Not My Kid

On Saturday I showed parents a glimpse into the world of today’s youth culture… and on Sunday a mom pulled me aside. “I have to tell you a story.”

It’s funny, but whenever I spend a weekend teaching parents at a church, the same thing happens. As I show parents samples of pop culture media and discuss the attitudes and trends prominent in the lives of young people today, parents always seem to think, “This is interesting, but I’m glad my kids don’t do these things.”

Then in the next week they discover, “My kids do these things!”

It happened again yesterday. After teaching parents in Jacksonville Friday and Saturday, a mom shared what happened when she left my Parenting the Smartphone Generation workshop.

“I was in the car with my kids later that night and they asked me if we could turn on the radio. I did, and that song was on.” She laughed. “When you played a sample of that awful song in your workshop, I honestly thought, I’m glad my kids don’t listen to that!”

I laughed too. I knew the song she was talking about, and unless her kids never left the house, they’ve heard the song! You can’t go to school, walk into Wal Mart, hang out with friends, or play sports, and not hear this song somewhere.

“So the chorus comes on,” she continued, “and my kids all started singing it.” Her eyes got really big. “They all knew the song!”

Then she clarified. “But I remembered what you said, so I didn’t overreact, instead I tried to interact by asking them questions.”

I was pretty ecstatic that she had listened. She was practicing what I taught literally step by step. Instead of freaking out, she decided to use the moment as an opportunity for meaningful conversation. Right then, on the fly, she asked her kids questions:

• What do you think he’s saying?
• What do you think he means by that?
• Do you think that’s true?

Instead of lecturing, she listened and learned.

If you’re curious where to take the conversation from here, take a peek at the last two Parenting Help articles on TheSource4Parents.com proving you with a few skills designed to help parents engage in meaningful conversation.

JONATHAN IS THE AUTHOR OF OVER A DOZEN BOOKS LIKE THE BRAND NEW, GET YOUR TEENAGER TALKING