I’ve been using some of these articles as discussion-springboards with my daughters. After all, the one common denominator almost all this research shares is the advice to parents to regularly dialogue about this with their kids.
Ashley (my 15-year-old), of course, is all “sighs” during these conversations. If I bring up social media, she rolls her eyes, exhales loudly, and proclaims, “Dad, have you ever had any problem with me and this stuff? No. Then relax!”
If I only had a dime for every time my daughter told me to relax.
Yesterday, after asking Ashley a little about Instragram and showing her an article with parental guidelines, she sighed, rolled her eyes, and informed me that its parents who really need a list of rules for social media Continue reading “Ashley’s Rules for Parents”
I’m in the middle of writing a devotional filled with advice for teen guys. In search of a few ideas, I sent a text to some friends and family members asking them what they would say if they could speak freely and truthfully to today’s teenaged guys.
It was funny seeing how differently each person replied. My kids took me seriously about the “truthfully” part, and their replies were hilarious. Across the board, I received some really fun and insightful answers.
If you hang out with teenagers, you’ve probably heard mention of the song or music video Thrift Shop by two guys whose names no one knew a month ago, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. The song (the explicit version) bounced in and out of the No 1 spot on iTunes last Wednesday, and the music video has been doing the same. It has been rapidly climbing the Billboard Hot 100 charts as well (always a little slower than iTunes), hitting No 2 this past weekend.
I first heard about it from Alyssa, my 17-year-old when she declared, “Dad, you’ve seen the video for that hilarious song Thrift Shop, haven’t you? Everyone’s talking about it at school.”
That, of course, peeked my curiosity.
Here’s the music video- unedited. It’s a little slow at the beginning, but kids are sticking with it, finding it both funny and catchy. Language Warning:even though the visuals are clean, this guy drops the f-bomb quite a few times in this video, with a few other vile phrases.
I think we’re seeing how much this younger generation is drawn to humor, naughty or nice. I’m reminded of LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It, Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night, and the numerous Andy Sandberg/Lonely Island videos that went viral. Funny sells.
I’m not defending this music video’s vulgarity, but Thrift Shop is actually pretty tame compared to the other hip hop music videos in the top of the charts right now, like A$AP Rocky’s F**kin’ Problems and Pitbull’s Don’t Stop the Party, both hanging in the iTunes top 10 for the last two months, both extremely racy, the latter as close to pornographic as a video can be without actually being officially pornographic. Thrift Shop doesn’t go there at all with the visuals, sticking to humor for its draw.
Vulgarity aside, Thrift Shop’s theme is actually a positive one. (NOTE: I’m not saying that you should go buy this song or start listening to it. I’m simply pointing out some conversation points if you get into a discussion with kids about the song). It pokes fun at the concept of buying fancy clothes to gain popularity, and basically encourages bargain shopping. It celebrates it, in fact. Some would probably argue Macklemore & Lewis’ message about self esteem is refreshing.
I don’t know how far I’d go with that, but I have to admit… these lyrics are rather amusing:
I wear your granddad’s clothes
I look incredible
I’m in this big ass coat
From that thrift shop down the road
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What do you notice from the video?
What are your kids saying about the video?
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS ARTICLE FROM JONATHAN, YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY…
Thanks to all of you who participated in yesterday’s contest. Great fun trying to guess what happened to my nose! Quite a variety of responses… some good imaginations.
The short answer: new kitten
The long answer: We bought a kitten a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying her. Zazzy is a little crazy, and loves this one toy in particular that looks like a fishing pole with a feather on the end of the string (some of you can already see where this is going).
Well, my son Alec thought it would be fun to land the feather on his dad’s lap so the cat would attack… uh… my…. uh…. well you get the idea.
So after threatening Alec’s life and notifying him that I would drive him to Yosemite, duct tape him to a pole, and pour honey on him, he avoided landing it on my crotch, and instead… landed the feather on my face!!!
The rest of the story is evidenced by the picture in yesterday and today’s blog.
So, for those of you who guessed cat scratch, you are correct. And as promised, the first three get a copy of my brand new book, MORE 10-Minute Talks, which is discounted 25% and available for pre-order right now on my site, the only place where you’ll get an autographed copy.
So… erring on the side of being overgenerous, I’m going to go ahead and count Roger’s answer, “Clawed by a Hobbit cat.” Then I’ll count the three cat scratch answers to follow.
So the FOUR winners who will receive my new book are:
Roger
Susan Daggett
Kelly
Bob
To the rest of you who answered correctly… more contests are coming. So you’ll just have to buy the book this time. Besides… all the proceeds of these book sales go to feed starving children. Mine!
I’ll give a copy of my brand new book, MORE 10-Minute Talks (coming this New Year) to the first three people that can guess exactly what happened to my nose! (It’s quite a story.) First three people, or the three closest guesses. Use the comment feature below– one guess per person! I’ll announce the winners soon!
Every year when we break out the Christmas ornaments… my kids start making fun of my baby Jesus.
Yes. I made it… when I was about 10 years old! It was a church ornament-making party and I made this amazing Baby Jesus ornament with my excellent, artistic, ornament-making skills!
My kids weren’t impressed. In fact, they’ve come up with some really mean names for this ornament over the years.
Come on… it’s not that bad… or is it? (note the curly-cue)
A little over a decade ago Lori and I used to go water-skiing and kneeboarding a few times a week. Then, due to a degenerative eye condition, I had to have cornea transplants. My doctor told me, “Pick a new sport.” Apparently when your eyeballs are sewn back together, they don’t do really well when they impact water at 30mph.
So for the last decade, every time I go on a boat with a friend… I drool. Then my wife looks at me the way a wife can look… and says, “Jonathan!!!” (which really means… “Don’t even think about it.”)
But every once in a while (like on our church family camp out this last weekend) I’ve gone out behind a boat on a kneeboard anyway. After all… I’m always really careful and don’t do anything stupid!
My wife loves reading. My girls really enjoy reading.
I… I love movies.
When I’m not speaking, training, or writing, I’m at my desk all day reading journals, articles and studies about youth culture, ministry or parenting. Being completely honest… the last thing I want to do at the end of my workday is pick up a book and read for “relaxation.” If I wanna relax I’ll hang out with my kids, go kayaking, or plop down with Lori on the couch and watch something fun.
I know some people like reading for relaxation. I do it on occasion (usually because I have to)… but I just don’t enjoy it. I wish I did.
I know… it’s ironic. I’m an author… and I don’t like reading. Books offer so much more than the articles and journals I frequent. For example: Yesterday I received an email from a Christian group complaining about how our country was founded on Christian principles and it needs to return to those principles. Some guy was quoting Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and putting words in their mouths. I researched a bit and found Continue reading “Reading… for Fun?”
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The blogosphere is currently bursting at the seams with insightful posts and articles from parenting authors providing helpful social media rules and guidelines for their teens and tweens, everything from iPhone rules, Instagram guidelines, to general social media parenting advice how to monitor your teenagers online activity (in a world where Facebook is just one of many choices).
