under construction” banner up for the last couple months. Well, my web guys actually removed the construction banner this weekend. The page is almost complete. We’re just doing some finishing touches on our ASK THE SOURCE page where parents will be able to write questions and get answers from real parents.

For the last few years, parents have been beginning to take notice of our youth ministry page www.TheSource4YM.com, reading our Youth Culture Window articles, my blog, and using resources like our Slang Dictionary. Youth pastors have been emailing me and telling me, “I send parents to your page all the time!” Our team finally got the idea– Why not a duplicate page, but just for parents!!!

I encourage you to take a peek at this new page. Not only does TheSource4Parents feature some of our THESOURCE FOR YOUTH MINISTRY favorites like the Youth Culture Window articles, our Slang Dictionary and my blog, but we’ve added some other resourceful items unique to parents. These include:

  • MUSIC DISCUSSIONS- these discussions are different than the ones on the 4YM page– these are written specifically for parents who want to use current music as a springboard for discussion with their kids.
  • PARENTING HELP- this page is a gold mine of articles to parents about parenting. I called up some friends in the parenting world and asked them to contribute. So Jim Burns, Wayne Rice, Al Menconi and more have written articles in this section– articles addressing real life parenting issues.
  • MOVIE REVIEW & QUICK Qs- This page not only provides movie reviews, but also supplies three “quick questions” at the end of the review that parents can use to dialogue with their kids about the movie they just saw.
  • PARENTING WORKSHOPS- I have been doing a bunch of parenting workshops across the country.

Take some and click around this page. I’d love to hear your input and thoughts before we officially launch it.

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Winners of Our Get Connected Contest

Posted on: 11/4/10 5:28 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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What can I say… I love giving away free stuff!

As you know, in the last month we’ve offered you some enticing prizes to do one simple thing: connect with us! We’ve talked about the details numerous times. Today we drew the names of the winners. Here they are!

WON A PAIR OF OAKLEYS SUNGLASSES
Lorne Fairbanks Massie

WON A CHOICE OF ANY OF MY BOOKS
Derek Traub
Danielle Catrett White
Melissa Trumblee Brussee
Pastor Paul Rekward
Joey B. Fine
Ryan Espinoza
Jeff Smith
Ben Day
Misti Beal
Stacey DJ
Vicki Knight
David William Roberts
Brian Childers
Fred Peloso
Jennifer Roloff
Matthew Schutter

WON THE GOSPEL JOURNEY MAUI CURRICULUM from Dare 2 Share
Faani Engelbrecht

WON THE AMISH GRACE DVD
Penni Richardson
Weston (Thatcherdad)
Linda Granato
Chad Swanzy

I’ve emailed every one of these people! Congratulations! Keep connecting… because we love giving stuff away, and we’ll be offering many more chances like these.

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Talking with Our Kids About Demi

Posted on: 11/2/10 2:56 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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So sad… the word is already out that “Sonny with a Chance” star Demi Lovato just checked into rehab for emotional issues, possibly for self mutilation and an eating disorder.

Demi is a huge name with kids, tweens, and even teens. Both of my own girls (13 and 15) have talked about her and seen her show countless times. This news will be a huge blow to kids across the world– yet another Disney Star/role model in rehab.

New York Daily News reports:

Teen Disney star Demi Lovato stunned fans when it was announced that the star had dropped out of her Jonas Brothers tour gig to seek help treatment for “emotional and physical issues,” according to her representatives.

The “Sonny With a Chance” and the “Camp Rock” star has struggled with eating disorders and cutting herself in the past, according to the Associated Press, although it’s unclear if those are the reasons why she left the tour.

Click here for the entire article.

The timing of this is interesting– young people are really struggling with self esteem right now. David’s Youth Culture Window article released just two days ago, The End of Their Rope, an article about bullying-related suicides, was a heart wrenching read. So many young people are looking for belonging and acting out in harmful ways. David offers some great advice about dialoguing with kids regarding bullying, teasing and suicidal thoughts.

As parents or youth workers, we might want to use this news about Demi to talk about self esteem with our young people.

Some resources to talk about this:

We’re in the process of writing up a MUSIC DISCUSSION using Crowder’s song “Everything Glorious” (I talked a little bit about how those lyrics can launch a powerful discussion about self esteem here). We have talked about the subject before– “How do we respond when bad things happen?”  On our MUSIC DISCUSSION page we used The Fray song “You Found Me” to talk about how we can find God in the midst of tragedies. On the same MUSIC DISCUSSION page we also used a song from the artist Ferras, “Hollywood’s Not America,” to talk about the search for fulfillment. Years ago we used a clip from the film “Mean Girls” to talk about self esteem as well, using I Peter chapter 3. January 2009 we talked about girls drinking their problems away. We even discussed that using Pink’s song “So What” here. In that song, Pink reacted in anger and self destruction.

Keep Demi and her family in prayer through this tough time.

(ht to Trazy for sending me the article)

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I Want Your Feedback

Posted on: 11/1/10 9:23 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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I’ve got something to brighten up your week… a newly revamped free resource, and another opportunity for you and 20 others to win Oakley’s, any of my books, DVDs and other prizes.

Here’s the skinny:

Today we were going to draw winners for all who participated in October’s CONNECT and WIN contest… but this past weekend, we just launched a new “comments and ratings” feature on our Youth Culture Window page, so we’re extending the contest just a few more days!

I’m throwing 10 more of my books in the mix to make this a little more interesting, and we’ll draw the winners this Thursday, giving away a pair of Oakley Sunglasses, a total of 16 of my books, 4 Amish Grace DVDs, and one of Dare 2 Share’s Gospel Journey Maui Youth Group Curriculum!  That means over 20 people will win a prize! Not bad.

So here’s what you do: It’s simple. Go to our Youth Culture Window page using the FREE RESOURCES & IDEAS dropdown menu on www.TheSource4YM.com. On that page you’ll find 161 Youth Culture Window articles. Those articles now have ratings and comments features at the bottom of each article. You can rate it 1 through 5 stars, and give us your feedback via comments. For every article you rate and/or comment… your name is entered into our contest once again!

NOTE: We’re using the honor system here– we know that no one will go through and blindly rate articles they haven’t read. We thank you for only rating or commenting on articles that you’ve read.

Go for it! Start commenting and rating articles now on this page: www.TheSource4YM.com/YouthCultureWindow

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