Earlier this year, we posted a blog asking: Do you know what your child is doing on their phone? Many parents want to avoid the sad reality on how smartphones and social media are impacting our kids.
It is a scary question to ask, but who promised that raising a child would be easy? (They lied.) Parents are not really raising children, they are raising future adults. They are raising young people to be wise people, men and women fighting against evil and temptation and glorifying God with every decision, moment, relationship, and thought.
And the thing with the most influence on your teenager is their peer group. That’s developmentally normal; they are beginning to seek independence and find their identity. And these days, those peer influences are most prominent online.
There is much to be considered when we ask ourselves how we should raise our children. This week, I read a wonderful, challenging, frightening, helpful article that I would encourage you to read and consider for your own children.
Here is the article: Four Things Youth Workers Would Tell Parents About Teenagers, Social Media, and Technology.
And one last tip? Parents, be praying for your children. Pray frequently, pray robustly, pray on your knees, pray out loud. This child you are raising is God’s child. He did not make a mistake putting them in your family. And it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict them and change them. What can we do? We can pray.